In an attempt to increase voter participation among young adults in New York the Assembly passed a bill last week allowing teenagers to pre-register to vote. The legislation, sponsored by Brian Kavanagh in the Assembly and David Carlucci in the Senate, would permit 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register so that their voter registration becomes effective immediately when they turn 18, the legal age for voting in New York. Kavanagh has identified voter registration among young people as a major issue citing nationwide statistics that show only 59 percent of eligible voters between 18 and 24 have signed up to vote, compared to 71 percent of voters of all ages.
In addition, the Manhattan assemblyman said the bill would help alleviate the local election boards that are often overburdened with large numbers of new registrations leading up to major elections.
“New York has one of the lowest rates of voter registration in the U.S. and that’s partly because we make it more difficult to register than many states,” Kavanagh said. “This bill is a small but meaningful step toward remedying that.”
Full Article: Bill would let young people pre-register to vote.