Empowering The Next Generation of Voters

Discover how Obama Leader Jahnavi Rao is mobilizing thousands of high school students nationwide

A young adult with medium skin tone stands in an open-sided wooden pavilion and points forward while speaking. They wear a light blue t-shirt and denim shorts. In front of them, a group of listeners sits with their backs to the camera, looking toward the speaker under falling rain.

“ Four million students graduate from high school every single year. If 18-year-olds alone voted at the same rate as Baby Boomers, they would be the deciding vote in many contested elections.”
–Jahnavi Rao

Jahnavi Rao, then a 16-year-old high school junior in Chester County, Penn., returned to school after Election Day 2016 to find her classmates across the ideological spectrum feeling disillusioned with the electoral process.

“The resounding opinion was that this was the most talked-about event of our entire lives, and while the decisions being made impacted us more than anyone else, it felt like we couldn't do anything about it,” Rao reflected.

As Rao and her friends commiserated about feeling a lack of agency, they realized they could make a tangible difference by registering to vote. Although the election cycle had ended, dozens of local races were on the ballot in 2017—and many of her classmates were already eligible to vote or would be by the next Election Day.

Eight smiling young people stand shoulder-to-shoulder on green grass outside. They all wear matching light blue t-shirts with "2018 NEW VOTERS" printed across the front in red, white, and blue. The group has diverse skin tones, ranging from light to medium-dark. Behind them are green trees and a soft sky.

Galvanized by this fact, Rao and her friends launched New Voters, a nonpartisan club dedicated to registering high school students to vote and providing them with registration materials, state-specific voter information, and civics education resources. The club was supported by parents and teachers, but most importantly other young people, who like Rao and her friends, wanted to ensure their voice was a part of the political process.

“Many students were surprised to learn they were eligible,” Rao said, “saying things like, ‘I didn't know I could register yet,’ or ‘I didn't realize there were elections in 2017 I could vote in.’” In Chester County, Penn., there were more than 50 local races (Opens in a new tab) , specifically for judicial and school board seats, that next year.

What began with 15 to 20 of Rao’s friends grew into a team of 50 to 60 students, all visiting every homeroom at their high school to conduct informal voter registration drives. By the end of her junior year, Rao and her team had registered 85% of their senior class.

“In my senior year, we spread to around 100 high schools in Pennsylvania and we put in a box the stuff that we did to run our first drive. We're like, okay, here were the scripts we used. Here was the schedule we made. Here's like the texts we used to recruit volunteers,” recalled Rao.

A large, diverse crowd of dozens of teens and young adults poses outside a red brick building. They sit on the ground and stand in rows, smiling broadly at the camera. Many hold up both hands to form an "M" shape or peace signs. The individuals have light, medium, and dark skin tones

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A group of twelve smiling young people stands on a city sidewalk next to a stone building. In the center, two people hold a purple and red sign reading "GO VOTE". The individuals have light, medium-light, medium, and medium-dark skin tones. Soap bubbles float around them under bright daytime light.

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Eight smiling young people stand and crouch around an outdoor information table with a white banner reading "NEW VOTERS". The participants have light, medium-light, and medium skin tones. A drink dispenser, cups, and snacks sit on top of the table in front of large dark glass windows.

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Ten smiling young people stand shoulder-to-shoulder on a sidewalk in front of a brick high school building. They have light, medium-light, and medium skin tones. Above them, large brown lettering on the beige brick wall reads "LOWER MERION HIGH SCHOOL". The scene is bathed in warm afternoon sunlight.

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A high-angle photo shows twelve young people with light, medium-light, medium, and medium-dark skin tones smiling on the wide stone steps of a classical building. In the foreground, one person takes a high-angle selfie with a phone, while another sits smiling in a motorized wheelchair. Most wear matching gray t-shirts

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New Voters relies on a peer-to-peer grassroots model, originally developed by Rao and her classmates, to empower students to organize within their own communities.

“If you want to create a more perfect union and to enable participatory and responsive democracy, high school is the last universal touch point for Americans,” Rao emphasized. “You don't have to do anything else, but you have to go to high school.”

The program is run by high school and college students, centering young people as key to the organization’s ability to reach teens where they are. For example, explains Rao, A few years ago, a teen in Pittsburgh made a list of all the most common cliques in his school and then recruited someone from each of those groups to register their friends to vote. Rao made that a part of the curriculum for the organization.

Mentorship is another core component of New Voters. Each registration drive leader is paired with a paid, college-aged mentor who meets with them at least once a week throughout the campaign. These mentors help students tailor their drives to their school's unique needs—guiding them through everything from securing staff support to identifying the most effective times and locations for registering voters.

When asking high schoolers to participate in the civic process, Rao says it’s important to meet them where they are, and show them that there are leaders in power who want to be responsive to concerns and take action.

A pile of round stickers sits scattered on an off-white table surface. Several white stickers feature blue and red letters reading "I'm a NEW VOTER" or "NEW VOTERS". A cluster of smaller red circular stickers reads "BE HOPE. VOTE." in bold white and blue text.

“Too often, the default response a young person hears is, ‘Oh, we can't do anything about that,’ or ‘That’s too complicated.’ What they really need to hear is, ‘That's a great idea—let's figure out how we can make it happen together.’”

Today, New Voters includes over 1000 high schools across more than 42 states who run two registration drives, and a community organizing project through the school year. For Rao, New Voters became an unexpected passion that changed the trajectory of her life.

“I wanted to be a musician. That was my plan my whole life. I was recording my conservatory tapes and then suddenly I was like, ‘No, I refuse to keep feeling helpless. My friends and I deserve better than what we have and we're going to do something about it,’” said Rao.

Now 26, Rao remains optimistic about the future of American democracy. The Harvard graduate was recently selected for the Obama Foundation Leaders 2026–2027 cohort, where she is eager to collaborate with peers, share insights from building New Voters, and learn how to scale the organization sustainably.

Having drawn inspiration from President Obama early on—once even skipping school to hear him speak in Philadelphia—she continues to focus on empowering high schoolers to realize their civic potential.

“When you're standing in line to vote and commentators start forecasting who's winning your district, it doesn't feel particularly empowering,” Rao noted. “But then you contextualize it as ‘You voting is one thing, your whole school voting is another thing.’”