Youth Voter Engagement Bill Hosts Briefing

(Framingham) – Following the June hearing by the Joint Committee on Election Laws, Representatives Joan Meschino (Hull), Jack Patrick Lewis (Framingham), and Senator Patrick O’Connor (Weymouth) hosted a briefing on An Act relative to youth voter engagement (H.705/S.431) on Wednesday, July 11. The group of bipartisan legislators jointly filed this bill that would allow seventeen-year-olds, who will be eighteen by the time of the general election, to vote in the preceding primary, encouraging young people to develop strong voting habits early.

“It is an honor to sponsor this bipartisan legislation with Rep. Meschino and Senator O'Connor,” said Representative Jack Lewis (Framingham). “Twenty-seven other states already permit seventeen-year-olds who will be eighteen by the general election to vote in that year's primary election. Permitting Massachusetts teens to do the same will only further encourage lifelong habits of voting. While presidential elections generate great turnout and media attention, this legislation would help shine a spotlight on the too-often-skipped primary races as well.”

“This legislation promotes a model of civic engagement and full enfranchisement that is critical to foster among our young people, who are the future of this country,” said Representative Meschino (Hull). “Sam and her peers’ continued engagement in the advocacy process during consecutive legislative sessions demonstrates that these young adults are fully equipped and ready for the opportunity to fully engage in the election process, and I commend them for their groundbreaking efforts.”

“This legislation is very personal to me because I was one of the seventeen-year-olds who was eighteen by the 2020 general election, but who was still 17 for the preceding presidential and congressional primaries,” said Samantha Bevins of Hingham, who originally proposed the legislation. “As a result, I did not get the opportunity to vote in the primaries of a critical election year. I want all future generations of first-time voters in Massachusetts to have the same opportunity that first-time voters from twenty-seven other states have to vote in their primaries.”

“It isn’t right to tell this population of new voters that their first election must involve candidates that they had no hand in choosing because they were ineligible to vote in the primary,” said Senator O’Connor (Weymouth). “Samantha has continued to be an outstanding advocate for this policy and has demonstrated yet again exactly why this legislation should be reported favorably by the Committee.”

This bill was initially introduced to Representative Meschino in 2019 by Samantha Bevins, a Hingham resident, now a rising junior at Dartmouth College. Concerned that she would not have a voice in the primary election to select the party nominee for the presidential election, Samantha proposed filing legislation to make her and other voters in this category automatically eligible to vote in the primary. Wednesday’s hearing was the third time that Bevins has testified alongside young people in support of this bill.

Through her research, Samantha discovered that twenty-seven other states and Washington D.C. have enacted similar legislation. Further, multiple other states have expressed support for this practice and have put forward statewide ballot measures, including in neighboring Connecticut and Vermont, where voters approved of the measures by an average of 72%. States that have enacted similar legislation have seen subsequent increases in voter turnout. In Chicago’s 2014 primaries, for instance, 17-year-oldsturned out to vote at a rate higher than any other age group in the 18-48 year old bracket.

Samantha has been an advocate for the legislation in numerous ways, from organizing other teenagers with similar passions, to presenting articulate testimony before the Joint Committee on Election Laws, and submitting an article to the Boston Globe that was published in January of 2020. She has also organized testimony from teachers and parents of young people that would be directly affected by this legislation.

The bill is pending before the Joint Committee on Election Laws, awaiting further action.

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