Sixteen-year-olds can drive. Should they be able to vote?
A proposed constitutional amendment—known as ACA 7 in the California Legislature—would lower the voting age to 16 in school and community college governing board elections.
The author of the amendment, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), announced the proposal in a rally on Feb. 9 with students and school board officials.
"These young adults are directly impacted by decisions made by local education boards and deserve to have a voice – especially in families where the students represent the first generation of voters," Gonzalez said in a news release.
In the last general election, California had one of the lowest voter turnouts in the nation. Only 30.8 percent of registered voters participated, and only 14.3 percent of voters ages 18-24 cast a ballot, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Additionally, only 17 percent of Hispanic voters turned out in 2014.
Gonzalez and co-authors of the amendment, Democratic Assemblymen Tony Thurmond and Rob Bonta, want to lower the voting age to encourage civic engagement among young people and minorities.
The Precedent
While the California Legislature has not voted on a bill like ACA 7 before, it did approve a bill in 2014 that allowed 16-year-olds to submit voter affidavits prior to being eligible to vote. The law now permits minors to pre-register to vote if their 18th birthday falls within the 30 days prior to an election.
Lawmakers in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico and Washington have considered similar legislation. However, those efforts to lower the voting age met little success.
Municipalities have been the only exception: Takoma Park in Maryland amended the city charter in 2013 to allow 16-year-olds to vote in city elections, and Hyattsville, Maryland, passed a similar measure in 2015.
"If students under the age of majority are interested in a voice in what is going on in their schools, that avenue is already available to them..."
Eileen Robinson
The Problem
Opponents of the idea worry 16-year-olds do not have the requisite civic education to vote responsibly.
"In California, seniors in high school are required to pass a course in government or 'civics' in order to graduate," said Elizabeth Griffin, a Chico Unified School District Board member. “This provides them with the background information they need to become responsible voters. I believe students should be required to take that course prior to being allowed to vote. Since most students are 17 or 18 when they are seniors in high school, it makes sense for the voting age to be 18 because then there is a greater likelihood that they will have taken the course and be better prepared to vote.”
Dr. Kathleen Kaiser, a 10-year veteran of the CUSD Board, agreed.
“The structure of the rationale is that school boards and community college boards are something that 16-year-olds know a lot about ‘because it impacts them directly,’” she said. “Doesn't that apply to taxes, going to war, immigrants—especially if your family has immigrant status—or the environment? So I would ask you when you turned 18 did you feel you knew enough about your local school board or the local community college board, knew the candidates and the issues they stood for to vote wisely?”
Board members note that while school board meetings are open to the public, very few students attend let alone participate.
Eileen Robinson, the Chico board president, said she does not agree with the bill because school boards regularly address matters that are not directly connected to locals or students.
“There are many levels of governance responsibilities connected with being a school board member,” she said. “Boards set policy on legal matters dictated by legislation. They prioritize spending plans, negotiate contracts with labor unions, approve course offerings, set graduation requirements, discipline employees, protect the rights of students under the law and work within a budget process that is controlled by the State that may not be responsive to local needs.”
Robinson also said that legislation does already exist to include local students in classroom decisions.
In 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown authorized Local Control Funding Formula, which reformats the grant process for California school districts. A provision of the formula is that districts must create more ways for students and community members to offer input.
“If students under the age of majority are interested in a voice in what is going on in their schools, that avenue is already available to them through attending and speaking up at the LCAP planning meetings and speaking up as the district provides opportunity for input outside of the meeting format,” Robinson said. “Our superintendent meets with student representatives at each school in the district and records their input and offers it for consideration.”
"Yeah, we're young but I think we could make a difference."
Alex Allspaugh
The Student View
While school members are largely against the voting age reform, Chico students think it could be an improvement.
Meagan King, 17, a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, thinks 16-year-olds could have an important influence on the local school board.
"I do not feel represented by the school board," she said.
King said giving students the vote would help the school board address students' needs better, especially when it comes to bullying.
“Schools pretend to care about bullying but in the end they don't care at all,” she said. “It's quite pathetic.”
Alex Allspaugh, 14, an incoming high school freshman, is also in favor of the amendment.
“Yeah, we’re young but I think we could make a difference,” he said. “A lot of adults say we’re too immature and uninformed to be able to handle this big decision, but a lot of adults make uninformed decisions when they vote. So why shouldn’t they let us at least have the opportunity to get educated and participate.”
ACA 7 will be read in the assembly for the first time on March 13. The bill will require at least a two-thirds majority to pass.
