At 17 years old, Melissa Loch has never cast a ballot. It’s something the politically minded Arlington Heights, Illinois, student is eager to do for the first time this year.

But she’s not stopping there.

Loch is training to become an election judge as part of a new effort by the Cook County clerk’s office to engage more young voters — a historically elusive age group when it comes to turnout — in local politics.

Through the initiative, dubbed “Defenders of DA’mocracy,” students across the county will see the inner workings of the election system firsthand by becoming official election judges for their own peers ahead of this spring’s primary.

Preparations for the inaugural venture started this week, with some 150 students from two dozen high schools across suburban Cook County learning the ins and outs of running a polling place at a series of training sessions. Students are training to ultimately run early voting sites at their schools for the March 17 election and, if they want, to officiate future elections, too.

Loch was one of about 40 students who turned out for a night of judge training Tuesday at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. Hoping to go into law and politics when she’s older, Loch said that when her teacher asked if anyone was interested in piloting the county’s new program, she jumped at the chance.

“I want to get involved, help people vote and help democracy,” she said, “because I want to be a part of that one day.”

And to her, Loch continued, there was no better way than learning how the voting process works from the ground up.

Motivating more young voters to participate in local elections has long been a goal of the Cook County clerk’s office, Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski said.

Historically, young people have voted at lower rates than older adults across the country, per Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, which studies youth and politics. That started to change in recent years, with the 2018 and 2020 elections seeing historic highs in youth voter turnout, according to a CIRCLE analysis of voter file data.

Still, barriers persist. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last summer found that young people are less engaged with U.S. politics than older Americans and less likely to say voting is important. The poll also found that young adults are more likely to reject political party labels and far less likely to follow politics closely than their older counterparts.

Local election data shows that among Cook County voters between ages 18 to 22, less than 1% typically turn out to vote in municipal elections, 2% to 4% turn out for midterms and less than 5% cast their ballots in presidential cycles, according to Michalowski.

Among the factors hindering higher youth participation, CIRCLE research shows, are confusing registration deadlines and requirements, a lack of youth outreach and a dearth of regular curriculum that teaches young people about elections and voting in school.

With Defenders of DA’mocracy, the hope is to bridge that gap and meet young voters where they’re at, Michalowski says.

Recruiting election officials from high school campuses isn’t a new idea in and of itself. State statute allows juniors and seniors to be appointed election judges, even if they aren’t yet old enough to vote. In Cook County, more than 1,500 high schoolers serve as election judges each year.

With the new program, however, the difference lies in time and place. As judges, students will be operating on-campus early voting sites specially instituted for the initiative. The polling places will solely be open to eligible students and school staff and operate for one day only, Feb. 26, before early voting for the upcoming primary opens on March 2.

“It just adds a different layer to our democracy,” Michalowski said. “It’s theirs. They’re running it, they know about it, they can promote it.”

Also setting the venture apart: It comes with an inherent flare for local pride. Supporting the county clerk’s office in the initiative is none other than the Chicago Bears, who are providing team-branded merch, down to an orange and blue-colored early voting handbook, and words of encouragement to participating students.

On the heels of the Bears’ wild-card playoff game this weekend, students at Tuesday’s training were met with a video message from the team rousing their involvement in the voting process, which ended with two words to the young audience: “Bear down.”

The support isn’t one-sided either. A few weeks ago, Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon and staff from her office visited a Bears training camp in north suburban Lake Forest, where they explained the election process and even helped register a few players to vote.

“Strong elections don’t just happen,” Gordon told students as she sported a Bears jersey with the words “DA’mocracy Defenders” written across the front. “Like a winning game plan, they depend on people who show up, learn their roles and work together to get it right.”

Speaking with the Tribune after her remarks, Gordon said seeing how low turnout was among young voters in Cook County was a call to action.

“We’ve got to do something about this. … If we don’t, there’s danger in our future,” she said.

Gordon hopes the county’s initiative catches on and is adopted across Illinois, she said, adding she’d also like to see the effort eventually implemented throughout the country and even the globe.

“(These students will) carry this purpose with them throughout their lives,” she said. “They encourage others, they tell others what’s going on. Then what you have is a more informed, a more energized electorate.”

At the end of Tuesday’s training, students finished with a written test gauging their election judge prowess. Afterward, long-standing election officials who helped lead the event reviewed the questions aloud, sending the county’s newest slate of judges home with a clean bill of ballot expertise.

Seventeen-year-old Erik Kunicki left keen to use his newfound knowledge in real time.

The Buffalo Grove High School junior said he signed up to become a judge because he has a passion for local elections, which he thinks are especially important for deciding the policies and elected officials that communities engage with most day to day. In tandem, he wants to see his peers, through the county’s new program and efforts like it, recognize the role elections play and exercise their right to participate.

“I hope that (this will help) people see how important voting is,” he said, “and how it’s not that scary.”

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