A First-Time Voter Marks His Birthday At The Polls

Sara Armstrong Photo.

Finn Crumlish woke up on his eighteenth birthday with an itinerary. There were nails to be done, arts classes to attend, celebratory chocolate cake to be consumed. But one priority rose above all the others: he needed to vote.  

Crumlish is a senior at James Hillhouse High School and the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), where he has made a mark on the city’s stages and in its visual arts classrooms. A lifelong resident of the city’s Edgewood neighborhood, young actor and self-described history nerd, he spent the lead-up to Tuesday’s primary—and his 18th birthday—getting ready to vote for the first time. 

“I think anytime that we have any chance to change something about our government, however small, it's important,” he said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon. “What I look for in a candidate is someone who has a plan for improving our city and moving it forward,” rather than someone who is going to maintain the status quo.  

So in the weeks before Tuesday, he started thinking about the things that were important to him.  

As a student in the city’s public schools and a young artist, education—and particularly funding for in-school and extracurricular arts programming—rose to the top of the list. At Hillhouse, “I’ve had problems scheduling classes, being in the right class, having funding for other programs,” he said. 

He’s also seen what robust, fully funded arts programs look like at private schools and in wealthier, whiter school districts. That contrast became especially stark when he joined Hillhouse’s Academic Theatre Company, which Wilbur Cross High School alum Ty Scurry built on a shoestring budget three years ago. This year, Crumlish played Seymour in the school’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.

With virtually no funding from the district, the cast—which went on to win statewide recognition earlier this year—fought an uphill battle to get to opening night.  

First they got kicked out of the school’s auditorium, where decades-old infrastructure meant a leaky roof and equipment that was falling apart, according to Scurry. Then students moved into a gym at New Haven Academy, where Scurry teaches drama. As other schools mounted well-funded ensemble productions with large-scale, glitzy sets, Scurry raised funds out of pocket and repurposed former set pieces to bring the show to fruition. 

The resource gap, which was more of a chasm, made Crumlish mad. As he prepared to vote for the first time Tuesday, it also led him to Democratic mayoral challenger Liam Brennan, who spoke in favor of funding arts education and new arts-specific programming initiatives in the city’s public schools (safe and affordable housing, perhaps Brennan’s biggest issue, is also close to Crumlish’s heart). On Monday, he and his mom, Sara Armstrong, headed to City Hall shortly before noon to get him registered. They made it just under the wire.  

It made voting into something of a new birthday tradition. After sleeping in on Tuesday—New Haven Public Schools were off for the primary, while ECA was not—he cast his ballot at 120 Ellsworth Ave., a fire station that doubles as a polling place. The registration was so fresh, he remembered, that his name was still on a pink slip. Poll workers, who had an otherwise slow day in Ward 24 (only 234 voters came out), cheered him on as he cast his vote.

To celebrate Tuesday’s other milestone, he and Armstrong headed from the polls to the nail salon before an afternoon of arts classes. Shortly after finishing classes—and with the polls still open for four hours—he said that he was happy to have voted not for the outcome, but to have his political opinion reflected. Ultimately, his vote was among 2,176 that went for Brennan on Tuesday (as of Tuesday night, absentee ballot numbers had not yet been announced). 

“I would say that even how insignificant a vote may feel, if you don’t go out to vote at all, the people that you dislike are going to stay in power,” he said. “Even the smallest vote—you’re still showing support for what you believe in.” 

Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton, who cheered Crumlish on Tuesday morning, said she was excited to see a young constituent exercising his right. 

"It’s a wonderful thing for me!" she said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon. "I’m glad and happy to see that young folks are doing their civic duty and stepping up. It's a blessing."

"We have to educate our youth on the importance of voting," she added. In the 12 years that she's represented Edgewood, she said that public safety, jobs and safe and affordable housing have all become extremely important priorities for her. 

When she's able to talk to young voters like Crumlish, she's grateful to make those new connections in the neighborhood. "It is my duty to stand up and represent my community. I’m happy to do so."

Brennan later conceded after receiving roughly 30 percent of the vote. Only 7,352 Democratic voters turned out, of over 30,000 Democrats that are registered in New Haven. Before tucking into chocolate cake with vanilla icing, Crumlish said he was still glad he came out to vote. 

He has practice in watching a beloved candidate lose, he and Armstrong added earlier in the day. In 2016, he was just a kid when Donald Trump won the presidency. He’d spent part of election day at the polls with his mom, watching her vote for Hillary Clinton. He was so upset that he’d gone to school the next day in a t-shirt with the Union Jack emblazoned across its front.  

And yet, it didn’t dissuade him from hitting the polls. If anything, it gave him reason to keep coming out. “I’m glad I participated, even if my candidate didn’t win,” he wrote in a text message shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday night. 

Not all was lost. There was chocolate cake to be consumed. The night was still young. And there were exactly eight weeks until the next vote he could cast in November.