[EL] A 16 year old voted?

Thu Nov 12 18:04:02 PST 2015

Prior to the discussion on this list serv, I had began a new project on the
"local right to vote," looking at various franchise-enhancing measures that
have passed at the municipal level.  This follows on my work on the U.S.
constitutional right to vote
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1079895> and state
constitutional right to vote
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2234762>.  My research
so far is preliminary, and it will look at 16- and 17-year old voting,
non-citizen voting, and the like.  I have not found any legal scholarship
on the topic, but there have been various news stories about the two
Maryland towns that have lowered the voting age, as well as a few cities
(including San Francisco) debating the issue.  Here are some relevant links:

Maryland towns:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/politics/students-in-maryland-test-civic-participation-and-win-right-to-vote.html?_r=0

Proposal in San Francisco:
http://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/youths-seek-to-lower-voting-age-to-16-in-sf/Content?oid=2916012

But won’t be on ballot until at least 2016:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Plan-to-allow-16-year-olds-to-vote-won-t-be-on-6314581.php

DC proposal to allow 16-year-olds to vote in presidential elections:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/16-year-olds-in-dc-could-vote-for-president-in-2016-under-proposal/2015/11/03/3175fede-825d-11e5-8ba6-cec48b74b2a7_story.html

There is also some scholarship among family scholars about allowing
"children" to vote, but no systematic analysis on voting and elections, as
far as I can tell.  (I don't know if there are any political science
studies on the topic.)

Give me a few months and I'll have something more advanced for you!

Josh

-- 
Joshua A. Douglas
Robert G. Lawson & William H. Fortune Associate Professor of Law
University of Kentucky College of Law
620 S. Limestone
Lexington, KY 40506
(859) 257-4935
joshuadouglas at uky.edu

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 7:04 PM, David Adamany <adamany at temple.edu> wrote:

> I was not aware until today's postings of serious discussion to lower the
> voting age to 16.   Can anyone point me to a reliable summary of the
> activities and arguments surrounding this issue?
>
>
>
> My initial reaction is to wonder about the political atmosphere for such a
> change.   When Congress voted to submit the 26th Amendment to the states we
> have a very large number of veterans who had gone to war when there was a
> draft.   (Some veterans volunteered of course, but most, I believe, were
> draftees.)   Those would have been veterans of World War I, World War II,
> the Korean War, and the war in Viet Nam.   And my rough estimate of their
> number (subject to correction by more knowledgeable readers) was between 21
> and 24 million.   A great many would have been under 21 years of age at the
> time they were drafted or volunteered (but all would have been over 18).
> Hence, the argument: old enough to fight, old enough to vote.
>
>
>
> What might be the constituency for a 16-year old vote that would have the
> natural appeal to Congress and the public?
>
>
>
> And has anyone given thought to just how many people would be added to the
> electorate and how many to the actual vote by such a change.    My initial
> reaction was that parents who vote regularly would be most likely to
> facilitate the registration of their 16 and 17 year old children.   On
> second thought, it occurred to me that voter registration among that age
> cohort might be much larger than at 18 years old because registration would
> be very likely to occur in high schools.
>
>
>
> A final thought:  If registration were quite high, for the reason above,
> would voting also be considerably higher than among 18 to 22 year
> olds?   The latter group are often on the move residentially and hence do
> not register to vote.   The younger cohort, by contrast, are more likely to
> be residentially stable and hence not to be disqualified from voting by
> various registration requirements.    Moreover, to the extent that school
> buildings are still the site of polling places in many communities, 16 and
> 17 year olds might have a quite high turnout rate as compared to those
> slightly older.   If these many surmises are correct, there would be
> increased potential for changed election results.
>
>
>
> I am utterly devoid of evidence on these matters, but the thought of a 16
> old vote rule certainly provokes my speculative tendencies.
>
>
>
> Can anyone suggest some serious study of any of those issues: the
> seriousness of the prospects for such a change, the effect on voter
> registration  and turnout, and the potential impact on election outcomes?
> I'm sure that members of state legislatures and Congress will be alert to
> such implications and will, at the same time, not be faced with the "old
> enough to fight, old enough to vote" pressures that surrounded the 26th
> Amendment.
>
>
> David Adamany
> Laura Carnell Professor of Law
> and Political Science, and
> Chancellor
> 1810 Liacouras Walk, Ste 330
> Temple University
> Philadelphia, PA 19122
> (215) 204-9278
>
>
> David Adamany
> Laura Carnell Professor of Law
> and Political Science, and
> Chancellor
> 1810 Liacouras Walk, Ste 330
> Temple University
> Philadelphia, PA 19122
> (215) 204-9278
>
>
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>
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