Other Movements

A bill that was proposed in Berkeley, California failed by one vote but has been reintroduced into the San Francisco where it is expected to pass the youth commission and be introduced into the senate. If passed it would lower the voting age in the San Francisco area.

A movement has started in New York City, where a proposed bill has the support of Senator Hillary Clinton. The bill, originally proposed by the Future Voters of America Party, was introduced on June 8th and is expected to have a fair amount of support from politicians in the surrounding area.

During the 2005 election in the UK youth rights groups petitioned the parties to promote lowering the voting age. Most parties said they would take it under advisement and the Liberal Democrats came out and said that they supported lowering the voting age.

Currently the Berkeley, California chapter of NYRA is attempting to lower the voting age in the city of Berkeley. Their proposal to lower the voting age to sixteen was approved by the Berkeley Youth Commission by a 10-1 margin, with one abstention.

There was a movement in Takoma Park, Maryland to get a referendum on the ballot that would have lowered the voting age to 16. Despite an excellent showing of support the effort fell apart and has not yet been renewed.

In Sacramento, CA a proposed constitutional amendment, titled "Training Wheels for Democracy", was proposed by senator Vasconcellos. The amendment would have given 14 - 15 year olds the right to a 1/4 of a vote while 16-17 year olds would have had 1/2 of a vote. The bill was later defeated in a committee.

In 2002 the people of Cambridge Massachusetts voted to lower the voting age to 17. However, the state legislature has thus far not allowed it, so the voting age remains at 18.

The United Kingdom is considering lowering it's voting age to 16, as are France, Canada, and Australia.

Nation-wide protests were held across the country to raise awareness about youth voting. These included protests in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The European Union is considering lowering the voting age to 16 following a conference of youth organizations at Dromoland Castle.

Due to a fluke in local election laws, in Baltimore 16 - and 17 year olds were given the opportunity to vote in the primaries. When election day came 35% of all registered 16 - 17 year olds came to vote, only 1% less then the amount of registered adults who came to vote.