LOWER VOTING AGE EYED
Some see disconnect with tobacco change
Lawmakers are mulling multiple bills that would let cities and towns allow teens as young as 16 to vote in local elections, a move critics are calling “frivolous” and “absurd.”
Two bills that would allow “every citizen 16 or 17 years of age, who is a resident in the city or town where he or she claims the right to vote” to be placed on the voting lists for local elections will go before the Joint Committee on Election Laws for a public hearing at the State House Wednesday, along with several other pieces of legislation.
Rep. Andy Vargas, D-Haverhill, and Sen. Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, who filed the
Empower Act in the House and Senate, argued that at least nine cities and towns in the state have asked to be given the authority to lower the voting age for municipal elections.
“It is time to give municipalities the option to empower their own young people,” Chandler said. “Cities and towns have asked for this option for years, and I believe that young people deserve a voice in their local government.”
But MassGOP Chairman Jim
Lyons told the Herald, “The proposal to lower the voting age further to 16 years old is frivolous and without merit.”
“The idea of lowering the voting age to 16 is absurd on its face,” David Tuerck of the Beacon Hill Institute said.
“Legislators need to make up their minds,” Tuerck said, citing recent efforts to raise the age for purchasing tobacco products. Lyons added that lowering the voting age would be detrimental to “all the great work that has been achieved,” on age-related issues.
“On the one hand, they don’t trust people under 21 to buy tobacco products, but, on the other, they want to give much younger people the right to vote,” Tuerck said. “We have to wonder where this thinking comes from.”
People also have to be 21 to buy alcohol and marijuana in Massachusetts. The age limit for the juvenile justice system was raised from 17 to 18 in 2013, and lawmakers have looked at raising it to 21.
While in high school, Vargas was involved in a five-year campaign with UTEC, formerly known as United Teen Equality Center, advocating alongside other young adults in Lowell to lower the voting age to 17. The city passed a home rule petition in 2015, but it ultimately stalled in the Legislature.
“This is about local control,” Vargas said. “You don’t have to agree with youth voting, but we do have to respect local control.”
“Because of the work our young people did on this campaign some years back, we remain very supportive of the Empower Act,” UTEC CEO Greg Croteau said. “We particularly appreciate its emphasis on local control and allowing municipalities to make decisions that they see as best for their communities.”