Breaking Arbitrary Voting Boundaries

As of now, the U.S. government has spent over $400 billion to "spread democracy" in Iraq, but very few efforts by this government have been made to enfranchise some of our own citizens right here in the United States. One such effort includes Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington's proposal to support local choice legislation allowing cities and counties to decide to lower their voting to ages 16 or higher if they so choose. Unfortunately, that proposal fell one vote short of passing.

The Berkeley High School chapter of the National Youth Rights Association wrote the proposal and, far from making them give up, the failed proposal inspired this group of teens to fight for a new, more politically achievable request, which would allow 17-year-old Berkeley residents to vote in local School Board Elections.

There is not much difference between a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old in terms of maturity and intelligence, but 17-year-olds know far more about the schools that they attend than their voting parents. I'm sure my parents' generation has never even heard of class sizes exceeding 40 or 45 students per class. My parents have never been forced to sit on the floor of their class because there were too many kids and not enough desks, as I experienced several times in my AP Government class last year at Berkeley High.

Many new Berkeley voters are university students, from outside Berkeley or even outside of California. If these new residents can be trusted to cast a knowledgeable vote for Berkeley School Board, why shouldn't the same right be given to Berkeley high school students, who have often spent their entire lives in this community and have firsthand knowledge of the Berkeley school system and its numerous problems?

Some might think the idea of the voting age reduction is just a radical Berkeley idea, but what they don't know is that this idea is not confined to Berkeley alone. Recently, New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer introduced a bill to lower the city's voting age to 16. There is currently a bill in the Washington state legislature to lower the voting age to 16. Right now, ACA17 is a bill in the California State Assembly to allow 17-year-olds, who will be 18 by the time of the general election, to vote in the primary election. This is not a novel idea, as several other states practice this, including Maine and Maryland. In fact, the Democratic Party of California as well as the League of Women voters supports this bill. Recently, as a result of the efforts of Berkeley's National Youth Rights Association, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-2 to support the right of localities to set a lower voting age.

It is ironic that many adults claim youth are not intelligent enough to vote when we look at the president we currently have. Good job, Mom and Dad. My peers and I are going to have to pay off this huge deficit that you allowed to happen. And we didn't even have a say in this war. A 17-year-old is much closer to serving in the armed forces than most of the people making the decisions about war and peace.

Why do adults who focus on keeping youth from taking up bad habits oppose a chance to get youth involved in the lifelong good habit of voting? I don't think opponents realize that lowering the voting age could not hurt youth in any way and in fact could benefit them in so many ways. There was once a time when only 21-year-old white males who owned property could vote. Each time the franchise was expanded, it not only added to the richness of our democracy, but it also ensured more accurate representation for the newly enfranchised.

Youth are not asking to be treated special. We are not even asking for equal rights. We are asking for some rights. We are asking for a taste of the democracy that our parents take for granted. If you want to get involved, visit www.berkeley.youthrights.org.

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