Michigan: 16 Year Olds Could Pre-Register To Vote Under Bill At State Capitol | WEMU

Michigan teens would be able to pre-register to vote under a proposal in Lansing. The measure would allow 16 and 17 year olds to fill out their voter registration paperwork when they get their driver’s licenses. The state would mail their voter cards when they turn 18. “It’s another way of making government much more efficient,” said state Sen. Steve Bieda, D-Warren. “It saves people in lines at secretary of state offices. It saves more correspondence going to the secretary of state’s office. It makes it a much easier process.”

New Mexico: House Democrat aims to lower voting age for school elections to 16; bill may face GOP opposition | The Santa Fe New Mexican

A freshman legislator introduced a bill Wednesday that would give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in school board elections, but it likely faces an uphill fight. Rep. Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, said in an interview that he wants to expand the pool of voters to improve historically low turnouts in school elections. Just as important, he said, the bill would allow more high school students to have a voice in the body of government that affects them most. Martinez, a 33-year-old lawyer, said he didn’t have a sense of whether his bill would have a chance in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But, Martinez said, House Speaker Don Tripp, R-Socorro, has stressed bipartisanship, and this bill should appeal to most everyone.

Maryland: Hyattsville passes teen voting measure | Gazette.Net

Sixteen and 17 year olds in Hyattsville will get to enjoy the right to vote in municipal elections, and may even be able to run for office. The Hyattsville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to give final approval on lowering the voting age in municipal elections from 18 to 16, joining Takoma Park, which became the first municipality in the country to lower its voting age in 2013. With the decision, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in Hyattsville’s May 5 municipal elections for mayor and City Council. Another charter amendment, which would have set the minimum age to run for office at 18, failed 5-5. Councilwoman Paula Perry (Ward 4) was absent.

National: How campaigns are courting 16-year-olds | Politico

Coming soon to a battleground state near you: White House campaigns combining census reports with Instagram and Twitter posts to target teenagers who aren’t yet 18 but will be by Election Day 2016. It’s an aggressive strategy with an obvious reward. More than eight million people will become legal adults eligible to vote for the first time by the next general election. Campaigns are eager to find ways to get through to these 16- and 17-year-olds who are still minors and, in most cases, more likely to be concerned with making it to class on time than who should be elected president. “It’s got to be the right candidate with the right message to excite and motivate that age demographic, with so many distractions in their life, to register, and then turn out,” said Vincent Harris, digital director for Rand Paul’s political operation.

Voting Blogs: How Young Is too Young for Poll Workers, and How do We Adapt to a Younger Generation? | State of Elections

It is no secret that the typical poll worker tends to be a senior citizen; indeed, the average age of those volunteering to work the polls is seventy-five. As new technologies are implemented for use in elections, however, there has been a growing push for younger volunteers who are presumably more tech-savvy. In efforts to recruit this younger demographic, California amended its election law statutes to allow high school students to serve as poll workers if certain conditions are met, including a minimum GPA and age requirement. On its face, this law appears like an excellent way to encourage young people to volunteer to serve as poll workers, especially as they are compensated for their time spent both in training and on Election Day. However, one question that remains unanswered is whether high school students, and minors in general, are mature enough to handle the responsibilities that come with the position.

United Kingdom: Britain likely to allow voting at 16 | The Times of India

In a massive shift, Britain is planning to allow 16-year-olds to vote in the upcoming general election in May. Prime Minister David Cameron has backed a House of Commons vote on expanding ballot to teenagers. This was done in the recent Scottish independence referendum that boosted youth engagement with politics. “I thought the referendum in Scotland did switch a whole lot of people onto political issues because the question being asked was so important. Now, we should respect the views of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament and we will devolve those powers over voting age… I’m very happy to listen to the arguments and to put them forward,” the PM said.

Maryland: Hyattsville becomes second U.S. municipality to lower voting age to 16 | The Washington Post

Hyattsville has become the second municipality in the country to lower the voting age for city elections to 16, nearly two years after its progressive neighbors in Takoma Park took similar steps. During a public meeting Monday night, residents young and old packed into City Hall to speak overwhelmingly in support of council member Patrick Paschall’s measure to extend voting rights to more city residents. The council voted 7 to 4 in favor of amending the city charter.

California: Youths seek to lower voting age to 16 in San Francisco | San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco teenager Joshua Cardenas really wanted to vote in the Nov. 4 election. It was packed with local measures, such as raising The City’s minimum wage and extending funding for youth services, which the lifelong resident would have voted for. But the Riordan High School senior was barred from hitting the polls because he did not turn 18 until two weeks after the election. Instead, Cardenas has opted to try to lower The City’s legal voting age to 16 — a change that has gained the support of at least two supervisors. On Monday, the effort cleared its first hurdle to potentially go before San Francisco voters as early as November. Cardenas, a member of the San Francisco Youth Commission since August 2013, has authored a resolution that urges Mayor Ed Lee and the Board of Supervisors to explore lowering the voting age to 16 for municipal and school district elections. The Youth Commission, currently comprised of 15 commissioners ages 12 to 23, supported the resolution in a 14-1 vote Monday night.

United Kingdom: Sixteen year olds could have the vote in a referendum on tax-raising powers for the Welsh Government | Wales Online

Sixteen year olds could have the vote in a referendum on whether to give new tax raising powers to the National Assembly. The Welsh Government will now be able to decide the age at which people can vote in the poll. The changes were announced in the House of Lords on November 11 as an amendment to the Wales Bill, which will grant limited tax raising powers to the Welsh Government. The amendment was tabled by Plaid Cymru’s Lord Dafydd Wigley and Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas. Lord Wigley welcomed the changes, which have been seen as a significant concession by the UK government. Speaking at the House of Lords debate, he said: “Plaid Cymru has long campaigned for the lowering of the voting age in Wales to 16 years old. As might be expected, this amendment was drawn up partly in response to the decision of the Scottish government to empower 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in the September referendum, as well as the outstanding take up of that right.

Australia: Victorian state election: 200,000 eligible voters missing in action | The Age

On the last day that Victorians could enrol to vote, staff from the Victorian Electoral Commission were desperately trying to make voting seem fun to persuade holdouts to register. More than 200,000 citizens were not yet registered to vote in the final hours: numbers that could have been seriously influential. Free frisbees, stress balls and water bottles were used all day to lure passing potential voters into an inflatable marquee at City Square that had a passing resemblance to a bouncy castle. “The Victorian election is looking like it’s going to be a close one and the message of our campaign this year is that every vote does count and some elections are won on a very small number of votes,” said VEC representative Lawson Fletcher.

Texas: Texas Has Issued More Auctioneer’s Licenses than Voter IDs | Texas Observer

It’s another election season in Texas. Another year that we’re on track to maintain the nation’s most dismal voter turnout. One difference this year is that voters are now required to present photo ID at the polls, the result of Republican-authored legislation ostensibly to deal with the diminishingly small number of voter fraud cases. It’s difficult to say what effect the voter ID requirement is having, though even some Republican state officials apparently knew that more than half a million registered Texas voters—disproportionately Hispanic and African American—lacked the credentials to cast ballots but didn’t bother to tell lawmakers. One thing is certain: Very, very few Texans have gotten election identification certificates (EIC), the new state-issued form of photo ID for those who don’t have it—340 Texans, to be precise.

Editorials: Age of candidacy laws should be abolished: Why 18 year olds should be able to run for public office. | Osita Nwanevu/Slate

In January, state Sen. Linda Lopez of Arizona retired after 13 years in the legislature. Before announcing her retirement, Lopez looked for a candidate to endorse to fill her vacancy. She soon settled on Daniel Hernandez, Jr., a friend and a board member of Tuscon’s Sunnyside Unified School District. He agreed and began gathering support to run for office. A win seemed likely. There was just one problem. Hernandez was 24. Arizona law requires legislators to be at least 25 years old. But Hernandez initially hoped he could run because he would turn 25 just 13 days after being sworn in. It wouldn’t have been unprecedented. Young federal and state legislators-to-be have found ways to work around age of candidacy laws for almost as long as the laws have existed. Back in 1806, antebellum statesman Henry Clay was appointed to the U.S. Senate at the age of 29 and reached the Senate’s age of eligibility, 30, more than three months after being sworn in. No one seemed to mind. Hernandez wasn’t so lucky. As he found out, Arizona state law requires candidates to sign an affidavit proving that they will be eligible for the office they seek on Election Day, barring him from running altogether. The law was clear: 24-year-old Hernandez was unqualified to serve in the state Senate this year. But a 25-year-old Hernandez would have been fine.

United Kingdom: Voting age ‘should be extended’, think tank finds | BBC

Voting in all elections should be extended to include 16 and 17-year-olds, following the independence referendum, a study has suggested. The work by think tank dpart found lowering the voting age could increase youngster’s engagement with politics. It also found schools had more influence than parents in giving confidence in understanding politics. Those aged 16 and 17 were able to vote in the referendum on 18 September, the first UK ballot to include them. Researchers at dpart gathered evidence from two surveys of under 18s – one conducted in April and May 2013, and then a second conducted one year later. More than 1,000 young people responded to each survey.

Gibraltar: Voting rights for 16-year-olds eyed | The Local

The government of Gibraltar on Monday proposed lowering the voting age in the tiny contested British outpost on Spain’s southern shore from 18 to 16, following the example of the recent referendum on independence in Scotland.  The move follows last month’s referendum on independence in Scotland when voters aged 16 and above were allowed to cast their ballots and proposals in Britain for the voting age in future general elections to be lowered. “With the referendum in Scotland having included 16-year-old voters, any future referenda in the UK and Gibraltar are likely to have such a franchise,” Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said in a statement. “As a result, it is clear to us that voting at general elections should also be extended to those who are 16 years and over.

Editorials: I’m 16. Let me vote | Emma Jacobs/The Guardian

There were winners and losers in the Scottish referendum. Alex Salmond may have led the losers but 16- and 17-year-olds took gold. The yes supporters may have been bitterly disappointed by the result, but first-time voters for both sides relished the opportunity to flex their electoral muscle. That’s why, as an English 16-year-old, I am left wondering why I can’t have a vote in the next general election in May 2015. Thankfully, change may be in the air. At this year’s Labour conference Ed Miliband said “It’s time to hear the voice of young people in our politics” and that he needs the “hope, energy [and] vitality” associated with our youth. It’s good to hear a political leader calling out to my generation – and not just hustling for votes. At my age I can buy a lottery ticket, have sex, drive a moped and leave school. So why am I responsible enough to have a baby or win the lottery, but not old enough to vote? The social contract that governs our society says we should have no rights without responsibilities, but we teenagers have lots of responsibilities without the precious right to vote.

United Kingdom: Teenagers Take Part in Scottish Vote | Wall Street Journal

Scotland’s referendum on whether to break away from Britain is making history in more than one way: It has been the first time 16- and 17-year-olds in the U.K. have been able to cast a ballot. Scotland lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 for the referendum. Though the new teenage voters are a relatively small part of the voting population, the move has given them rare political power. When the change in voting age was announced, it was seen as a likely boost for independence, given the conventional view that younger voters tend to have less affinity for the status quo. But polls suggested that might not be the case. Election officials say that more than 100,000 16- and 17-year-olds are registered to vote, out of 4.29 million total voters.

United Kingdom: Scotland’s Other Winners: Teenage Voters | Bloomberg

The 16- and 17-year-olds who voted in Scotland’s referendum didn’t determine the outcome. The margin of victory for the “yes” vote was larger than their total number of votes. But they did make a strong case to the rest of the world for a lower voting age. The U.K.’s voting age is 18, but Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond struck a deal to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to participate in the referendum, believing it would benefit the “yes” vote. It was a logical calculation: Support for independence was highest among those under 30. Pre-election polls and surveys, however, suggested that voters under 18 were narrowly divided and leaning the other way. Kids today. So conservative. If Salmond had gotten his wish, and the vast majority of 16- and 17-year olds had voted for independence, conservatives at home and abroad would have tut-tutted that they were too young to know what they were doing. By not voting as a bloc, and by largely mirroring societal attitudes, the young Scots knocked down the image of young voters as radicals. In doing so, they gave a big boost to the argument that 16-year-olds can responsibly participate in the democratic process — and to a nascent international movement to lower voting ages.

United Kingdom: Scotland to allow 16-year-olds to vote on independence | Macleans

Last September, Saffron Dickson, then 15 years old (now “16 and three-quarters”), attended a televised BBC debate in Glasgow on the subject of the upcoming Scottish referendum. Partway through the show, the host opened the floor to comments—and Dickson shot for the mike. Smiling saucily for the cameras, in bleached-blond hair and a dark leather jacket, she gave the people of Scotland an earful: “We don’t live in a country where we have equal rights,” she cried, raising a furious hand to the sky. “Westminster bakes the Empire Biscuit and we put the jelly tot on top. And we’re supposed to be completely ecstatic about having that little bit of power. But we won’t be silenced by your ideology!” Within weeks, Dickson had become “a wee bit” of a political celebrity in Scotland, which is now less than two months away from a historic referendum on independence from Britain. Today, Dickson is on the central board of Generation Yes, a large pro-independence youth movement, and a regular media fixture. Asked whether she hopes to run for office one day, she’s emphatic: “Yes!”

Japan: Revised national referendum law lowering voting age to 18 takes effect | The Japan Times

A revised national referendum law that lowers the minimum voting age to 18 from the current 20 took effect Friday. The law, enacted by parliament a week ago, is seen as a crucial part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to amend the pacifist Constitution to enable Japan to play a greater security role. Changes to the Constitution can be initiated with the support of at least two-thirds of the lawmakers in both houses of parliament and must be endorsed by a majority of voters in a referendum.

Illinois: New voting law lets 4,000 17-year-olds have their say for the first time | Medill Reports

Today across Chicago, city teens will skip school — with good reason. Illinois’ new “suffrage at 17 law” will allow 17-year-olds turning 18 by the Nov. 4 general election an excused absence to vote in the primary. According to the Chicago Board of Elections, almost 9,000 teens — 4,000 of whom are 17 have registered to vote since Jan. 1 when the law took effect. While that number falls short of the board’s stated goal of 30,000 students, Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Election Board, calls the effort historic: “We’re proud to have so many young people who can make history this election,” Neal said.

Illinois: New law permits 17-year-olds to vote in primaries, many say they’re ready | Chicago Tribune

As she juggles Advanced Placement classes and baby-sitting three nights a week during her final semester of high school, Neli Farahmandpour is researching candidates and where they stand on issues she cares about, like the cost of state college tuition and public schools funding. She won’t turn 18 until after this month’s primary election, but she’ll get to vote under a new state law that allows most 17-year-olds in Illinois to cast a ballot. “It’s not illogical,” said Farahmandpour, during a recent comparative politics class at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. “If you’re going to be picking the big players (in November), then why not be able to pick the ones that are going to be in the big election?” Advocates say the change allows youth to develop voting habits early, a key to ensuring they turn into lifelong voters. Critics have questioned whether teens are engaged enough to cast meaningful votes.

Europe: Millions could miss out on EU vote as registration deadline looms | EUobserver

May’s European elections may be three months away, but for those who are yet to register to vote, this week may be their final chance to make sure they get their hands on a ballot paper. Like the voting itself, which starts in some countries on 22 May but is staggered across the following three days, each country has its own national deadline to register to vote. People living in France or Spain who are not already on the electoral register have already missed the boat. Citizens living in Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg have less than 48 hours to meet the deadline of 28 February. An estimated 8 million Europeans of voting age live outside the country they were born in, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Austria. With 2.2 million and 1.9 million respectively, Germany and the UK have more than half of the EU’s expat community, followed by Spain and Italy. With over 600,000 non-national EU citizens, however, Belgium has the largest number of expats as a proportion of its population. Registrations by EU citizens to vote in their country of residence rather than origin have doubled in the past twenty years, from 5.9 percent in 1994 to 11.6 percent in 2009, but expats are surprisingly reluctant to exercise their right to vote.

North Carolina: Voting law hits black voters: Study | MSNBC

North Carolina’s recent voting law changes will disproportionately affect black voters in the state, according to a study published Wednesday by Dartmouth University. “The study provides powerful ammunition for the pending legal challenges,” says Brenda Wright, a voting rights expert with the liberal think tank Demos. “It shows that virtually every key feature of North Carolina’s election legislation will disproportionately cut back on registration and voting by African Americans in North Carolina as compared to whites.” North Carolina was once covered by the Voting Rights Act’s requirement that states and other jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting submit their voting law changes to the Justice Department for approval. After the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional last year the formula for determining which jurisdictions were covered by that requirement, North Carolina’s Republican-dominated legislature passed a package of voting law restrictions.

Illinois: New law will let some 17-year-olds vote in primary | Quincy Herald-Whig

For the first time ever, 17-year-old residents of Illinois will be able vote in a primary election this year — provided they will turn 18 in time for the Nov. 4 general election. This comes as welcome news for politically minded students like Julian Engels, a junior at Quincy High School. Engels will turn 18 in July. That not only makes him eligible right now to register to vote, but it also means he’ll be able to cast a ballot in the March 18 primary election — something he plans to do. Engels has already printed out an Illinois voter-registration form that he downloaded from the Internet. “I filled out the form and I’m ready to mail it in,” he said. But he’s not going to stop there. Engels is also planning to encourage other eligible QHS students to register to vote and take part in the election process this year.

Voting Blogs: The European Green primary experiment | openDemocracy

The Scottish referendum this year, whatever the result, will mark one significant change in British politics, with 16 and 17-year-olds being able to vote “yes” or “no” on the nation’s constitutional future. (Find out more here if that applies to you and you haven’t already registered.) But this won’t be a first, for 16 and 17-years-olds, all around the United Kingdom, will have an earlier opportunity to cast their vote – in the European Greens primary election, now open and continuing until January 28. Anyone aged 16 or over, who can indicate with a simple tick that they support the Greens principles, is entitled to cast their ballot – an opening up of democracy that is another European first.

Illinois: New law gives vote to some 17 year olds | The Edwardsville Intelligencer

A state law that went into effect Jan. 1 allows 17 year olds to vote in the March 18 primary if they turn 18 on or before the November general election. So far the only person to sign up has been a male student from Granite City High School whose birthday fell during the summer. “He was here on Jan. 2 at 8:30 a.m. He was ready!” County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza said Monday at her office at the Administration Building. “He was very excited about the idea of being able to vote in the primary and not having to wait until November. It was a big topic in the social studies and government classes. He said he was going to try to encourage his classmates.” Ming-Mendoza declined to name the student.

Editorials: Honey, I Shrunk the Vote!: the implications of a reduction in the voting age | University Times

It has been decided that by the end of 2015 there will be a referendum in Ireland regarding lowering the voting age from 18 years of age to 16. The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) is in support of the proposed reduction in voting age. There are several reasons for the proposed reduction of voting age. The most persuasive of which I believe is that it will put youth issues on the political agenda. The NYCI suggests that “the involvement of more young people in Irish politics would … ensure issues affecting young people specifically would gain more prominence in the political arena because the people affected by those issues would be able to exercise their franchise to influence the policymaking process”. If the population between 16 and 18 years of age were added to the electorate, this youth block alone would account for 3.1% of the voting electorate (based on the population figures from the Census taken in 2011). This is a proportionately large amount of the electorate considering it only involves an age range of two years.

Malta: Bill to allow voting for 16-year olds in local elections approved in first reading | Gozo News

A bill to lower the voting age to 16 for the local council elections was approved on Wednesday evening following its first reading in the House of Representatives. It was presented by Parliamentary Secretary Jose’ Herrera and seconded by David Agius, the shadow minister for local councils. Dr Herrera commented “that this was a historic milestone and had been reached on the 20th anniversary of the founding of the councils.” Earlier in the evening discussion were held in the Tapestry Chamber where it was presided by the Speaker, Anglu Farrugia. Dr Herrera, Mr Agius, MP’s, mayors and young people (known as Ambassadors) representing the various councils, were present for the discussions. From there they moved to the Chamber of Parliament to follow the moving of the Bill for its First Reading.

Argentina: Will letting 16-year-olds vote change Argentina? | CSMonitor.com

Ignacio Cura, a floppy-haired high-school student, belongs to a new generation of voters that will cast some of its first ballots tomorrow in Argentina’s mid-term elections. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s ruling Peronist alliance, the Front for Victory, passed a controversial law last year that lowers the voting age from 18 to 16. More than half a million youngsters in this nation of 40 million people have since opted to join Mr. Cura on the electoral roll. Critics see the law as a blatant attempt by President Kirchner to harness extra votes in uncertain times for her leftist government, which is popularly believed to count young people among its most fervent supporters. But others say it is a tool for widening democracy and a political extension of Kirchner’s liberal social policies. “This started as a government plan to capture a new mass vote,” says Sergio Berensztein, a political analyst at Poliarquía, a Buenos Aires consultancy. “But that vote is not homogenous.”