Bill To Lower Voting Age To 14 Passes Senate Committee

VacavilleNews.com ^ | 2:02 am PT, Friday, May 7, 2004 | Bay City News Service

[musical_airman]

A bill designed to get youth more involved in the elections process passed the state Senate Committee on Elections and Reappointment on Wednesday.

SB 1606 by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, would lower the state's legal voting age to 14. The catch is that it would take four 14 or 15 year olds to make up a whole vote. The proposed constitutional amendment would give 14- and 15-year-olds 1/4 of a full vote, while 16- and 17-year-olds would get 1/2 a full vote.

Vasconcellos dubbed his bill 'Training Wheels for Citizenship,' and says it is designed to encourage early and regular voter participation among young Californians by affording them a real live stake in the political process.

'It is so sad that so many of our young people today are deserting our voting ranks in ever larger numbers,' Vasconcellos said.

'They are simply not feeling engaged enough to attract them into the regular practice and habit of voting, to participate in their own self-determination. And self-determination is the glory and thrill of our American way of government, and of life itself.'

While the legislation has received support from the National Youth Rights Association, opponents fear that granting only fractions of votes to under-18 voters could constitute a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

In addition, concerns have risen about the logistics involved in conducting and administering an election incorporating fractionalized votes.

The increase of ballots for the three separate age categories, as well as costs associated with development, certification, procurement and installation of vote counting software to accurately apportion the votes cast is a large part of implementing the bill. Further training and added responsibilities for already overburdened poll workers is the other part, opponents say.

Statistics have shown that voter turnout among those in the 18-25 age group is the lowest of any age demographic, signaling a problem that Vasconcellos says will only be magnified in the years to come.

The senator believes that if young citizens are given the responsibility of voting and introduced to it in a graduated, apprentice-like manner, they will be more likely to participate in the political process. His supporters agree.

'What Senator Vasconcellos is doing will empower youth in California and will inspire youth across the country,' said National Youth Rights Association President Alex Kroknay-Palixz.

'It's great that the senator realizes that young people have political opinions and deserve political representation.'

The Committee on Elections and Reappointment approved the bill Wednesday and referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

[walford]

my posts were not intended as satire.

...but my comments on your posts was -- you failed to pick up on that.

if you want a monotone rhetoric then consider bypassing my posts.

Request denied. I call 'em as I see 'em and take on all comers. Check MY posts: walford
I have even been known to criticize Admin Mod posts if it deemed merited. This is a discussion forum, not a mutual massage. Not looking for/enjoy conflict, but will not suffer to stand idly by while injustice, falsehood, distortion etc. is promulgated.

ignorance is not conservatism or liberalism. ignorance is ignorance.

Speak for yourself, brother. See the website contained in my tagline to contemplate my ignorance. Your cloying aphorisms fail to conceal your true motives. You were a bit too explicit in revealing your mindset in this little gem:

"...I note that only a fraction of bush supporters on the internet voluntarily touch issues outside their passion and patriotism..."

Interesting that you chose a forum chock full of Bush supporters to posit such a gratuitous assertion. Why don't you back that up? There is another forum wherein unsubstantiated diatribes against Bush administration policies would be warmly greeted: discuss

I have no doubt that you are visiting enemy territory and fancy yourself being so clever that no one will discern the duplicity contained in your posts.

Have a 'positive' day. Who's next?

[ShandaLear]

Illegal aliens should get 2 votes.

[EGPWS]

Twenty three years ago this Monday I got tired of laughing at myself and moved from California to Arizona.

Thank you Jeff for my first laugh of the day!

Now that your in Arizona I hope that you can still find something to laugh about, and hopefully not not yourself!

A classic Jeff, a real classic! : )

[EGPWS]

The left coast liberals are a special breed of lunatics.

Yes they are!

Right now they are a politically desperate breed of lunatics! ; )

[TheLurkerX]

Maybe so, but California has far more votes in the college. The next step would be for them to try and make this a constitutional issues and let them vote in federal elections across the country. Of course, it'll never get that far, but it amazingly stupid that it's already got this far.

[EGPWS]

Illegal aliens should get 2 votes.

How about 3 legged albino's who own a pet condor own property without any trees on it, and are allergic to rubber bands getting 10 votes?

[swheats]

You'd think they would have started first with children not having to get parental approval to take medications while at school. But of course they're responsible enough to vote--they might even show Palm Beach County how it's done.

[ShandaLear]

Sounds fair, but let's not exclude residents from other states. 3 votes sounds about right.

[clamper1797]

Wild in the Streets

[TheLurkerX]

I spent six months there, and I swore I'd never do it again. It was like setting foot on another planet. Except for the northern part of the state.

[EGPWS]

Sounds fair, but let's not exclude residents from other states.

Only if they are liberal voters! LoL's

[Euro-American Scum]

I'm convinced California is going to collapse under the weight of its own stupidity and serve as a wakeup call for the rest of the country.

Collapse? Yes. In fact, I don't know why it hasn't happened yet. A wake up call? No way. Never happen. Things are way too far gone for that.

[TheLurkerX]

I should really try to type slower. I'd make fewer mistakes..:)

[ChefKeith]

You forgot ameoba's they get 1,000,000th each

[Kuksool]

If this bill becomes law, we need Campaign Finance Reform in government schools. No teacher can say anything remotely political in a classroom 60 days before an election.

[walford]

If you can drop me a line how you do the italics that would be spiffah.
http://www.pageresource.com/html/textags.htm

For fancier stuff (like inserting pictures), you can use an HTML editor [I use Netscape Composer] to construct things the way you want, then cut-and-paste the automatically generated code into your post.

William R Alford
Webmaster/Polemicist
Utopia Unmasked

[david_the_positive]

i appreciate the html tags william.
have a nice day.
david r.

[stanz]

This is madness....they should raise it to 30.

[ModelBreaker]

Us evangelical may use contraceptives. But we also have a lot of babies :)