Weber presents John Lewis Youth Leader Service Award to Berkeley student and voting rights activist
California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. announced a University of California, Berkeley student, Alex Edgar, is the recipient of the 2022 National Association of Secretaries of State John Lewis Youth Leadership Award.
“We’ve been impressed with how enthusiastically Alex embraced his role as a Voter’s Choice Act Ambassador,” said Weber. “His help was critical to our efforts to educate and motivate young voters. But before he even started with us, he had demonstrated exemplary commitment to voting rights, civic engagement and civic leadership. It gives me hope for the future to see a young person so passionate and so dedicated to the cause of empowering voters.”
Edgar is a second-year student at UC Berkeley studying political science with a concentration in political behavior and minors in public policy, political economy and education. He received the award in Secretary Weber’s Sacramento office.
“I am humbled and honored to receive an award named after legendary voting rights champion, John Lewis” Edgar said. “I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to work with the Secretary of State’s office on voter education, and to receive this recognition from Secretary Weber, whom I always have looked up to as a leader on voting rights in California.”
The NASS John Lewis Youth Leadership Award, named for the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, was created in February 2021 to recognize young persons in each state who demonstrate leadership ability, a passion for social justice and motivation to improve the quality of life in their communities.
Edgar is currently working as an intern to the Executive Director at the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, a Criminal Justice Research Intern at the Constitutional Rights Foundation and a California Common Cause Legislative Intern. He also serves as the Director of the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition and the Civic Engagement Coordinator for the UC Student Association. Additionally, Edgar is the creator and facilitator of the “Civic Engagement 101” course at the Goldman School of Public Policy and co-chairs the Chancellor’s Civic Engagement Committee and the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Advisory Board on Student Civic and Voter Empowerment.
Through his various roles, Edgar has become a strong student voice in the youth vote space, being published in Forbes and featured in a CBS News Bay Area segment. Alex has also spoken and moderated panels on voting rights and civic education at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School; the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago; The Andrew Goodman Foundation; The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice; Ronald Reagan Presidential Institute; and UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.
