WASHINGTON — The mayor of Washington, D.C., and a majority of the council are voicing support for letting 16-year-olds vote for president.
Local media report that the measure would lower the voting age from 18 for both federal and local elections. Council approval would make the nation’s capital the first municipality to allow minors to vote in presidential contests, and the first major city to allow them to vote in local races. The Washington Post editorial board is in favor.
A similar measure went nowhere when council member Charles Allen proposed it in 2015, but adults are changing their minds as young people nationwide mobilize for gun controls.
It was another youth movement, against the Vietnam War, that pushed for the 26th constitutional amendment that lowered the national voting age to 18.
