Should 17-year-olds in California vote? Amendment heads to November ballot
An amendment that would allow some 17-year-old Californians to vote in primary elections will now appear on the November ballot.
The amendment received final approval in the Assembly on Friday after passing the Senate with bipartisan support the day before. Known as Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4, the measure would let teens vote in a primary if they will be 18 by the general election.
The bill’s supporters argue ACA 4 would let young people engage in the democratic process and help bolster turnout — an obstacle faced in many recent elections.
“Young people are directly affected by issues like employment initiatives, affordable housing and education funding,” Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, who co-authored the amendment, said in a statement. “They have what I would call ‘skin in the game’ on these and other issues, and I believe we should be looking for ways to amplify their voices. ACA 4 does just that.”
This push for a lower primary voting age is the latest in a multi-year effort to give young people a larger voice in government. A similar amendment, introduced in 2017, failed to reach the two-thirds vote required to pass a ballot measure from the Legislature to the ballot.
“Let’s be clear: Voting turnout is abysmal across age groups. So let’s not criminalize young people,” Senator Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, said on the Senate floor. “So maybe, just maybe, if we capture the attention and the interest of young people fresh out of U.S. history, California history, civics class in high school, maybe we can help turn the tide in terms of increasing voter turnout across the state.”
If voters approve the amendment in November, California will join over a dozen states and the District of Columbia in allowing certain youths to vote in primaries, according to an analysis by legislative staff.
Some Republican lawmakers questioned the amendment’s ability to bring young people to the polls and raised concerns over their maturity levels.
“I don’t think we’re going to do any good to motivate the 17-year-olds to show up at any greater rate to the polls than 18-year-olds,” said Senator Jim Nielsen, R-Red Bluff, on the Senate floor. “I hate to say it, but I guess it’s broke, and let’s leave it broke.”
Government leaders have enacted a smattering of different strategies aimed at clearing barriers to participating in elections, including pre-registration for 16-year-olds and same-day voter registration. Voters in cities across the Bay Area have also approved measures that would give young people a say in certain municipal elections in the past several years.
The Senate analysis estimates the state would have to pay as much as $640,000 in printing and mailing costs to put the amendment on the November ballot, and, if passed, an additional $250,000 to update California’s voter rolls.
The deadline to include amendments on the ballot ended Thursday. But in order to let voters decide on ACA 4 and another amendment, ACA 11, in November, the Legislature approved a bill extending this deadline until July 1.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 5:05 PM.