SACRAMENTO -- Millions of California's teenagers would become the nation's first to vote under a proposed constitutional amendment introduced Monday by a 71-year-old state senator.
Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, proposed the idea alongside three other lawmakers, saying the Internet, cellular phones, multichannel television and a diverse society make today's teens better informed than generations of their predecessors.
Coming on the heels of an expected record low turnout among adults in the March 2 election, Vasconcellos would give 16-year-olds a half-vote and 14-year-olds a quarter-vote in state elections beginning in 2006.
The idea, formally called "Training Wheels for Citizenship," first requires two-thirds approval by the Legislature to appear on this November's ballot.
The California suggestion comes 33 years after the United States lowered its voting age from 21 to 18, and amid a fledgling youth movement in the United States and other nations to lower the voting age.
Supporters say Israel allows 17-year-olds to vote in local elections, while Austria and Germany allow 16-year-olds to vote in some local elections. A bill in California letting 17-year-olds vote in primary elections when they will be 18 years old for the general election has languished.
"People who are given opportunity when it counts often live up to it," said Vasconcellos, flanked by nearly 40 teenagers from across the state.
"When we gave the vote to those who didn't own property, then to women, then to persons of all colors, we added to the richness of our demo- cratic dialogue and our own nation's integrity and its model for the world," he said, calling it time to further extend the vote.
A Republican colleague called it "the nuttiest idea I've ever heard."
Said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, "There's a reason why 14-year-olds and 16-year-olds don't vote. They are not adults. They are not mature enough. They are easily deceived by political charlatans."
Student supporters said the idea could give them a say in issues such as education funding and bring new voices to a California electorate largely dominated by older Caucasians.
"If we could vote, politicians would see us as votes, not just kids, and they would take our issues seriously," said Robert Reynolds, a student at Berkeley High School.
"We feel that many problems that are created in our commu-nity by the youth, such as vandalism, violence, gangs, to name a few, are direct results of the youth striving to be heard and striving to have a voice, but being unable to share that in a positive way," added Mark Murphy of Santa Rosa, a Montgomery High School student.
Vasconcellos said the reason for not giving teenagers a full vote was strategic.
"If I said 16 full and 14 full, I think it wouldn't have much legs." But he added, "In my heart I think 16-year-olds should be given a full vote."
Co-sponsors of the proposal include Sen. Edward Vincent, D-Inglewood, and Assembly-women Carol Liu, D-South Pasadena, and Sarah Reyes, D-Fresno.
Read the proposed constitutional amendment, SCA19, at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.
National Youth Rights Association:
http://www.youthrights.org.
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