Teens on mission to lower voting age

As high school students across the country examine this year’s unusual election in their civics classes, a group of teenagers in Las Vegas hope to do more than just observe the political process.

Alan Cruz and Kevin Castellanos, both 16 and juniors at Canyon Springs High School, plan to persuade the Nevada Legislature next year to lower the voting age so 16- and 17-year-olds can vote in local school board elections.

The idea isn’t entirely uncommon: Some states allow 17-yearolds to vote in primary contests if they’ll turn 18 by the general election. Two cities in Maryland allow 16-yearolds and up to vote in municipal elections and referendums, with similar initiatives underway in San Francisco, Arizona and Washington, D.C.

And Cruz and Castellanos, who have a team of hopeful student lobbyists attending other high schools in Clark County, already convinced state Assembly members Dina Neal and Olivia Diaz, both D-North Las Vegas, to submit a formal bill draft request so lawmakers can consider lowering the voting age during their 2017 session.

“It was just an idea, and honestly we didn’t think it would come this far,” Cruz recently said, with a nervous laugh.

Changing the voting age in Nevada requires a state constitutional amendment, which voters must approve in two separate elections before it goes into effect.

That process could last through 2020, well after Castellanos and Cruz gain the right to vote at 18. Still, they said this isn’t an effort to benefit themselves.

“We have a substantial say in what happens now, but it’s also going to affect our siblings. I want my decisions to have a positive impact on their education,” Castellanos