Decrease the voting age for School Board elections in Minnesota from eighteen to sixteen.

 

 

The purpose of this bill is to lower the Minnesota state voting age for School Board elections. The ability of high

school students to participate in local School Board elections encourages direct involvement of School Board members and

candidates in local High Schools, as well as cultivating young people’s understanding of civic responsibility and

effective decision making. The lowered voting age also has the potential to increase local voter turnout, and in effect,

the elected officials will better represent the needs and wants of the community.

 

Lowering the voting age is an important step in a better representative democracy, and it starts with school boards.

They are the largest group of elected public officials in the United States and the one most directly relevant to

students, yet consistently reap the lowest local voter turnouts nationwide. This is an issue that can be easily solved

by lowering the voting age. In Minnesota, sixteen is the age of consent, the legal driving age, and the age where you

can drop out of school - which more than proves the level of legal maturity and autonomy required to vote. Furthermore,

by the age of sixteen, the majority of students are highly passionate about their education and looking ahead to

adulthood. Lowering the voting age allows those students to give direct input to the community about their values and

concerns when it comes to our public education system, which would be highly beneficial when creating budgets and new

programs. A lowered voting age would also create an initiative for School Board candidates to get involved directly with

schools during their campaign to encourage voter turnout and interest in public policy among young people.

Allowing School Board members to be elected in part by the population they have the greatest impact on is not only a

reasonable decision but a necessary reform. If we as a state take pride in our education system, then it is of utmost

importance that the students graduating from our schools also feel that said schools are being run as effectively as

possible.

Additionally upon passage of this bill: School-issued ID’s will be considered an acceptable form of identification for

minors at polling locations, provided that they are from the current school year. A modified ballot will be provided for

sixteen and seventeen year olds to fill out, only including School Board candidates (and therefore excluding candidates

for other roles in local, state, and national elections, in which persons aged sixteen to seventeen years old cannot

legally vote).

 

 

1. School Board - defined as a local board of elected members responsible for the maintenance, funding, budgets, and

hiring for local schools.

2. Legal voting age (in accordance with the 26th Amendment) is defined as “The right of citizens of the United States,

who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on

account of age.”

a. Upon passage of this bill: The right of citizens of the state of Minnesota, who are sixteen years of age or older, to

vote in local School Board elections shall not be denied or abridged by the State on account of age.

3. Voter turnout - defined as the participation rate of a given election, measured in percentage of eligible voters who

registered to vote.

4. School ID - defined as an identification card registered to students and staff which proves their affiliation and

access to the school and its resources.

 

My bill does not require funding.

 

 

There are no new penalties being introduced along with the passage of my bill.

 

 

My bill will be taken into effect upon passage.