Should 17-year-olds be able to vote?  Senator Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, has introduced a Senate Constitutional Amendment  (SCA 2) to extend the right to vote to all Californian citizens one year earlier than every other state.

“If we can ask 17-year-olds to join our military, and allow 16-year-olds to drive a car, then we must surely trust them to vote,” Stern said.

Young voters, ages 18-24 years old, in the state have the lowest turnout rate of any age demographic, according to Stern.

This legislation is expected to help close that gap, by building civic habits while students still have connections to their hometowns.

In the 2022 general election, voters under 35 represented 27 percent of eligible voters and only 15 percent of ballots cast, according to Stern.

Stern believes the low turnout of young voters is partly due to the fact that they enter voting eligibility at a time of drastic transition. Many 18-year-olds are graduating from high school, going to college or getting a job.

Lowering the voting age to 17 is intended to catch youth at a time when they are still connected to their school, their home and their community, as well as helping to build a lifelong habit of voting.

“Young Californians are more driven than ever to give back to their communities, but the challenging, rapid transition into young adulthood can push voting out of the picture for many crucial years of their lives. SCA 2 will encourage youth to cast their first ballot within their local school district, city, state, etc. where they can make informed choices and build upon existing connections with their home communities, fostering healthy voter habits and lifelong active citizenship,” Esther Kim, governmental affairs policy director of the California Association of Student Councils (CASC) who is a cosponsor to this legislation said.

CASC is a student-run nonprofit established by the Board of Education to advocate for the student voice in governance.

Research demonstrates that the earlier that someone begins the habit of voting, the more likely they are to continue voting throughout their lifetime, according to officials.

“California’s electoral system is still challenging for many youth to access,” said Mindy Romero, project director of the California Civic Engagement Project of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. “Our findings suggest that increasing youth voter registration rates does not alone automatically translate into increased representation for youth at the polls. Youth need education and outreach, particularly for those from resource-poor communities, to help them learn about and find relevance in the act of voting itself.”

By allowing first-time voting to happen while young adults are still directly in touch with teachers, mentors and their families, we combat this major hurdle, according to officials.

Furthermore, a robust body of evidence demonstrates that 16 and 17-year-olds have the necessary cognitive skills and civic knowledge to vote responsibly, according to officials.

As a result, there has been a nationwide movement to engage youth earlier in the electoral process.

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia permit 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections or caucuses if the voter turns 18 before the general election.

California’s Proposition 18 (2020), approved by the legislature through ACA 4, would have permitted 17-year-olds who would turn 18 by Election Day to vote in all California primary elections.

This measure failed by just over 6 percentage points which can partially be attributed to poor timing due to the severity of the pandemic, according to officials.

“It is undeniable that the problems our state has faced over the last three years have matured our youth,” Stern said. “The challenges they meet upon their entrance to adulthood are more pressing now than ever with rising gun violence rates, climate change looming, student debt increasing, civil rights movements mobilizing, the ongoing pandemic and a host of other issues that disproportionately impact disenfranchised young people. We must seize the opportunity to offer them a well-deserved opportunity to activate their voices on issues they did not create but are soon to inherit.”

If SCA 2 passes it would allow California to pave the way toward a stronger democracy and help heal generational wounds that have negatively impacted equitable voting, according to Stern.

As of May 2022, 21.9 million of California’s 26.9 million eligible adults were registered to vote.

This is 6 percent higher than just four years before, according to officials.

However, about six in 10 unregistered adults in the state are Latino, according to Stern.

A growing body of political science research concludes that one of the primary determining factors in whether someone becomes a lifelong voter is whether their parents voted, according to officials.

This hereditary habit of voting has been historically inhibited for many minority groups, and those effects can still be seen in turnout today, according to officials.

By increasing younger voters’ engagement in the political process, and availability of resources when one first casts their ballot, we can expect the same civic-mindedness to trickle up and influence friends and family to follow suit.

Lowering the voting age will not only bring younger voters into the electoral process, but will also have positive impacts on those around them, according to Stern.

Ria Babaria, Legislative Director at Generation Up, a California-based, nationwide student-led social justice organization and cosponsor of the bill, argues that “youth voices need to be recognized in California’s election cycles as Generation Z is the largest generation to be impacted by significant environmental and social crises. According to studies, young Californians are more politically active, and our state has a higher registration rate for young voters than other states. Since young people are at the forefront of the problems that our community, state and country confront, as a state we must stop the cycle that continues to ignore their voices. Thanks to Senator Stern’s dedication to youth with SCA 2, more young people will be able to start their journey as active participants of our democracy, which is an essential measure to serve the youth of California.”

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