WASHINGTON, DC — As the nation looks ahead to the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, Children’s Defense Fund Action (CDF Action)—the grassroots lobbying and advocacy arm of the national Children’s Defense Fund—has officially launched a major nonpartisan initiative designed to reshape how adults approach the ballot box. Entitled the "Voting Rights are Children’s Rights" campaign, the nationwide effort aims to remind the American electorate of a fundamental reality: while children do not yet possess the legal right to vote, every single law, policy, and budget that shapes their daily lives, health, education, and futures is written by adults who do.
The newly unveiled campaign arrives at a critical juncture for American democracy and child advocacy. By equipping parents, caregivers, faith leaders, congregations, and young voters with robust educational resources, CDF Action hopes to foster a culture where the interests of the nation’s youngest populations are actively prioritized during every election cycle. The campaign’s comprehensive suite of materials includes detailed voter action guides, step-by-step registration instructions, and practical strategies for adults on how to meaningfully involve children in their voting plans. Furthermore, the resources provide guidance on how parents and mentors can discuss their ballot choices with young people afterward, turning the act of voting into an educational and community-building experience.
To bring this mission directly into communities, CDF Action is mobilizing its network across the country, calling specifically on CDF Freedom Schools® partner sites to host "Read Aloud for Democracy" experiences at or near early voting centers nationwide on October 17. These events are designed to bring parents and children together to read before heading into early voting centers to participate directly in the democratic process in states where early voting has already commenced.
The philosophy underpinning the campaign is rooted in the belief that civic engagement must be modeled early and often. In a recent speech delivered to the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., CDF Action President and CEO Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson underscored the importance of letting children witness the voting process firsthand. He made a passionate appeal to all eligible voters who have children in their lives to not only cast their ballots with the well-being of youth in mind, but to physically bring them along to the polling places so they can experience democracy in action.
Dr. Wilson emphasized that society cannot afford to wait until young people turn 18 to suggest that they participate in elections. Instead, he argued, communities must actively bring up the next generation within a culture of civic engagement through direct modeling. Beyond the immediate educational value for youth, Dr. Wilson also pointed to the broader election protection work required in the current political climate, describing it as a necessary moral confrontation at the polls. He noted that efforts to restrict access to voting are, fundamentally, efforts to silence the voices of the nation’s children.
This sentiment was strongly echoed by Brittany Packnett Cunningham, CDF Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, who detailed how the "Voting Rights are Children’s Rights" campaign directly addresses recent, high-profile attacks on voting access across the country. Packnett Cunningham pointed directly to significant legal setbacks, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais, as evidence that the fight for ballot access is inseparable from the fight for child welfare and equity.
According to Packnett Cunningham, the connection between public policy, governance, and the lived realities of children is direct and undeniable. She noted that every school closure, every cut to nutritional programs like school lunch lines, and every shuttered hospital in an urban core or rural county—where a Black mother might be trying to safely deliver a healthy baby—is the direct result of a political vote. Consequently, she argued, individuals cannot claim to advocate for the well-being of children while remaining silent as voting access is restricted or undermined, asserting that these are fundamentally two sides of the same struggle.
In addition to encouraging child-centered voting practices during the 2026 midterms, CDF Action is calling on voters to focus heavily on broader systemic reforms. These priorities include actively expanding voting rights, reforming the nation’s court system, and demanding rigorous accountability for corruption at all levels of government. Furthermore, the organization remains deeply committed to ensuring that young people are fully equipped to vote, volunteer, and lift their voices in public life. As part of this long-term vision, CDF Action supports initiatives to lower the federal voting age to 16, a move intended to expand young people’s formal access to influence the political decisions that directly impact their futures.
Founded in 1969 as the Washington Research Project Action Council, CDF Action continues its decades-long legacy of advancing child well-being through grassroots lobbying, advocacy in Congress and statehouses, and holding elected officials publicly accountable. Through tools like its signature, nonpartisan Legislative Report Card, the organization informs the American public about how members of Congress vote on issues critical to children, ensuring that lawmakers answer for their legislative choices as the nation prepares to head to the polls.
