17 Year-old Primary Voting and Engagement

Connecticut voters ratified a state constitutional amendment this week which would grant voting rights to 17 year-olds in party primaries if they will reach the age of 18 by Election Day. The amendment, which would make Connecticut the 19th state to put into law such a measure, was approved by voters by a nearly 2:1 margin.

“This will help encourage lifelong voting habits among young people. This will encourage not only voting, but working on primary campaigns and getting involved in the political process. It shows that with hard work, perseverance and a good idea, we really can amend our constitution to expanding voting rights in Connecticut,” said State Representative James Spallone, a member of the Judiciary Committee.

As an example of what this amendment will mean, if a young voter turned 18 in August 2008, making him eligible to participate in the November election, he would also have been able to vote in the February 2008 primary to select the candidates for the November ballot, even though he would still have been 17 years old at the time.

“With the passage of this constitutional amendment, thousands of 17 year-olds can now participate in the political process sooner and hopefully become lifelong voters. The passage of this amendment was due to the hard work and perseverance of high school students throughout the state of Connecticut who joined forces…we owe them a sincere set of gratitude,” said Secretary of State Susan Bysciewicz.

In an October statement released in support of the Amendment, Bysciewicz argued that if 17-year olds can sign up to serve their country in the military, then they should be able to choose their preferred candidates for office when they will be able to vote. “If our state’s young men and women at 17 years of age can make a decision and commitment of that gravity—knowing there is a great chance that they will be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan—they certainly are capable and mature enough to cast a ballot in primary elections,” she said.

The passage of the amendment holds special significance for Connecticut because it was the first state to ratify the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the national voting age to 18, in 1971. That Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as not restricting states from setting a voting age below 18 but rather prohibiting them from setting an age above it.

A 1986 Supreme Court decision, Tashjian v. Connecticut, further specified that a state political party has the power to determine who is eligible to vote in their primaries, under their existing legal authority. As Adam Fogel, the Right to Vote Director for Fair Vote, explained in testimony to a Pennsylvania House of Representatives Committee in May 2008, it is in the political party’s interest to extend primary voting rights to 17 year-olds, “Studies show that if a young person votes for one party in three consecutive elections, that person votes with that party for life. Parties should be encouraging participation, not discouraging it—if a young person cares enough to participate and will be eligible to vote in the general election, we should provide them with that opportunity.”

Officials with the Connecticut Office of Secretary of State estimate that the passage of this Amendment could make as many as 10,000 new voters eligible to vote in the next primary elections, scheduled in September 2009 for municipal elections. The office said that it would work with high schools across the state to integrate knowledge of the Amendment into an existing requirement for civics education.

Connecticut joins Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia and Washington in having a 17-year old primary voting law.