Democrats Now Want To Lower The Voting Age To 16

Here's more on the story, from The Hill:

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) sparked a fresh debate over whether younger teenagers are old enough to vote in federal elections when she introduced an amendment that would lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

While the amendment failed to pass the House in a 126-305 vote last week, the debate continues. 

Many conservatives, for example, oppose the idea as "radical."

They include Boston talk radio host and political commentator Jeff Kuhner, who on Saturday challenged Pressley to come on his show “Kuhner Report” to debate the issue.

"Why stop at 16? Why not 15? Or 14? Or 13? This is simply more liberal insanity," Kuhner tweeted.

Joe Walsh, the former GOP congressman and host of "The Joe Walsh Show" on radio, argued that 15 year olds "have no skin in the game."

"Respectfully, a 5 year old's future is at stake every election too, but we don't let 5 year olds vote," he tweeted on the same day.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) also weighed in: "Liberals don't think kids know what gender they are, but are smart enough to vote. It's a brave new world!"

Pressley and her supporters, however, counter that modern young people have earned a vote.

"The #youth of this nation are the foot soldiers of the movement, expending sweat equity at the forefront of our most existential crises. They deserve the right to be ballot casters," Pressley tweeted over the weekend.

About half of House Democrats voting for Pressley's amendment, while almost every House Republican voted against it. 

"Those who pay taxes should have a voice in our democracy. As a teen, I worked & paid taxes. This week I voted for an amdt that would give young adults the right to vote - it failed by a wide margin. I support policies that encourage work & this could be part of the conversation," tweeted Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), the lone Republican who voted for the amendment.

And CNN ran this Op-Ed, called "Let 16-Year Olds Vote":

My son follows the news closely; he watches John Oliver every week. He's angry that his parents' and grandparents' generations have left him with a rapidly warming and unlivable world. He's joined in demonstrations against gun violence. At his school he was involved in student-led efforts to change the name of Columbus Day and to promote trans rights. He thinks President Donald Trump is, as he puts it, "a racist, sexist homophobe."

For all those reasons, he would like to vote in the 2020 elections. But he can't. He'll be 16 next November. In the US, 16-year-olds can get a license to pilot dangerous, giant hunks of metal at high speeds. But they can't vote.

Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley is trying to change that. Last week she introduced an amendment to a voting rights bill to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. "From gun violence to climate change, our young people are organizing, mobilizing and calling us to action," she argued. "They are at the forefront of social and legislative movements and have earned inclusion in our democracy." 

Democrats narrowly supported the measure, but Republicans voted against it en masse, and it was defeated. That was a mistake. Young people need and deserve the right to vote -- and the country would be stronger if they had it. 

The argument for allowing young people to vote is the same as the argument for allowing anyone to vote. The United States was founded on the central insight that if you have no voice in your government, you will be mistreated. Disenfranchisement is the first step towards injustice. The vote is essential for liberty and equality in a democracy. That's why the colonists rebelled against Britain. It's why women, black people, and other marginalized groups have fought to be included in the franchise since America was founded. 

Young people are affected by government policy decisions on gun control, on schooling, on climate change. As Pressley says, they often organize and advocate around these issues. Last month, for example, a number of school kids confrontedCalifornia Sen. Dianne Feinstein, asking her to back the Green New Deal. 

Feinstein's response was telling. She boasted that she was "elected with a million vote plurality," and dismissed a 16-year-old who argued with her by declaring, "well you didn't vote for me." 

Politicians are responsible to voters. Young people can't vote, so it's not surprising that a politician like Feinstein wouldn't feel responsible to them. Yet, as the kids say, they are going to be the ones who primarily have to live with climate change. Their futures will be warmer and bleaker because they are excluded from the polity. That's unjust. 

There are also practical reasons to lower the voting age. Many people bemoan low voting rates in the US. One of the best ways to encourage voting is to get people in the habit of voting; once you start to go to the polls, you're likely to continue.

In the US, though, people start voting at 18. That's the year that they often move off to college. They either have to cast ballots in a community with which they're unfamiliar, or pay attention to elections in a place where they no longer reside. That's a recipe for indifference. It would be much easier to encourage people to vote for the first time, and to establish voting patterns for a lifetime, when they're 16 and in high school.

And from Fox News:

Freshman Rep. Ayanna Pressley this week proposed lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, suggesting concerns about “maturity” at that age should not be an issue.

The measure failed Thursday, garnering just 126 votes in the House, and further discussion was “postponed” -- meaning there is still potential for further consideration on the proposal. 

Pressley, D-Mass., introduced the amendment to the For the People Act—a broad anti-corruption and voting rights bill-- on Wednesday which would allow Americans as young as 16 to vote in federal elections. The measure was her first proposed amendment in Congress.

“Beginning at the age of sixteen, young people are contributing to both the labor force and their local economies by paying income taxes, and yet they are deprived of the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” Pressley said on the House floor Thursday. “In this country, we affirm that when a person walks into the voting booth and pulls that lever, there is no meritocracy or hierarchy. The booth is the equalizer.”

She added: “Some have questioned the maturity of our youth. I don’t.”

Pressley went on to praise the “wisdom and maturity” 16-year-olds have, and how that stems from “2019 challenges, hardships, and threats.”

The proposed amendment stated: “A State may not refuse to permit an individual to register to vote or vote in an election for Federal office held in the State on the grounds of the individual’s age if the individual will be at least 16 years of age on the date of the election.”

If passed, the amendment would have become effective “with respect to the elections held in 2020” and onwards.