South Brunswick Student Joins NJ Movement To Lower Voting Age To 16

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — Across the state, teens are fast joining a new movement calling for the voting age in local elections to be lowered from 18 to 16.

Vote16NJ was started by a group of students from Westfield, Somerville and Livingston along with Westfield Councilman David Contract.

South Brunswick junior, JL, has recently joined the statewide effort.

“I decided to get involved because I think teenagers like me are more politically active. If we can legally drive, work and pay taxes at 16, why can’t we vote in local elections?” the student said.

The student said 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in local elections, like school board and town council, that have a direct impact on them.

“There are so many issues like banning books that affect us. All these decisions are being made by adults without consulting us,” JL said. The movement is non-partisan and JL is hoping to get more teens involved.

“We've been growing momentum across the state. We have support from the New Jersey High School Democrat, the Worker's Party, Young Eco-Socialists and others,” the student said.

A junior at South Brunswick High School, JL is a member of the school’s history club. His interest in politics grew over the past few years. “Politics affects me because my family is low income. There are many families like us. And politics has a role to play in how we navigate our lives,” JL said.

A story on the movement in Patch last month elicited more than 460 comments, many negative.

“I think a lot of people undervalue the importance of local elections. Many fall far left or right of the political spectrum and vote accordingly. All we want is to have a say in local governance that affects us,” JL said.

The mission is a challenging one, Contract said. In order to actually change this law, a constitutional amendment and a ballot measure are required. Both houses of the legislature will need to pass legislation supporting the amendment, and then it would appear on the ballot for local voters to decide.

As of now, over two dozen students from 15 municipalities are involved in the statewide effort. "Our primary focus is building a grassroots movement and then move up the chain to get lawmakers involved," Contract said.

The group also met with NJ Senate President Nicholas Scutari's staff. Scutari was interested in the mission and suggested the group expand its coalition across the state to garner more awareness.

In a recent Patch story, Contract said movement came out of his campaign.

"I was talking to my son who was 17 at the time, about getting him excited about my campaign. And he was like, 'Dad, I'm interested, but at the end of the day, I can't vote for you. So why would I be that excited about it when I can't even act on that?” he said.

In Maryland, there are currently a few municipalities that have approved 16 and 17-year-olds to vote locally, Contract said. "Data from Maryland suggests that the voter turnout among this age group is higher than adults. When you vote early in life, you vote late in life. It's in society's and government's best interest to allow them to vote," he said.

Across the globe, several countries allow voting at 16, including Argentina, Brazil, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Norway, Ecuador, Cuba, Malta and Nicaragua. A few states in Germany allow voting at 16, and Canada is debating on expanding this nationally.

The group has even launched a change.org petition, to garner support from high school students across the state.

To learn more about the movement, visit www.vote16nj.org.