Youth Initiative

Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote strives to increase youth awareness of their responsibility in representative government and provide the tools necessary for meeting that responsibility. This initiative is an attempt to engage the next generation to think about democracy, the role of our leaders, the role of our government and most importantly, their role in making democracy work.

The Youth Initiative is an effort to create a LWVSAA Youth Group, composed of high school and college aged students.

In summer of 2021, a youth focus group brainstormed and named this youth initiative Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote in an attempt to engage the Bexar county youth in imagining the world they want to live in and tracing the necessary steps to help build it. The project fosters a dialogue in a peer setting to help identify and understand issues that are important to create the future of that world. 

Objectives Include:

• Increase youth civic engagement
• Educate youth regarding issues surrounding voting
• Provide a platform for youth that encourages critical thinking to form and express their views
• Increase communication between youth and elected officials
• Promote youth voter registration
• Build a pool of young Student Election Clerks

Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote Annual Contest

The annual contest is aimed to empower the next generation to think critically about issues related with Democracy. The contest engages high school, undergraduate and graduate students in Bexar County. They are allowed to use many mediums of expression including essay/poem/rap/spoken word. 

Picture This: Our Future, Our Vote Annual Conference



An annual Youth Conference (half a day/full day) is being planned to provide youth with a platform to explore their vision, identify their choices and understand the values they represent and recognize the likely tradeoffs. The conference will be aimed to encourage dialogue in a peer setting and deliberation about issues important to them. It will provide an opportunity to learn, form opinions, and express ideas. It will explore how to execute their vision, implement their ideas into action. In addition, it will provide leadership training.

In October, 2022, the league organized an essay/poem/rap/spoken word contest. High school, undergraduate and graduate students in Bexar County were invited to respond to the prompt: What is your vision of a democratic society? What is your role within this society? 

A description of the contest appeared in the San Antonio Express-News along with the winning entries.

Tessa Uviedo, High School Winner



Faith Brough, Undergraduate Winner

Antonia Taylor, Graduate Winner

Play VerifyIt!

It is an online news literacy, voting and civics education game that helps you become a more well-informed citizen.

This fun, free, interactive game helps students and first-time voters identify misinformation and better understand their government and their voting rights. While directed to students, young and first-time voters, the game can really be enjoyed by anyone who wants to learn more about our democracy.

• Women's Suffrage & 19th Amendment Quiz (pdf)
• Women's Suffrage & 19th Amendment Quiz (docx)

• Texas Voters' Bill of Rights (pdf)