They aren’t all old enough to cast their ballots, but the teenagers Chalkbeat spoke with are clear on what’s at stake for them this Election Day. The response to COVID-19, voter suppression, police violence, and LGBTQ rights are driving their work to get their parents, old-enough friends, and other New Yorkers to vote.

“If you go on TikTok or you go on Twitter or you go on Instagram, you see these comments. ‘You can’t even vote. Why do you care?’ We have to erase that notion, ” said Leonel Ramirez, 17, of Brooklyn.

Ramirez, who is a senior at Food and Finance High School in Manhattan, is active in YVote, a nonprofit that gives students opportunities to talk politics and learn how they can make a difference, regardless of their age or immigration status. (YVote’s founder, Sanda Balaban, is a member of Chalkbeat’s reader advisory board.)

In recent months, YVote participants have made scorecards for assessing candidates on issues such as racial and climate justice, created public service announcements, and reached out to voters.

“For people I can get through to, I kind of just walk them through the process: how to register, how easy it is,” said Kenisha Mahajan, a 15-year-old who lives in Queens and is a sophomore at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. “I just try to get them as involved as possible. I tell them: You can become a poll worker or do phone banking.”

What follows are excerpts from our interviews with New York City teenagers about their political awakenings and why this election matters to them.

These interview excerpts have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Read the full article about the impact of this election by Sarah Darville and Gabrielle Birkner at Chalkbeat.