the facts

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Summary: Allow school districts to enfranchise 16- and 17-year-olds for School District Elections.

By enfranchising our students, we allow their voices to be heard in conversations concerning school board policy. We allow them to advocate for their unique perspective from the inherent power of being a voter.

 

Your endorsement will help compel school board candidates to consider the concerns of their true constituents: the students. When we allow the perspectives of students to influence the policies of their schools, we find that our schools become more representative and effective for those students. Additionally, our research shows that those students become more civically engaged in the future and are more likely to vote consistently as they grow older. We respectfully request your endorsement.

 

Rationale & References

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The political journal: Parliamentary Affairs examined several European and South American countries which had lowered the voting age. In every single instance, they reported increased levels of political awareness, civic engagement, and substantially higher rates of habitual voting. The authors reason, "By granting voting rights to young people at a time when, in most countries, they are in a transitional phase in their lives after high school (18-years-old), dampens turnout among first time voters. When people do not take part in their first eligible election, they will not build the habit to vote. However, The National Library of Medicine finds that giving young people (16- and 17-year-olds) a chance to take part in democracy at a time when they are still, for the most part, in high school and living in a community that they know could spur higher rates of turnout among first time voters."

 

When making the suggestion to enfranchise young people, three concerns are often brought up. Those three are: young people are immature, young people copy their parents' vote, and young people only vote blue. However, research suggests that these notions are myths, especially when brought up in conversations of enfranchisement. 

 

Dissenters argue that the prefrontal cortex (the brain component responsible for decision making) is not yet fully developed at 16- or 17-years old, but that notion lacks context. The Columbia University Justice Lab explains the difference between hot cognition and cold cognition, two major components of the prefrontal cortex. They explain, "Hot cognition" is decision-making in an emotionally charged situation. "Cold cognition" is non-emotional information processing and reasoning."

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They also note that Hot cognition isn't fully developed until the late 20s, but cold cognition is fully formed at age 15. The American Academy of Political and Social Science finds a critical detail, that in a voting booth, cold cognition is the department at play, not hot cognition. In short, that means that individuals aged 16-years-old and above have the exact same relative voting capacity as a fully grown adult.

 

Dissenters also will make the claim that the large majority of younger voters in the United States will vote with the same political party as their parents, but once more, this notion lacks context. The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology reports that such a claim only holds true nationwide. That’s because a portion of the United States are tight knit communities that have similar beliefs.

 

For example: individuals in the city of Sacramento, California will generally vote with left-leaning candidates, the same way individuals in Granbury, Texas will generally vote with right-leaning candidates. That also means that individuals will vote the same way as their parents. Yet, that fact has almost nothing to do with heritage and everything to do with community.

 

However, when you observe communities that don’t favor a particular party, then evidence presents that there is little to no correlation between a parent’s vote and their child’s. The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology conducted an observational study in the swing state of Pennsylvania. They report, "In general, little evidence was found to suggest that teenagers' partisan identifications are substantially more influenced by families. The rate of change suggested in Fig. 1 is consistently low, always below 3%."

 

This shows that there is no isolated correlation between the vote of a parent and their child’s.

 

Lastly, dissenters assert that enfranchising 16- and 17-year-olds is a power-grab move for democrats. This is not true. In fact, research done by UCLA in California, published in 2025 by Dr. Wray-Lake tells us that younger Republicans (under 55-years-old) support lowering the voting age for School District Elections at a higher rate than younger Democrats. This means that Republican students are likely actually more eager to vote than Democratic students. Additionally, recent election reports show that younger people are voting more conservative and more often.

 

NPR comments on the 2024 presidential election results, "Since 2008, winning Democratic candidates have received at least 60% support from young voters (18-29), but Harris did not meet that threshold, getting 54%, according to early exit polls."

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Given poll data from the 2020 presidential election that claim a 65% democratic vote among the 18-29-year-old age group, this means that the young vote has swayed by over 10% towards republicans in the past 6 years.

 

 

References

 

Barkin, Rachel. "Hot and Cold Cognition: Understanding Emerging Adults' Cognitive Reasoning." Columbia University Justice Lab, December 2021.

 

Hart, Daniel, Robert Atkins, and Sarah Allred. "Stability and Change in Partisan Political Identification: Implications for Lowering the Voting Age." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. 71, Nov.-Dec. 2020, 101210.

 

Hart, D., & Atkins, R. American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 633(1), 201-222. December 2011

 

Jan Eichhorn, Johannes Bergh, Lowering the Voting Age to 16 in Practice: Processes and Outcomes Compared, Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 74, Issue 3, July 2021, Pages 507–521.

 

Moore, Elena, “Biden won big with young voters. This year, they swung toward Trump in a big way” NPR, 8 Nov. 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls

 

Wagner M, Johann D, Kritzinger S. Voting at 16: Turnout and the quality of vote choice. Elect Stud. National Library of Medicine, 2012 June;31(2):372-383. 

 

Wray-Lake, L. (2025). Californians' Views on Lowering the Voting Age. Civic Life Lab Research Brief. University of California, Los Angeles.