“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Palo Alto High School senior and first-time voter Xander Yap said, as he placed his ballot in a drop box on Election Day, marking a milestone in his civic engagement.
As key issues like redistricting and a proposed sales tax shape this fall’s ballot, Palo Alto High School seniors are stepping into civic life, some casting their first votes and others preparing for elections to come.
Election season sweeps across the Bay Area, students at Paly are translating lessons from classroom civics into real-world participation, weighing how policy decisions today could shape their futures.
For senior Xander Yap, financial and civic questions made this election feel personal.
“One of the things on the ballot was sales tax,” Yap said. “The sales tax directly affects me.”
The proposed increase, part of a broader package of local measures, highlighted how even small policy shifts can ripple through students’ daily lives. Yap also pointed to Proposition 50, a redistricting measure he credited Gov. Gavin Newsom with placing before voters.
“Go out there, vote, do the research,” Yap said. “Just learning more about what’s happening in the world around you makes you understand more.”
Yap said his interest in politics grew as he began noticing how state decisions affect local communities, from transportation to school funding.
“Understanding what’s being decided helps you feel more grounded,” Yap said. “It’s not just adults who are affected; students are too.”
<While Yap views direct participation as an essential part of civic learning for teens, senior Meera Singh said she supports keeping the voting age at 18.>
“It [the voting age] should be 18 because I wouldn’t trust a 16-year-old to vote,” Singh said. “I’ve been very uninvolved since I was a child.”
Singh said that while she hasn’t been active in politics, she still values class discussions about government and current events.
“It’s interesting to talk about current events, but actually voting feels like a big responsibility that I’d want to be ready for,” she said.
For senior Sarah Thieman, timing was the biggest obstacle; she turned 18 less than a week before Election Day and missed the registration deadline.
“When I tried to register, they said it was too late to vote in the upcoming election,” Thieman said. “There was just a lot going on that week with deadlines and Halloween and stuff.”
Between college applications, midterms, and extracurriculars, Thieman said voting simply slipped her mind.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t care,” Thieman said. “I just got caught up in everything else.”
The experience, she added, changed how she talks to classmates nearing voting age.
“Everybody should vote if they can,” she said. “A lot of kids might be unfamiliar with it, kind of like me, but everyone should always register to vote. It’s super important, especially with the current political state.”