"I started out as a 16 year old registering people to vote"
About this Quote
There’s a calculated humility in starting the story at 16: not in a boardroom, not on a debate stage, but in the unglamorous, door-to-door mechanics of democracy. DeForest Soaries frames his political identity as earned from the ground up, rooted in civic labor rather than ambition. It’s origin-myth material, but the point isn’t nostalgia. It’s legitimacy.
Registering people to vote is a peculiar kind of power. You’re not persuading them to agree with you; you’re expanding the audience that gets to decide. Soaries is signaling an allegiance to process over personality, participation over ideology. That matters coming from a politician, a category many voters assume is driven by self-interest. By planting his flag in voter registration, he tries to flip the premise: he didn’t enter politics to win, he entered public life to widen the franchise.
The subtext also nods to race and access without naming either. In late-20th-century American politics, “registering people to vote” carries Civil Rights aftershocks: the fights over who counts, who gets heard, and who gets systematically discouraged. A Black public official invoking that work is quietly reminding listeners that democracy is not self-executing; it has to be built and defended, often by teenagers with clipboards.
Context sharpens the intent. Soaries has served in roles tied to elections and civic administration. This line functions as a credential, a rebuttal to cynicism, and a subtle challenge: if he began by enlarging democracy, what are you doing to sustain it now?
Registering people to vote is a peculiar kind of power. You’re not persuading them to agree with you; you’re expanding the audience that gets to decide. Soaries is signaling an allegiance to process over personality, participation over ideology. That matters coming from a politician, a category many voters assume is driven by self-interest. By planting his flag in voter registration, he tries to flip the premise: he didn’t enter politics to win, he entered public life to widen the franchise.
The subtext also nods to race and access without naming either. In late-20th-century American politics, “registering people to vote” carries Civil Rights aftershocks: the fights over who counts, who gets heard, and who gets systematically discouraged. A Black public official invoking that work is quietly reminding listeners that democracy is not self-executing; it has to be built and defended, often by teenagers with clipboards.
Context sharpens the intent. Soaries has served in roles tied to elections and civic administration. This line functions as a credential, a rebuttal to cynicism, and a subtle challenge: if he began by enlarging democracy, what are you doing to sustain it now?
Quote Details
| Topic | Youth |
|---|
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