NJ lawmaker blasts ‘$1M flop’ after just 45 teens vote in Newark election

🗳️ Just 45 teens voted in Newark school election despite 1,500 registered
💥 Lawmaker blasts program after $1M spent to expand youth voting
⚠️ Critics raise concerns about turnout, influence, and election integrity

NEWARK — A controversial push to let teens vote in a major New Jersey school election is facing sharp backlash after turnout came in shockingly low.

Only 45 votes were cast by 16- and 17-year-olds in Newark’s latest school board election on Tuesday, according to reports, despite roughly 1,500 teens registered to participate.

Overall turnout wasn’t much better. Just 3.2% of voters showed up in a race that helps decide how billions in education funding is spent. And more than a billion dollars of that budget is paid by taxpayers across New Jersey in the form of coveted state aid.

That sparked outrage from Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, R-Sussex, a conservative from rural New Jersey who ripped the urban program in a fiery post on X on Wednesday.

“I HOPE YOU ARE SITTING DOWN,” Fantasia wrote, pointing to what she said was $1 million spent to allow youth voting.

The experiment in expanding voting to people younger than 18 comes as the Trump administration continues to push the issue of election integrity.

Supporters argue that youth voting could grow over time as awareness increases. But some critics suspect this policy might be a way for Democratic politicians to add more votes for themselves.

"So they just coerce the kids, who are highly impressionable, to vote their way and the parents don’t bother," one X user responded on Fantasia's X post.

"This is nothing more than very poorly disguised election rigging by the Dems," another said. "The teacher's unions, which are majority left wing Democrats, can tell 16 and 17 year olds anything and they'll believe it. Who do you think teachers are telling these kids to vote for? Not Republicans!"

‘What are we doing?’

Fantasia questioned the policy itself, arguing that teenagers shouldn’t have influence over massive public budgets.

“Who thinks it’s a good idea for children—who cannot be legally held to a contract—to have a say in where a total $1.6B budget goes?” she wrote, referencing Newark schools’ spending.

She also blasted broader voter turnout, saying adults failed to show up while decisions were being made on major contracts, spending, and school policies.

"Only 3.2% of adult registered voters in Newark bothered to show up to decide who gets to spend $1.3B in statewide taxpayer funds," she said. "Yes, these are the people who approve midnight contract extensions for Superintendent Surf-and-Turf; Honolulu trips and luxury travel; $225K on balloons; $500M school leases for buildings they won’t even own; millions more for buildings in neighborhoods with unfilled seats; no bid contracts; and services promised to kids that are not delivered."

Youth voting experiment struggling

Newark became the first city in New Jersey to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections — a move backed by state Democrats who hoped it would boost civic engagement.

But turnout has remained extremely low. Last year, just 73 teens voted, despite heavy outreach efforts. This year’s even lower number — 45 — is now raising questions about whether the program will expand statewide.

Starting this year in New Jersey, 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote in primaries as long as they turn 18 by Election Day in November. The law was signed in 2024 by then-Gov. Phil Murphy, adding New Jersey to a list of nearly two dozen states that do the same.

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