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States Consider Lowering Voting Age
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Apr 18, 2004 07:05pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Sunday, April 18, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | States Consider Lowering Voting Age
The Coshocton Ohio Tribune
High school junior Lindsay Holbrook is brokenhearted. At 17, she will not be allowed to vote for president this November. And the Walled Lake, Mich., teen aims to do something about that. Holbrook is part of a movement to lower the voting age. It's an idea several states are considering.
It sounds counterintuitive: Young adults don't vote, so lower the voting age. But advocates for a lower voting age say 18 is the worst time to start voting because that's when teenagers' lives are in turmoil: moving away to college, stressing out over graduation, getting a job, joining the armed forces. Studies show voting is a habit that has to start early. If people don't start early as voters, they're less likely to vote ever. Some researchers fear that nonvoters in this generation will remain nonvoters as they age, causing a dangerous dive in voter turnout as baby boomers and older generations die out. Minnesota state Sen. Steve Kelley, a Democrat from Hopkins, Minn. said, "Among the ideas tossed out were having 17-year-olds be able to vote." Kelley's bill to allow just that has passed a committee.
Activists are pushing to go further: They want 16-year-olds to be able to vote. At that age most teenagers can work, pay taxes, drive, and be charged as adults for crimes, even be sentenced to death. In most states, 16-year-olds can get a driver's license. And while almost every state requires that a couple be 18 to marry, most states let 16- and 17-year-olds wed. "What kind of twisted message do we send when we describe a murderer as a 'mature, responsible adult' and describe a 14- or 16-year-old student looking to vote as a 'stupid little kid?' This is hypocritical and wrong," said Koroknay-Palicz, 22. |
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