(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) The residents of Culver City, California, are deciding whether or not to allow kids as young as 16-years-old to vote in local elections during the midterm elections.
The ballot measure, called Measure VY, will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in city and school board elections if passed. According to the Daily Wire, the measure would stay in effect until someone made an effort to get rid of it.
If passed, the measure would not go into effect immediately. Instead, the city council and school board must decide on certain conditions, including making sure that election systems could add teenagers.
There are several cities that have allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in lower-level elections. Six locations in Maryland allow for this; San Francisco attempted to make the change in 2020.
Maryland law allows cities to change the voting age requirement via city council vote. Five municipalities within the state allow younger voters into the booth.
Activists across the nation are pushing to lower the voting age. Berkeley, California, was the first city in California to allow younger voters for school board races. Oakland followed suit four years later.
However, Alameda County has not put the measure in because of their inability to provide resources for younger people to vote.
Some teenagers are eager to cast their vote, but many are concerned about the impacts this could have on Culver City if the measure is implemented.
Steven Gourley, a retired lawyer who served in Culver City’s public square, has been fighting against the proposal.
“Virtually everyone I have approached does not know it’s on the ballot. When I tell them what it is, they say, ‘Sixteen, are they crazy?’” he said.
“I talk to people who’ve had teenagers and I talk to teachers who taught in the high school, and they say that these people are too young to vote.”
Gourley argued that this is a left-wing scheme to make sure they can control local elections over time.
“They’re trying to expand the electorate so they can get reelected,” he said.
