A Vermont town has acted on the notion that young voters offer hope for the future, giving giving them a chance to show it by letting 16- and 17-year-olds vote next week in local elections. That means some voters in Brattleboro, population 7,500, could have a hand in choosing major party nominees who are more than 60 years older than they are: President Biden, 81, and Donald Trump, 77. The change to the town's charter required legislative approval, and Republican Gov. Phil Scott had twice rejected the measures, the AP reports.
Last year the Democratic-controlled Legislature overrode the governor's veto, giving more Brattleboro teenagers the green light to vote and run for Brattleboro's primary governing body, and to be chosen as representatives to an annual town meeting where many local issues are decided. Lawmakers stopped short of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to serve on the local school board, which was part of the measure residents approved in 2019. Other places have made similar changes. Some Maryland communities have lowered the voting age to 16 for municipal elections. The city council in Newark, New Jersey, approved a measure in January to allow that age group to vote in school board races. Two cities in California are lowering the voting age to 16 for school board seats.
Silas Brubaker, a 17-year-old senior at Brattleboro Union High School, plans to do research before voting Tuesday in local races, per the AP. "I'm not too young or too naïve to know what's happening and to know what I want to be happening," Brubaker said. "And when those things conflict, it feels very unfair and wrong for me not to be able to do anything in an official sense. Like I can go to protests, I can speak my mind, but I can't do anything in a legal sense and now I can, so that's exciting."
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