蜜桃影视

In most parts of the country, teenagers learn about the legislative process in civics class. When it comes to selecting those who make the policies that affect them, however, young people usually have to wait until they鈥檙e 18 to elect anyone from school board member to president.

But in Greenbelt, Maryland, that鈥檚 no longer the case. In this Washington, D.C., suburb, the city council just approved a measure that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to cast ballots in local elections. That change, which was and goes into effect in February, can be attributed to one group of local constituents: Greenbelt teens.

Not only does the new rule allow teens to better engage in local decision-making, proponents say, it could also encourage youth to place a higher value on civic education.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 pretty exciting to be in the forefront鈥� of the youth voting rights movement, Eleanor Roosevelt High School senior Ema Smith told 蜜桃影视. Smith is chair of Greenbelt鈥檚 Youth Advisory Committee, which encouraged city officials to make the change. She said she hopes other cities across the country follow Greenbelt鈥檚 lead. 鈥淵ou go to school and you learn, 鈥極h, people vote for presidents,鈥� but how do you register to vote? How do you figure out where your local polling place is? Those are theoretically not very hard, but actually doing something can be a lot more valuable learning-wise than reading about it.鈥�

Unlike most states, Maryland permits city councils to change local voting laws. In fact, in 2013 neighboring city Takoma Park in the U.S. to change its charter to grant 16- and 17-year-olds voting rights. Hyattsville, another Washington, D.C., suburb in Maryland, . Greenbelt will become the largest city in the country with such laws on the books.

Still, Greenbelt teens worked for about three years before declaring victory last week. At first, most adults in the city balked at the idea. In 2015, a community survey found a whopping 18 and older opposed lowering the voting age. Last year, the city council rejected the proposal and asked voters to weigh in through a referendum on the ballot, designed to advise future council decisions. To bolster their case, Smith said, teens passed out brochures at city council election debates and forums.

Their efforts worked. In November, Greenbelt residents with 53 percent of the vote. The city council made the change official at its meeting last week.

鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled that the city council went ahead and made the 16-year-old voting age official in Greenbelt. I think all the credit for the victory here really goes to young people in Greenbelt who led the way,鈥� said Brandon Klugman, campaign manager for Vote16 USA, which began helping Greenbelt teens with advocacy efforts last year. Vote16 USA is a youth-voting-rights initiative by Generation Citizen, a nonprofit that promotes youth civic engagement through 鈥渁ction-oriented civics education.鈥� 鈥淩eally what this shows in Greenbelt, as we鈥檝e seen in other places as well, is that this is a viable idea, and it鈥檚 one where young people can effectively change public opinion when they educate folks on it,鈥� Klugman said.

Beyond efforts in Greenbelt, Vote16 USA is working to lower the local voting age in Washington, D.C.; Boulder, Colorado; and San Francisco. In 2016, the group helped land in San Francisco, though that effort failed with 46 percent of the vote. Though a smaller victory, residents in neighboring Berkeley that allows 16-year-olds to vote in Berkeley Unified School District Board of Directors elections. The group plans to try again in San Francisco in 2020, Klugman said.

In its efforts to push youth voting rights, Generation Citizen the fact that less than a quarter of U.S. eighth-graders score proficient in civics on the National Assessment of Education Progress.

For Greenbelt鈥檚 Smith, who plans to study physics in college next year, the lessons learned through voting could benefit young people long after they graduate high school. Citing low voter turnout among registered voters between 18 and 25, she said the lower voting age will give young people an opportunity to learn how to vote before they go off to college.

鈥淚f you start that while you鈥檙e still living with your parents, you go with them to your polling place and vote, then that鈥檚 a habit,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e registered, you know how to vote because you鈥檝e done it before, and it makes it easier to vote later on. I think that鈥檚 really important.鈥�

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