While advocating for change as they marched for stricter gun laws, adolescents will possibly have the chance to march toward ballot boxes.
Washington D.C. has introduced its latest bill aimed to allow 16 and 17-year-old D.C. residents to vote in local elections, federal elections and, most importantly, presidential elections.
In retrospect, this would enable the metropolitan area to become the first jurisdiction in the country to lower its age range at the polls. Although D.C. would be the first to allow them to vote during presidential elections, it’s not the first to let people under 18 vote.
According to VICE, “In 2013, Takoma Park, Md. lowered the voting age for municipal elections followed by Hyattsville Md. More recently the progressive bastion of Berkeley, Ca. brought the voting age down to 16 for school board elections.”
However, this does pose the question of whether adolescents are capable of selecting a government official that can meet everyone’s political criteria. In other words, are 16 and 17-year-olds aware enough to make such informed decisions at the expense of their own judgement?
According to a peer reviewed article by Daniel Hart and Robert Atkins, “Analyses of national survey data demonstrate that by 16 years of age-but not before-American adolescents manifest levels of development in each quality of citizenship that are approximately the same as those apparent in young American adults who are allowed to vote.”
Initially the bill was introduced by Democrat Council member Charles Allen in 2015, yet it has managed to resurface into 2018. Allen seems to be an avid believer of encouraging the youth to become active in political causes of their interest.
“By enfranchising 16 and 17-year-olds, we can bring our young people directly into the political process, lift their voices, and, hopefully, create engaged, lifelong voters” said Allen in a recent VICE interview .
Furthermore, it’s no surprise that the youth are willing and able to put their voices to the cause. Brookings Institute recently reported that voters age 18-29, had a percentage of 55 that voted for Hillary Clinton, while 37 percent voted for Trump.
However, as of most recently, these young adolescents' voices were put to the test after the horrific Parkland, FL shooting incident. Gathering over 5,000 individuals, young adults all over the world shared their support and grief through the streets of D.C., as they “March for Our Lives” March 24.
Ultimately it's evident that the youth is quite capable of taking charge on the streets and would be able to do so at the polls. The bill currently awaits for the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety to debate.
Photo Courtesy of TIME
