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Lawmaker proposes giving 17-year-olds the right to vote in California primaries and special elections if they will turn 18 by the first Tuesday in November of an election year.
| Tuesday, Jul 1 2008 8:07 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 2 2008 10:16 AM
As any high school government teacher can tell you, civic education is sorely lacking in our schools. For every whiz kid who can recite the U.S. Constitution front to back, there are undoubtedly hundreds who, when asked to describe the 15th Amendment, would opt to take the Fifth instead (if only they knew what it said).
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One of Kern's touch-screen voting machines is pictured in this 2006 file photo.
Perhaps as a result, voter turnout among citizens in 18-to-24 age range is grievously low.
Now a state legislator is trying to do something about it. Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-San Mateo, knows something about civic education, having been a high school government teacher.
His solution: Drop the minimum voting age in California from 18 to 17, with the proviso that the voter must turn 18 by the date of the general election.
Mullin's proposed state constitutional amendment — not the first time it's been suggested — would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries and special elections if they will turn 18 by the first Tuesday in November of an election year.
Mullin says permitting high school seniors to prepare for their first foray into the voting booth even as they are taking government and economics classes "would heighten the interest in voting and demystify the process," he told the Associated Press.
Nineteen other states, including virtually the entire Far West (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona) as well as most of the Mid-Atlantic and Rust Belt states, have given 17-year-olds the right to vote in primaries. And, according to Mullin, all have seen a "pretty significant bump" in voting among 18- to 24-year-olds since they did so.
That only makes sense. Studying one's government while simultaneously having the chance to actually participate brings the experience to life.
Some will worry that younger voters tend to be more liberal. But as Mullin points out, teens tend to register in the same party as their parents. Only as they grow and mature do young voters find their own way, politically speaking. Learning how the system works by fully participating should only hasten that independence.
And isn't that what we in this democracy aspire to? A free, independent, informed electorate? If the answer is an unequivocal yes, Californians should endorse Mullin's proposal.