Oregon May Lower the Voting Age to 16. Should South Dakota Do the Same?

For teenagers in Oregon, once they turn 16 they can get their drivers license and possibly be able to vote!

According to CNN, legislators have proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that would lower the voting age from 18 to 16. If the bill passes, voters would decide on the proposal in the 2020 election.

Portland-based Democratic state Sen. Shemia Fagan said in a statement: “It’s time to lower the voting age in Oregon and to give our young people a chance to participate in the ballot, about their decisions that affect their homes, their clean air, their future, their schools and as we’ve seen, their very lives."

Christine Bynum, a student activist at La Salle High School said, "If I can be tried as an adult, why can't I vote as an adult? I pay income tax like an adult, I drive like an adult, I can be charged and sentenced as an adult? Why is something as important as voting limited to our present and not our future?"

Since 2003, thirteen other states have introduced bills to lower the voting age. If the measure passes in Oregon, it would be become the first state in the nation to lower the statewide voting age to 16.