Bay State legislature considers reducing voting age for Lowell teens

Lowell High School students called for legislation to lower the voting age to 17 at a Joint Committee on Election Laws hearing on Wednesday.
The students testified before a standing-room only crowd on a bill that would give Lowell the authority to grant 17-year-olds the right to vote in municipal elections.
Levi Tankersley, an 18-year-old resident of Lowell, said he completely supports the bill.
“I feel that I have a valid opinion and I should have the opportunity to be heard,” Tankersley said.  “I am here representing every 17-year-old in Lowell that wants the right to vote.”
The students’ testimony, which included beat poetry, J. Cole references and a five-minute long video put to the music of “Eye of the Tiger,” was accompanied by testimonies from Sen. Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, headmaster of Lowell High School Edward Rozmiarek and Peter Levine.
Levine, the researching director for Tufts University Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, said lowering the voting age to 17 would increase voting participation in the 18 to 25-year-old age group.
“I personally think that lowering the voting age would increase voter turnout,” Levine said.  “But I don’t think we really know because it hasn’t been tried.  So one of the exciting things would be to try it at the municipal level and study its effects.”
The bill, proposed by Rep. Kevin Murphy of Lowell, would not give the 17-year-olds of Lowell the right to vote immediately.  If passed, the bill, called a home-rule petition, would give the city of Lowell the right to hold a vote on whether or not it would lower the voting age to 17.
Avi Green, the executive director of MassVOTE, a non-profit organization aimed at registering voters in underrepresented communities, testified in support of the bill.
“With all due respect to the youth here, I hope they recognize that if you pass this home rule, their work has only just started,” Green said.
Green had reservations about the bill passing in Lowell.
“I hope that they succeed, I strongly do,” Green said. “But when you ask people in polls they are always very skeptical of expanding voting rights.  It is going to be a heavy fight for the youth of Lowell to get this passed.”
According to a video shown to the committee, seven of the nine city council members voted in favor of lowering the voting age.
The campaign to lower Lowell’s voting age was started by the United Teen Equality Center, a Lowell youth center founded in 1999 in response to growing gang violence in the community.
Gregg Croteau, the center’s executive director, said the campaign began in 2009.
Carline Kirksey, 16, and Susan Le, also 16, presented a spoken word poem to the committee. Kirksey and Le said that the majority of the students at Lowell High School were excited about being able to vote when they turn 17.
Tankersley said that it was sometimes a struggle to get students to participate beyond just voicing support.
“There are some students that think they’re too cool for it,” Tankersley said. “But there are also a lot that will come out and help.”