Sixteen-year-olds can go to work, be taxed, drop out of school, be tried as adults, and operate motor vehicles. It makes sense to give them the vote. Here are some common arguments against it that simply do not hold up: “Young people do not know enough to vote intelligently.” The results of the National Assessment…
National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) Summer & Fall 2016 Fellowship Program 3 openings Application deadline: February 29th, 2016 Download Fellowship Information in Word Founded in 1998, NYRA is a national non-profit dedicated to fighting for the civil rights and liberties of young people. Based in the Washington, DC area, the organization challenges age discrimination against…
Nebraska is considering lowering the minimum age to hold state office to 18. Currently, Nebraska “imposes an age minimum of 21 for state senators and 30 to serve as a governor, lieutenant governor or Supreme Court justice,” according to The Associated Press. A bill introduced by Republican state legislator Tyson Larson, who is 29, would…
In the 80s at the age of 14 (I’m 43 now), I stumbled across Unschooling and Summerhill in the public library. Life-changing for me. It sent me on a quest because until then, I was unaware of having any rights at all. I looked up what rights I had under the laws of the state…
Most people would probably agree that tobacco smoking is bad, and that it is worthwhile to try to reduce its prevalence. But the recent trend toward raising the legal minimum age for purchase from 18 to 21 is the wrong approach. One indicator of officially sanctioned ageism is policymakers’ willingness to artificially increase the length…
2016 brings with it another campaign for president (admittedly it has been going full tilt for months now), and that means it is time for NYRA to once again look into the issue of campaign contributions from young people. This is an issue NYRA has followed since 2002 when the Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance bill was…
Here is a good example of *not* ageism in action. The reporter went about this the right way. He showed support for the boy’s cause by joining it in his own way. The reporter can’t go to school and fight it in that arena, but he *can* be supportive in his role, as reporter and…
NPR’s All Things Considered reported Monday, on the air and online, about how “unlikely advocates” are pushing for a reduction in the voting age in the District of Columbia. Michelle Blackwell, NRS said, is “not your typical Washington politico. In D.C., the 44-year-old is better known as one of the top go-go singers around. ……
Building on the success of last month’s rebirth of the #16tovote on the 16th campaign, this month’s event was the first #16toVote on the 16th of 2016. With 211 unique tweets, 177 retweets, 190 likes, we are already seeing some nice growth despite this one taking place on a Saturday during a three-day weekend. Below…
Fifteen-year-old Mahsiah Imes of Jersey City, New Jersey, is leading an effort to lower the city’s voting age in local elections to 16. The Jersey Journal reports that his effort “is part of a nationwide push to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 to ignite civic engagement among younger citizens.” Imes told the…
