The Lower House on Thursday passed a bill to enable people aged 18 or 19 to vote in the upcoming Upper House election even if they change their address shortly before the ballot. While the country is set to lower its voting age to 18 from 20 on June 19, some 70,000 of the 2.4 million new voters were expected to become ineligible to vote as the current election system shuts out those who change their address less than three months before the election.
Since Japan’s academic year starts in April, many high school graduates tend to move in the spring to start further education or work, raising concerns that young people’s votes would subsequently be limited in the upcoming election just as the government seeks to raise their interest and participation in politics.
The latest bill, eyed to be enacted simultaneously with the voting age amendment, will remove that moratorium by allowing them to vote at their old address as long as they had lived there for three months or longer and four months or less have passed since they moved out.
Full Article: Lower House passes bill to preserve voting rights for new electors | The Japan Times.