Can a 17 Year Old Vote in Primaries
Lakewood High School junior Spencer Wilcox is 16 and, different a lot of kids his historic period, is very invested in politics. He'due south the president of the Colorado High Schoolhouse Democrats, and has worked on voter registration drives and educational campaigns to become more young people involved.
Wilcox has been looking forward to participating in the Democratic caucuses ahead of the June 2022 primaries, thanks to a 2022 Colorado police that lets 17-yr-olds do that and vote in state and presidential primaries if they'll exist 18 by the time the general ballot comes effectually.
But 17-year-olds might actually be out of luck. Voters passed Amendment 76 to the state constitution in November, which specifies that only U.Due south. citizens eighteen and upwardly tin can weigh in during elections, and then lawmakers have to decide what to do about the conflict.
"Every unmarried 17-yr-old that I knew that was eligible for this presidential main exercised their right to vote during it," said Wilcox, who at the very least can vote in November 2022 because he'll have just turned xviii. "This is something that we really want to exercise. We desire to be involved with the political procedure, and the passage of this amendment put that in jeopardy."
The primary purpose of Amendment 76 wasn't really almost the historic period at which people are eligible to vote. It was almost citizenship, changing the state constitution to say "only a citizen" rather than "every citizen." (The measure was role of a nationwide movement led past Florida nonprofit Citizen Voters Inc.)
The citizenship requirement already is in federal law, but backers said they wanted to brand sure local jurisdictions don't let non-U.S. citizens to vote in any election. Opponents called it anti-immigrant and confusing.
Yet, Scott Gessler, chaser for the Amendment 76 backers (and Colorado'southward former secretary of country), said the intent and linguistic communication was articulate: xviii is the minimum age to vote.
The state now has three options: Repeal the 2022 statute, go out it on the books but still follow the constitutional amendment (the constitution trumps country constabulary), or have a 17-yr-old sue for a conclusion, Denver attorney and DU professor Christopher Jackson said.
Young voters
Colorado is one of 18 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that gives 17-year-olds advance voting capabilities. And in 2020, Colorado'due south young voters made upward the largest voting bloc.
In the presidential primary in March 2020, x,063 17-year-olds voted — 56% unaffiliated, 26% Democrat and xviii% Republican (one person voted Libertarian), according to data provided by the Secretary of Land's Part.
In the June 2022 state principal, 4,380 17-year-olds voted — 54% unaffiliated, 29% Democrat, sixteen% Republican and less than 1% Libertarian.
Both times, a larger percent of Colorado'southward 17-year-former eligible voters turned out than the next age group, 18-34 year olds.
"It showed they were really ready to accept a voice in our democracy ,and nosotros believe it'southward their right to have a option on who's going to be on the ballot in the general election when they're eighteen," said Nicole Hensel, the executive director of New Era Colorado, a civic engagement organization that fought to continue admission for 17-year-olds.
Sam Romig of Gilded dropped off his ballot in the March 2022 main — at the time, he was 17, and so it was his first election — and said information technology felt freeing.
"It was cool. … It'due south so much talking and so much conjecture up to the election, you lot finally are able to make a departure in it," the now 19-year-old said.
And Colorado Springs resident Emma Tang didn't even hesitate to vote every bit a 17-year-former. The importance of doing so was something her immigrant parents had passed onto her.
"It'southward of import for me to make my voice experience heard because as a young person, a lot of people expect us not to know what's going on," said Tang, now 19. "But when we exercise know, they kind of tell the states that 'you're as well young, you shouldn't be in this space.' Then information technology's a weird kind of paradox of what people expect from the youth."
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
People head to the polls on November 3, 2020, in Bennett, Colorado.Legislative action
A legislative committee that's tasked with making sure the state'south laws work with each other or recommend changes has taken upwards the issue twice this year, and decided to hold off on a position as of belatedly April.
Democratic Sen. Dominick Moreno of Commerce City, who is on the committee, told The Denver Post that while country attorneys believe the statute allowing 17-year-olds to vote is now naught and void, information technology's not completely clear what should happen.
The final decision, he said, lies with the courts.
In a statement, Democratic Secretarial assistant of Country Jena Griswold said she even so supports allowing 17-yr-olds to vote in primaries, peculiarly because: "Colorado saw historic turnout for young voters in 2022 and it's important that we encourage participation at a young age."
Merely Gessler said the constitutional amendment sets the minimum requirements for voting and information technology had overwhelming support.
Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican and vice chair of the Statutory Revision Committee, falls in line with the stance from the state'southward Legislative Legal Services, saying the 2022 statute should exist repealed.
"The voters of the state passed a ramble amendment that made information technology very clear," Kirkmeyer said. "And the statute is contrary to the constitution at this point."
Kirkmeyer said the committee didn't have plenty votes in April to recommend rolling dorsum 17-yr-erstwhile'southward power to take part in elections. Merely she did understand the argument that more than debate is needed, and that may take until the next legislative session.
All the while, county clerks are awaiting guidance — with the 2022 primaries withal a year abroad.
Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2021/05/02/17-year-olds-voting-colorado-amendment-76/
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