Posted on 11/02/2018 8:23:24 AM PDT by DFG
The Washington, D.C., City Council is preparing to vote on a bill to lower the voting age to 16 for all elections, both local and federal.
WTOP-FM reports the bill won 3-0 approval in the Judiciary and Public Safety committee Thursday and will get a final vote before the full council this month.
The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens 18 and older the right to vote, but scholars have said it doesn't prevent a state, or in this case, the nation's capital, from setting a lower age.
Council member Charles Allen says his bill will "enfranchise the District's young people and bring their voices into the political process."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Prior to the 19th Amendment, some states gave women the right to vote, even though there was no constitutional amendment that required states to let women vote.
As for the 26th Amendment, there is no language that prohibits a state the right to grant citizens under the age of 18 the right to vote.
Let’s see.....16 is old enough to vote, barely old enough to drive unsupervised, not old enough to own a firearm, and not mature enough to drink.
I wonder what the age of sexual consent is in DC? If a 16 year old has sex with an adult is that rape?
So confusing how we define mature.
Thanks for the link. Not seeing how that answers my question, though.
A 16yo can barely tie their own shoelaces, they can’t work full-time, and they do not have brains developed enough for critical thought. (as we see in certain parkland individuals for instance) For the most part, they are parrots. Spouting off without being able to cogently explain why. But, if they think they are old enough at 16 to vote, then they’re old enough for mandatory work on infrastructure projects at 16, too. Who needs school anyway?
Homework at school....
<>Learn how to make a proper “X” in the square on your ballot.
in DC?
why should they vote at 16? DC natives already have instant job preference, and therefore, influence, in the government simply due to location. Give them even more preferential influence?
or, how about DC can vote at 16 but we move the Capitol to Texas or Montana?
“Hell, why stop there?
14 or Fight!!”
Why not those in the womb too? Think they’d vote for DemonRats?
At which point the federal election commission should disqualify ALL votes from DC
It would scare rational people away, but as was amply demonstrated by the Kavanaugh hearings a significant portion of the population is irrational.
And be able to read, and maybe own land.
We need to return to some actual standards.
Let them drink too.
A man who knows his movies
Will be great for real estate sales in surrounding areas.
This is another reason why the electoral college exists. Each state can decide how to run their own elections. The federal government has no interest in how some state choses their local or state governments.
They do have some interest in the federal offices, but the constitution strictly defines that. What it clearly states is that a state gets 2 senators, gets X number of representatives based on the TOTAL POPULATION of the state (nothing to do with voters), and X+2 votes for President.
So, if the citizens of a state want to allow 16-year-olds to vote, or felons to vote, or to implement month-long elections, or moter voter registration, or be really lax about their voter id — that can hurt the people who live IN the state, but does little to any other state.
California can double their voting population, giving millions of extra votes to a presidential candidate, but it makes NO difference to the outcomes, they have the same number of representatives, senators, and electoral college votes as if they had a really restrictive policy on voting.
If you eliminated the electoral college, you would HAVE to implement a single nationwide policy for eligibility and capability to vote for president — the 14th amendment would require it, as we saw in florida, to ensure that every single person’s vote counted equally.
This will end up in court
That's why the 'rats like the illegal aliens ... they get counted in the census and increase their number of representatives.
:)
And interestingly, that would be a two-edged sword, because they’d have to pay for services for them, except the feds took over most of the welfare, and so the states don’t pay the price.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.