Young people don’t need to be told to care about democracy—they need meaningful opportunities to shape it.

In this August 20 conversation, Laura Brill, founder and CEO of The Civics Center, and Ben Sheehan, executive producer and host of Civics Made Easy, discussed how student-led voter registration drives can close youth registration gaps and build lifelong civic habits. Brill highlighted the power of trusted messengers—including friends, family, teachers, coaches, and community leaders—and emphasized creating a sense of belonging and giving students ownership of the process. The Civics Center is on track to support 600 voter registration drives this midterm cycle, building on a seven-percentage-point increase in 18-year-old registration over four years. The discussion also covered working with schools and districts, new classroom resources, and ways adults can help students get involved.

The path to stronger youth participation starts with putting young people in the driver’s seat—and giving them the tools to lead.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Laura W. Brill is an attorney, former law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a mother of two young adults. An award-winning advocate with more than two decades of experience working on complex legal issues and advocating for equal voting rights, she launched The Civics Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit, to stop youth voter suppression and tackle the decades-old problem of low youth turnout. Her most recent article is “Getting Youth Engaged in Democracy,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2026.

Ben Sheehan is the creator and host of Civics Made Easy, a new PBS show that explains the fundamentals of American government. He is also the bestselling author of “What Does the Constitution Actually Say?“, an entertaining guide that has been praised by legal scholars, historians, and politicians across the aisle. As a commentator Ben has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, Good Morning America, CBS News, PBS Newshour, Amanpour & Co, and more. He also writes the bestselling Substack, Politics Made Easy, and has an active social media presence with more than 250,000 engaged followers.