The Richmond Youth Council, a city-appointed advisory commission in Richmond, California, a city of 108,000, “recently decided to join San Francisco youth in a campaign called “16 in ’16,” which seeks to lower the voting age to 16 in municipal and school board elections,” according to Richmond Confidential, a local website.
Richmond Confidential says that “when teenagers take part in local elections, chances increase that their parents will too, raising voter turnout, especially among low-income immigrants. That builds more socially conscious voters, according to the National Youth Rights Association.”
Richmond Mayor Tom Butt has yet to take a side on the issue, but is keeping an open mind. “I have encouraged them to continue to explore it,” he said.
