It’s a debate taking place all across the United States. Should 16 year olds be given the right to vote?
The city of Golden, Colorado has a ballot measure this November that will decide on whether to lower the minimum voting age in local elections from 18 to 16.
The city of 21,000, located just outside Denver, would be the first Colorado community to approve such a measure. If passed, voters as young as 16 would be able to cast ballots in elections for local candidates and on local issues.
The state legislature previously discussed a bill that would have lowered the voting age in school board races to 16, though it never happened.
If approved, the new age minimum would go into effect in November 2019. Golden would still require residents to be at least 18 years old to run for office.
Supporters say 16-year-olds work without limits on their hours and pay income tax on their earnings. They drive motor vehicles. When they commit crimes, they are tried as adults in our court system.
A number of other municipalities nationwide have already considered a similar idea, including Washington, D.C.
Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) sponsored a resolution last month that would alter the Constitution in order to lower the voting age to 16.
The move comes amid broader efforts to expand the right to vote in municipalities across the country. San Francisco earlier this year began issuing voter registration forms to noncitizens with children in the city school district after voters approved a proposition to allow the reform in 2016.
The Board of Education in Portland, Maine, voted last month to support a resolution urging the city council to put the question on the ballot.
In 2011, Norway officials decided to test out allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. The result: 58 percent showed up to the polls — more than first-time voters ages 18 to 21. After lowering its voting age to 16, Austria saw a similar trend: 16- and 17-year-olds voted at higher rates than other young voters.
On July 1, 1971, the 26th Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified, lowering the national voting age from 21 to 18. The act was largely fueled by young Vietnam protesters, frustrated that citizens could serve in the military at 18 but not vote.
The rationale for selecting the age of 18 was entirely based on the military service age — there was little information, in the form of rational discourse, as to what the ideal voting age was when considering habit formation.