Petition to Congress:
"Lower the voting age to 16."

Add your name:

Dear Jack,

The boldest, fiercest leaders fighting climate change: young people.

The most unapologetic, untiring champions against gun violence: young people.

The advocates leading the charge against racism, xenophobia and homophobia: young people.

Sixteen and 17-year-olds have a huge stake in the decisions of our democracy – but they don't have a voice in them.¹ That needs to change, and progressive champion Rep. Ayanna Pressley is calling on Congress to act.

Tell Congress: Lower the voting age to 16. Click here to sign the petition.

When the American experiment first started, suffrage was limited to white, wealthy and land-owning men. The story of our democracy is one of expanding the right to vote, slowly and imperfectly. It took centuries before Black Americans and women had the legal right to cast a ballot. Today, the promise of suffrage still isn't real for too many young people, people of color, low-income voters, the formerly incarcerated and immigrants. We need to fight to protect voting rights even as we seek to expand them.²

Lowering the voting age to 16 makes perfect sense:^3,4

1. Young people have so much at stake. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will spend decades dealing with the destructive effects of climate change. They already bear the brunt of their elders' failure to confront gun violence, including police violence. One glance at the advocacy of young people around the world shows their commitment to fighting for a better future.
2. We've done it before. The voting age in most of the United States was 21 until 1971, when the 26th Amendment lowered the age to 18. Today, 16-year-olds can drive vehicles and pay taxes – but they aren't allowed a say in the decisions that affect their lives.
3. It will foster civic participation. Many young people are better informed and more engaged than the average American voter. By 16 years of age, the human brain has developed the ability to conduct rational, objective analysis of the kind needed to vote. Starting to vote when young adults still live at home makes it easier to build a lifelong habit of voting before the tumultuous years that often follow turning 18.

Progressive champion Rep. Ayanna Pressley is leading the push in Congress to lower the voting age. "From gun violence, to immigration reform, to climate change, to the future of work," she says, "our young people are organizing, mobilizing and calling us to action. They are at the forefront of social and legislative movements and have earned inclusion in our democracy."⁵

Tell Congress: Lower the voting age to 16. Click the link below to sign the petition:

Thank you for speaking out,

Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

References:

1. Kelsey Piper, "Young people have a stake in our future. Let them vote." Vox, Sept. 20, 2019.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, "Rep. Pressley's Floor Remarks on Lowering the Voting Age," March 7, 2019.
5. Ibid.

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