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House Dems Point to Parkland Activists to Justify Lowering Voting Age to 16

by JORDAN MICHAELS on MARCH 6, 2019

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Listen to the children!

That was the message from House Democrats at a House Rules Committee hearing this week during testimony about a bill that would affect everything from voting rights to election security to campaign finance. The current iteration of the bill (H.R. 1) doesn’t lower the voting age, but two representatives proposed an amendment that would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

Their justification? Parkland.

Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) both argued that like Vietnam War protestors and civil rights activists, Parkland students have proven that high schoolers are responsible and patriotic enough to vote in federal elections.

“I am here tonight…because across this nation, young people are leading the way, which has been the case for every social movement throughout our history,” Rep. Pressley told the Rules Committee:

“They are organizing and mobilizing and calling us to action, making plain the high stakes the next generation faces — from gun violence, to climate change, to the future of work, to the solvency of Social Security.”

SEE ALSO: Hogg Explains Why He Was Ready for Media Interviews Following Parkland
Pressley referred specifically to one of her young constituents who “has been at the forefront of the March for Our Lives Movement to stem the tide of gun violence.”

“It is young people…who march, organize, and remind us daily in the halls of this institution what’s at stake and just how high those stakes are,” Pressley said.

Rep. Meng, a cosponsor of Pressley’s amendment, also referenced student gun-ban activists as justification for the 16-year-old vote:

“It is only right and fair to allow 16- and 17-year-olds a voice in our democracy,” Meng said.

SEE ALSO: Feinstein to Introduce Bill to Set Minimum Age – 21 – for All Firearm Purchases
“Throughout our nation’s history, from the Vietnam War-era movements that sparked the 26th Amendment, to the Parkland students who reignited the gun violence prevention movement, the power of youth activism has profoundly impacted social and political movements in the United States, and it’s time their votes count, too,” Meng continued.

While Reps. Pressley and Meng are no doubt motivated by a sense of justice pure as the driven snow, their amendment would almost certainly help Democrats get elected in races across the country. According to the Pew Research Center, young people in Generation Z (born after 1997) hold liberal views on everything from race to climate change to the role of government.

And, if the post-Parkland walkouts are any indication, “gun control” could likely be added to that list.

Oh, and it should be noted that the same party that wants to lower the voting age wants to raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21.

Listen to the children! And deny adults 18-20 the right to keep and bear arms!

I'd support raising the voting age to 65.

I'd support raising the voting age to 65.

I'd support raising the voting age to 65.

I'd support returning it to the original format. Landowners being the only ones allowed to vote, whatever age they may be.

People who are 21 do not know about voting. Kids certainly do not. Democrats running out of voters and they need more.

that's all this is about !

People who are 21 do not know about voting..

They're not running out of voters, they get more and more every day. What it is is them trying to stack the odds to the point that no Republican will ever win another election in this country.

I'd support raising the voting age to 65.

If you pay or have paid taxes for 15 or more years.

P