These principles are our basic agreements that bind us together and define us as Generation Vote. Any action that violates these principles is not a GenVote Action.
Our multigenerational movement is for young people and led by young people. We seek to develop and benefit from the leadership of our movement’s youngest and brightest voices.
Nonviolence wins over the hearts and minds of all voters. Our actions will always be peaceful and we are committed to keeping our people safe in the face of power.
We envision a democracy in which all people have time off to vote. We envision a country in which polling locations are accessible to all. We envision a future in which 16-year-olds can vote. Most of all, we envision a system in which no one, especially rising generations, face barriers when trying to vote.
From difference comes strength. We recognize and celebrate the participation of people of all races, ethnicities, sexualities, gender identities, ages, and religious backgrounds in the youth voting rights movement.
We amplify the voices being excluded by our political systems and layers of oppression. The voices of immigrants documented or not, the poor, people with disabilities, international students, single parents, incarcerated peoples, disenfranchised households, and all others who wish to speak truth to power and dismantle systems of oppression.
Any group of 5 people can form GenVote teams or Hubs in their local community, so long as they do so in accordance with our movement principles.
We grow our power through local grassroots organizing. We are active participants in our neighborhoods and our work is rooted in our local experiences.
We honor the legacy and sacrifices of the young people of our nation’s first civil rights movement and fight for youth suffrage. We recognize that we are a part of a much bigger story and follow in the footsteps of the young people of color who have been fighting this fight for generations.
We each bring something different to the table. When we work together, our movement becomes more representative of all those impacted by voter suppression. We recognize that burnout is harmful, and we can only be successful if we prioritize our personal wellbeing - we can't collectively care for our democracy if we don’t first care for ourselves and each other.