[EL] A 16 year old voted?

Thu Nov 12 19:17:14 PST 2015

FairVote collects various resources on the issue here, including links to
info from other groups working on it. It includes good evidence about how
16 is a better age for a "first vote" than 18 or 19 due to greater
likelihood of the citizen being in a community they know and supportive
environment (school, family, peers). It also has a link to an important
report from Scotland about its introduction there in the independence
referendum that looks at the evidence rigorously and contributed to both
Scotland voting unanimously to extend it to all elections and the UK
seemingly heading toward 16-year-olds voting in the referendum on the EU.
See
http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/right-to-vote-amendment/lowering-the-voting-age/

Note that some studies suggest that someone who can first vote when exactly
18 is more likely to vote than someone who can first vote when 18 and a
month, and so on with decreasing rates for several years -- this
underscores the point about having a lower voting age will increase turnout
in "first vote opportunities" and studies show that this in turn
contributes toward greater likelihood to vote over time.

Some folks may be interested to know many states allow citizens who have
relatively recently turned 17 to help choose our next president in
primaries. See states with 17-year-old primary voting here.
http://www.fairvote.org/reforms/universal-voter-registration/17-year-old-primary-voting-2/

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 9:04 PM, Josh Douglas <joshuadouglas at uky.edu> wrote:

> 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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