Ducklings - Voting Engagement Considerations

Benefits

  1. Enhanced Civic Engagement: Youth involvement in the decision-making process could be empowering and educational, fostering a sense of civic responsibility and encouraging future participation in community issues.
  2. Increased Awareness of Generational Perspectives: Displaying youth engagement results in Consensus gives general voters a direct insight into how the younger generation views issues. This could add valuable context for decisions on topics with long-term implications, helping to bridge generational divides.
  3. Balancing Influence and Autonomy: Allowing only a select number of youth who have gained “status” to influence visibility ensures that this feature is not overused and is based on merit, such as consistent, thoughtful engagement in Ducklings.

Considerations

  1. Selective Visibility: There should be clear criteria for which youth engagement outcomes become visible in Consensus. This could be based on a high threshold of youth support (e.g., 75-80%) to ensure the youth perspective is particularly strong before it’s brought to the larger audience.
  2. Voting Impact vs. Influence: Displaying youth preferences should ideally influence the voters’ perspectives but not skew the voting mechanics. For example, showing youth sentiment as informational rather than directive would allow general voters to make their own decisions while keeping youth insights top of mind.
  3. Threshold and Voting Alignment: It may help to establish a threshold or approval process where youth votes must align significantly before visibility is triggered in Consensus, maintaining focus on consensus-driven results.
  4. Transparency and Communication: Explain to voters why youth perspectives are shown in Consensus to foster understanding and acceptance. Providing a transparent explanation helps avoid confusion or concerns about influence over general voting.
  5. Recognition and Empowerment for Youth Leaders: Youth who reach a level of “status” where they can trigger visibility in Consensus might benefit from further incentives, such as additional mentorship or engagement opportunities, enhancing their leadership experience.