One year ago this week, European Parliamentary Member Terry Reintke announced that Germany had lowered its national voting age to 16. Around that same time, New Zealand began working to lower its national voting age to 16 after it was ruled by their supreme court that the current voting laws discriminated against young people.

Earlier this year in the United States, Rep. Grace Meng of New York re-introduced the national bill to lower the voting age to 16, House Joint Resolution 16, after its predecessor bill was not voted on on the House floor in the previous congressional session.

This summer, Brattleboro’s move to lower it’s municipal voting age to 16 doubled the number of states with cities with a voting age of 16. Maryland was previously the only state in the country that had a local voting age of 16. Now Vermont has been added to that list.

In July, I personally led a contingent of people across numerous organizations to discuss the merits of lowering the voting age to 16 at the Frontiers of Democracy Conference, which was held in Boston, Massachusetts. Among the members in the panel were contributors from NYRA(National Youth Rights Association), Children’s Voting Colloquium, the Vote16Research group and Generation Vote. I had also been in contact with chapters of March For Our Lives, Vote16USA and other supportive groups and individuals on discussing not only what actions we should take working together during the panel, but also steps we should take afterwards- I believe that time is now, and I believe it is time to band together to lower the United States’ federal voting age to 16.

So drawing upon the network connections, collaborators and contributors from the conference in Boston, I am reaching out today to all organizations, people and their networks who are addressing any issue that are affecting youth and their communities, to work together on lowering the national voting age to 16. If you’re reading this post today, it is because I have personally reached out to you or you were forwarded my email by someone I reached out to. I want to help your network deal with whatever issue you’re trying to address, but in order to do that, I need you to help me help you by throwing support to lower the voting age to 16.

There are several reasons I am making that outreach now and calling for your help. I have listed several of the most important reasons below, though it is by no means an exhaustive list- just the issues that likely impact the most people. However, the main idea is that by enfranchising young people, we can find solutions that are not just relevant to young people today, but also life-changing for them and useful to the communities they live in.

First, let’s start legislatively. As I mentioned above, we have House Joint Resolution 16. For people that say there’s little chance of passing it, look at cities in Maryland, and now Brattleboro, Vermont. More than a decade ago, there were no cities that had a lower voting age of 16. Then came along Takoma Park, Maryland in 2013. Then Hyattsville, then more cities. We didn’t have a city or state, but Takoma Park became that beacon of hope. Then several other cities joined that list, eventually now extending that vote to a second state. Would you have believed that we would have two states with a lower voting age of 16 in 2013? Even I would have found that hard to believe. But it is a fact today. We can do the same for the United States and enfranchise all 16-year old taxpaying voters if we can get HJR 16 voted on. Maryland, and now Vermont, have demonstrated nothing is impossible.

Politically, the past few months have shown that current leadership is not working because leaders tend to be older and do not seem representative of the constituents in their districts. Last month, our Congress went without a House Speaker for three full weeks! This caused a delay in hearing bills such as House Joint Resolution 23, or HJR 23, the predecessor to the current HJR 16 bill. In the previous presidential administration, we had three government shutdowns, one of which was the longest in U.S. history. Regardless of which party you lean to, this does not exude confidence in American government or leadership from those outside the nation’s borders. As of this week, we were once again almost to a point of government shutting down. This could be avoided if we had leaders who cared more about their ability to serve the people and do their job rather than being grandfathered into their job from constituents they can count on rather than dealing with a younger base constituency than we have at present.

Environmentally, 2023 was the hottest year on record. Not only have we seen the hottest summer temperatures of any year, but also had an above-normal year for storms and hurricanes. This summer was so above normal that we even had a tropical storm, Hilary, form on the Pacific Ocean side of the continental United States, something that rarely ever happens. These events are the result of climate being affected by human intervention, causing disruptive patterns in weather that are dangerous to health and safety. If we had more leaders in government like those who protest against groups or organizations that harm environments and regular climate, then we would be a long way off from these kinds of disasters. The fact that a lower voting age could potentially address these concerns yet has not happened at the federal level is concerning, as these issues aren’t just a 2023 problems, but a lifetime issue that young people will be dealing with for years to come.

Medically, we have just been through a horrible global pandemic that affected all corners of the globe. One might argue that lives are still being affected by COVID- those who not only lost people from the virus but also the people who became ill, survived today, but have to deal with the effects of long-COVID. Not only did we have a government that wasn’t completely organized around prevention, but when we eventually did have tools to fight the virus through a vaccine, it was available to those 16 years and older. Despite contributing to the safety of their community, paying taxes while also working at a time to keep local economies open due to the higher risk the virus posed for older workers and their local older counterparts, 16 year-olds who did not live in cities in Maryland that had lowered the voting age could not vote. Even after the pandemic has been reduced to its current levels compared to when vaccines first emerged and were available to young people, many youth still don’t have a vote.

On a personal safety level, not much has changed when it comes to gun violence compared to climate or the pandemic. For example, in the last few years after numerous events of gun violence around the country, we’re still plagued with gun violence today. I don’t need to quote any specific statistic or point to any specific event- because these are just so common that one doesn’t need to look outside our current year to see how violent our culture is. The last few years have shown things are getting more violent. Despite the best efforts to quell violence, it only seems to be rising, remaining high the last few years. Why is that? Perhaps because the people who are largely affected by that, many of whom are in schools, don’t have a vote? Imagine what the world would be like if we had a more sensible democratic constituency across the country who elected leaders who cared more about the actual safety of their constituents rather than the gains in their stock portfolio.

Militarily, we have two large conflicts going on in the world. One would have to be living under a huge rock to not be aware of either. There may possibly be more conflicts. Not only are our young people dealing with subpar health care at times, or the lack of availability thereof, but also exposed to the same risks of their personal safety from climate, violence and/or pandemics. Unlike their older counterparts, they also face the added risk of being drafted, one of the reasons we recently lowered the voting age in the first place. However, we didn’t lower it far enough, as those who have contributed to their local economy, who paid their federal taxes for the employment they hold to make a better life for themselves and their families, and have helped fight the global pandemic at the local level still don’t have a vote.

Economically, while we might not be in a recession, things are getting much harder to afford. Grocery items have gone up. Electronics have gone up. Housing prices have gone up, including rental units for apartments. Modes of transportation have gone up, whether one buys their own vehicle, commutes to their workplace or does a combination of both. More responsibilities are being placed on younger people trying to afford necessary tools of civilization without being given a platform to affect what is decided for them. They just have to live with it without a vote. When they do have a vote, the issues that previously affected them are either no longer relevant or are affecting a new set of people who again don’t have a platform to effect change.

There are many more reasons to lower the voting age, but if I listed them all out, kept discussing them with others or just debated them with those who disagreed or reinforced the beliefs of fellow supporters, the voting age would never be lowered. But actions in Germany have shown that you can lower the nation’s voting age to 16. Actions in New Zealand have shown that you can grow support for lowering the voting age at the national level. Cities in Maryland and Vermont have shown that it is possible in the United States, and I am telling you today reading, who either have worked with me on this issue, have heard about my efforts on this issue, have supported it yourself or are reading this because people in my network have decided to share this with you because they also support lowering the voting age to 16 that, yes, lowering the voting age to 16 in the United States is possible. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have bothered to write all of this.

The main point of my blog is to raise awareness of lowering the voting age. This particular post is because we have the ability to lower the voting age. That is why I am calling on all youth rights, causes and awareness raisers to join with me to help lower the national voting age in the United States to 16. Thank you.

Jester Jersey

A worker flexes his muscles. Like the worker, we need to build upon the gains we’ve made this summer regarding lowering the voting age to 16.

This summer, I traveled across the U.S. in order to bring greater advocacy to lowering the voting age. I spoke at Tufts University in Boston to bring greater awareness to the issue, and with the help of fellow collaborators, spoke to attendees of our conference during Tuft’s Frontiers of Democracy. Although there is no video recording of the event, members of NYRA(National Youth Rights Association), Children’s Voting Colloquium(CVC) & Generation Vote all contributed to the discussion.

It was also during the summer that we have added a new city, and state no less, to places that have lowered their municipal voting ages: Brattleboro, Vermont is now the 7th American municipality with a voting age of 16!

While this is great news for the movement, we still have pressing issues, such as climate change, gun violence and government dysfunction as we still don’t have a permanent Speaker of the House for two weeks now(Did you know our last Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, supported lowering the voting age to 16- twice? In 2015 & 2019 ). We also have hope of enfranchising a new generation also: House Joint Resolution 16, a legislative bill that can lowering the voting age to 16 nationwide.

We need to use this time to continue the momentum. It has been almost a year since Germany lowered their national voting age to 16, while New Zealand looks like it will be the next democratic country to join that list. We need to do the same for the United States too. I believe that reality is possible thanks to the work of various allies across the U.S. currently working on forming a national coalition of supporters.

That is why I am calling for the formation of a national coalition, the House Joint Resolution 16 Coalition, to continue that momentum to support Rep. Grace Meng’s bill. Anyone from any organization can join. The only prerequisite is to be supportive of lowering the voting age locally, state and/or nationally to 16.

By lowering the voting age now, we can make our public education institutions safer, fight climate change on behalf of young people who will have to live its consequences longer, fight bipartisan gridlock in Congress by allowing young people to vote for dependable representatives who represent their views and fight for better representation in society in general. Our schools are not getting any safer while our climate continues to deteriorate. At the same time, our leadership continues to get older while partisan gridlock continues, even to the point of paralyzing our very own government!

If none of these issues above are disturbing or serve as a wake up call that change should happen, I don’t know what will. Most people reading know someone, if not themselves directly, who is impacted by one, or more of the issues above in addition to other local issues that only affect them. Nothing will change so long as lowering the voting age does not happen. Other nations have already had a lowered voting age for years now. Others are already on that path or have done so recently. So why can’t the United States do the same?

At the same time, we can also enfranchise fellow youth across the country so they can deal with specific issues affecting them. In either case, we all win because democracy would be better while younger people will have a greater say in government. I believe now is the time form a national roundtable group from all the organizations out there to address the various issues that affect young people so they finally get the vote. I also believe we have enough of a diverse network with ample connections to make this happen. But lowering the voting age won’t happen automatically without some effort.

On the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, lowering the voting age seems even more possible than ever. But that window of opportunity is closing again, so we need to act fast. I believe lowering the voting age now can happen, but only if every supporter of the notion across the U.S. unites together to give the voiceless youth a voice.

Young people deserve a vote, and we will make sure they get that vote.

Jester Jersey

Tomorrow is September 17th, a day that is traditionally observed as Citizenship Day in the United States. But what is one of the hallmark activities of citizenship? One could say one of the main responsibilities of that would be voting.

During the summer, I and several organizations worked together to bring more awareness of the national bill, House Joint Resolution 16(HJ Res 16), a bill introduced by Rep. Grace Meng of New York. For those not aware of the bill, this piece of legislation seeks to lower the federal voting age for elections to 16.

While lowering the voting age is not a new issue for many supporters, some recent gains are. Globally, it has almost been a year since Germany has lowered its national voting age to 16, while New Zealand is currently achieving unprecedented accomplishments for the work activists are doing there. Meanwhile, nationally, we are up to seven local municipalities with a voting age of 16- a sixth city in Maryland has joined this small, coveted list of cities while a second state has now joined Maryland- Vermont’s very own Brattleboro, another city where lowering the voting age efforts have been really active the last few years.

The two recent gains above show that not only are 16-year olds ready to vote, so is the nation to allow them to. We just don’t have enough awareness of the issue because we’re not working together enough on the issue. That’s why we have HJ Res 16, and now it is up to us as supporters of this idea to continue the work that I have done during the summer- to band together all major individuals, organizations and other supporters who have expressed their own interest in enfranchising the next generation of voters & leaders. However, I cannot do this alone. I want your help and I want to help you.

By now, most of those reading probably have probably been contacted by me through email. If not yet, then shortly. There’s plenty of momentum to get young people enfranchised & involved in politics. If we don’t capitalize on this now, then young people will continue to not have their voices heard, make a difference in their local communities or in the country they call home.

In the past two weeks alone, we’ve had many news events relevant to lowering the voting age- UNC Chapel Hill had their second lockdown when school has hardly started; the U.S. government is once again in threat of shutting down, forcing young people to help their families weather the economic impacts much like they had during COVID; young people won’t be given credit for the contributions they made during the height of the pandemic, one that we’re still currently fighting & may possibly have to continue fighting as the colder months start to arrive again. The list goes on & on…

HJ Res 16 is good for this congressional term- from January 2023- January 2025. It is almost 2024. Should young people who have the most to lost and the much to gain be delayed the opportunity to make a difference in their circles, community & country? I don’t think so. We can all change that. That change begins once HJ Res 23 is passed, made into law & our young citizens & future leaders can vote.

Jester Jersey

I just wanted to send a special thanks to my team at Tufts University yesterday to help with the Frontiers of Democracy discussion panel to lower the voting age to 16. I think we all did a great job, brought more awareness to an important topic & had a great time while doing it. Big thanks to all the people on the team who helped out!

An empty conference panel. I’ll most likely be a participant in an upcoming panel later this summer to talk about lowering the voting age to 16.

This is pretty much a continuation of last month’s post, but with a twist. Rather than a call for panelists or a story about lowering the voting age, I wanted to talk about efforts by a local pioneering who was native to Boston to bring about change.

In the late 19th century, the world wasn’t a friendly place for women’s suffrage. It wouldn’t be until almost half a century later before women even got the right to vote in the United States. However, women suffragists did many things to change this, often voicing their opinion in the form of protests during the day. One such woman, Annie Londonderry, literally took her message around the world to bring about change & better attention to the plight of fellow women suffragists.

You can read more about Londonderry here, but the short story of it is, Londonderry had traveled around the world to advocate for greater rights for women. Women had very few rights compared to men in those days, despite the only reason preventing them from social mobilization was because society saw them as the wrong gender. Londonderry disagreed with this injustice and sought about for a way to change the world for the better.

Mrs. Londonderry began her global trip in late June of 1894, spending the next 15 months traveling around the world by bicycle to advocate for women’s suffrage. By late summer of 1895, the Boston native had made it back to her home city, bringing much attention to the plight of fellow suffragists of her time. In fact, her contribution was so notable that fellow famed women’s suffragist, Susan B. Anthony, weighed in on Mrs. Londonderry’s trek, which would not have been possible without the help of the bicycle: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world“.

In 2015, I walked across the United States to bring attention to lowering the voting age to 16. Although my efforts might seem miniscule compared to what Londonderry had done more than a century prior, we share many commonalities. Like Londonderry, I believe it is the next frontier of suffrage in this modern world. It already exists in many places around the globe- you can find them online or read some of the numerous blog posts I’ve been writing over the years. We even have some cities in the United States that have already lowered the voting age. Like Londonderry, we both saw an injustice that we both wanted to solve, and actually did something about it. Finally, like Londonderry, we were both faced with insurmountable odds, yet continued to persevere.

However, unlike in Londonderry’s time, women had very few tools to fight with to enable women’s suffrage. Women were barred from voting, much less hold office, men were prioritized when talking to the public media and there were no social media platforms that existed. Even if such things were around at the time, men would have likely tried to also bar women from accessing it as a soapbox to air their grievances. Right now, we have House Joint Resolution 16, and now, a great opportunity to actually lower the voting age to 16 like the numerous places around the world that have already done so. Nothing is impossible if we work together, and the Frontiers of Democracy Conference is our shot to bring the issue of lowering the voting age to the forefront of mainstream media.

We might be able to lower the voting age now, we might not. We won’t know though until we try. While we’re in the midst of the basketball playoff season &,just finished March Madness & the emergency that the pandemic brought to the world, a quote often sticks out to me- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. I would rather take a shot at doing something & failing it, then to not have taken the shot & wondering with regret if I could have made a difference. It might be a long shot, but a chance is a chance, so we must take the opportunities we have before us & not waste them.

But like Londonderry in 1894, she had a dream that someday in the future, a woman’s voice would be equally valued as a man’s voice whether it be an opinion, a preference or any other statement that a woman weighed in on. Eventually, her dream became true. Her dream didn’t stay a dream- it became a reality. Like Londonderry, I too believe that we’re not too far from the edges of democracy, where we can bring in those at the edges of the frontier that have been too long excluded from the voting booth. Like Londonderry, I’m not just a dreamer, I’m a reality-maker. You too can make the dream of lowering the voting age to 16 a reality. We have that opportunity now.

Please support me & my allies working with me on lowering the voting age to16!

Jester Jersey

Barnum Hall outside of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. The private research institution, Tufts University, is looking for proposals on an upcoming conference for July.

Usually, I would post a monthly blog feature that is somehow connected with lowering the voting age. However, given that it is the annual no taxation without representation edition of the blog, Tax Day & an open possibility to collaborate with members of various networks supporting lowering the voting age, I’m going to make an exception this time.

So there’s an open call for presenters this summer for an event in Boston where those with new ideas can present and where I will be traveling to this summer as part of my travel tour of the U.S. to promote House Joint Resolution 23. The Frontiers of Democracy Conference will take place in July, however ideas are being accepted to provide a presentation during the conference. I am interested in forming a discussion panel with members of the Colloquium, but also allies of the Colloquium like youth organizations, climate activists and other youth suffragists, many of whom I already am in contact with. The deadline to submit an idea is on May 1^st.

The conference would be one of many important events I will be going to during the course of the summer, but possibly, one of the most important in terms of being able to collaborate on a joint effort with members of the Colloquium and other youth rights supporters.

Because of this, I would like to make an open call to members of the Colloquium who would like to participate on a panel to talk about House Joint Resolution 23. Unlike most events I will be involved in this summer, the advantage of this option is that even international members of the Colloquium can participate, as not all panelists need to be present- there is an option for co-panelists to present remotely. As long as one main organizer is present, all other panelists can participate no matter where in the world they are located, much like we already do t our regular Colloquium webinars. The panel can go up tp 90 minutes, so there is ample time for numerous organizations who support some form of expanding enfranchisement to provide information on their personal work, regardless where you’re located in the world. Rather than discussing the various degrees of enfranchisement amongst ourselves, we have an opportunity to all participate, though I would be willing to be one or more of the representatives to physically go there to present if our proposal idea is selected.

There are some limits & rules to submitting entries, however. I spoke with organizers of the event this past week, and they clarified that while a person can submit multiple entries if each entry is different from each other, i.e. I will talk about lowering the voting age to 16 in one entry, another entry will discuss climate change, and another entry will talk about the efforts of fellow Colloquium members to expand voting rights, I cannot submit an entry to form a Colloquium panel, then have several of us do the same thing to increase the chances of being picked. We can all submit ideas, but they have to be unique and original.

You can submit an entry where, as an example, a Colloquium member might want to form a panel and ask me to talk about my contributions towards youth suffrage. I could be a contributor to a climate panel, a civic panel, a proxy voting panel, etc., but each submission has to be unique, not copies of the same proposal with different people submitting the same idea, so if you’re versatile and can talk about many issues, you can contribute to any kind of panel, but you’ll likely only contribute to one panel on that day if one of our ideas is chosen. Although the panel would be suffrage in general, I could still contribute to other panels because lowering the voting age counts as expanding suffrage. Whether your idea is chosen or mine, the main theme of the conference is democracy, so if a panel is convened, it has align with that theme.

I think that if there is an idea among members of the Colloquium to do a Colloquium-focused event, I would be willing to be a panelist for that idea, but I think that someone else should form a separate entry for it because they would have the most experience for it. Because of my focus on my awareness efforts this summer, I would like to form a panel that looks at lowering the voting age to 16, particularly where House Joint Resolution 23 is concerned. I believe such a panel could benefit from us in a similar way that Next Up in Oregon did that incorporated a national panel of contributors two years ago today. However, the only difference this time is that the panel would be focused on the House Joint Resolution 23 bill and internationally, rather than nationally like the panel video shown above.

I would like to form a panel as diverse as possible, incorporating as many diverse organizations as possible that have been focused on lowering the voting age, and would be interested in working with around half a dozen individuals who would like to form a panel behind the idea of lowering the voting age and discussing the merits of it.

If you would like to get in touch with me to collaborate on the conference panel, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Jester

This year marks many important milestones for many youth victories in the last decade. It can also be a year for additional gains for youth empowerment efforts.

In a few days, spring will begin for the year, with many locations opening up once more and slowly emerging from the cold winter months that have been marked by pandemic and precaution alike. Meanwhile, champions of youth rights are continuing their efforts to give young people a voice in the United States and internationally.

As youth victories are gradually accumulating around the world, there are also the ongoing efforts to enfranchise more youth voices, particularly in the United States. Last month saw the second anniversary of the introduction of House Joint Resolution 23, which has yet to see a formal vote on it. It has hardly any coverage either, and even among those within the youth empowerment network, some aren’t even aware of it.

Given the last several years of the pandemic environment the United States has experienced, including the recent tripledemic, one can understand the ordering of priorities, and how these events that caused global disruptions have made fighting for youth rights difficult. One can also see that youth have been involved in pivotal events during the pandemic as well, yet still often don’t have a vote nor a voice in their immediate sphere of influence around them, despite their efforts to contribute to the fight against the pandemic.

However, 2023 provides a new opportunity for youth voices to be heard; and that is through an upcoming summer project that I would like to collaborate on with any and all youth rights supporters that I wish to share with readers.

As many youth advocates know, I had walked across the United States in 2015. At the time, not only had I fundraised for UNICEF, but I also walked to bring awareness to lowering the voting age to 16. Although there was no national bill to lower the voting age to 16, there is one now. Also, since my walk was during the months of May to September of 2015, I possibly believe that may have gotten the attention of then Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although Pelosi is no longer the Speaker of the House, she is still in the House of Representatives, meaning there is still some influence her voice can provide to the movement. Given that House Joint Resolution 23 has still not come up for a vote yet, I think now is a time to capitalize on that fact based on the recent gains around the world regarding youth rights.

However, unlike in 2015 when I traveled nationwide by foot, I would like to still travel the nation, but this time by train, to locations where I can speak at events that support youth enfranchisement efforts to bring greater awareness to local, regional efforts as well as the national bill itself.

Why is 2023 a great year to promote these efforts?

Last year saw great progress on youth rights, particularly in Germany and New Zealand. It has almost been a decade since the voting age was lowered in Scotland, with next year being the 10^th anniversary. Finally, this year marks the 10^th anniversary since the voting age was lowered to 16 in Takoma Park, Maryland. Since then, we’ve had other cities follow; but we need to enfranchise more young leaders.

Ongoing efforts in New Zealand demonstrates that we need to support international efforts because of the support we get from them- our collective efforts inspire each other to work hard to enfranchise more youth. Victories in Scotland, Takoma Park, and elsewhere show that it can happen when a concerted effort is put forth. Places that have already had a lowered voting age show that it is not impossible. We’re near that higher end of the tier- getting victories and working to expand more. We need to take advantage of that favorable climate.

At this time, lowering the voting age is not impossible- we already have plenty of examples that show that is not the case, and many more growing efforts that demonstrate that it is even less so. But we still lack a focus through national lens on that issue. I want to help bring it more to the forefront of mainstream media consciousness.

The world is slowly recovering from a global pandemic. There is much rebuilding that needs to happen. It also needs new voices and new leaders to make their voices heard. But if young people are not part of that rebuilding process, the post-pandemic world that emerges tomorrow will look like the pre-pandemic world yesterday- unenfranchised youth who still don’t have a voice, will likely contribute to the next pandemic in the same way they did with the last one, without being credited for their efforts or even acknowledged as being part of the solution. This year can make a difference on whether future leaders can be heard here and now, or if they have to wait years later when the issues they want to weigh in on have less relevance to them- again.

This summer, I want an opportunity to change all that. I want an opportunity to speak on behalf of those we are trying to get voices for. I want to ask for the help of all those reading to help connect me to events to speak at in the next few months. I would like to once again travel across the United States to speak on behalf of youth rights in order to enfranchise the next generation of leaders!

Jester Jersey

DavisKiwanian@mail.com

A famous photo of Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri(R) throwing his fist up in the air. It was widely used during the Jan. 6 Investigation Committee in the last few years. Sen. Hawley has recently authored a bill that seeks to require social media users to be 16 years of age. (Photo courtesy of Vogue)

Social media saw a large amount of activity in the last three years as the pandemic kept many sheltered from socializing early on, only for people to retreat back to the digital world with the revolving seasons as the COVID pandemic reached apexes both during & after vaccines first became available.

For many, social media brought a virtual refuge that even COVID couldn’t touch the last few years, yet many knew full well that the pandemic itself was the reason it drove them to social media. No doubt social media has played an important role in how we communicate in modern times in both pre-pandemic as well as our current environment. In fact, it has become as pervasive in modern living like e-cigarettes- so much so that now government wants to regulate it.

Enter Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Sen. Hawley has recently introduced a bill to make it a requirement for social media users to be at minimum 16-years old. While many in either party, whether one leans left or right, or even if they lean moderately as an independent, might not make much of a fuss over this. However, supporters of lowering the voting age might find this useful, even if it doesn’t address the voting age at all.

For the party that has not been supportive of lowering the voting age, it is interesting to note that this legislation came from a Republican senator. In contrast to a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives two years ago this month, House Joint Resolution 23, Democratic sponsor Grace Meng proposed lowering the national voting age to 16. So did 17 other co-sponsors of the bill.

Often, people see the right & left hardly ever agreeing on any partisan issue. Yet both parties see 16 as a line of demarcation of sorts, even if those reasons range from whether they should be allowed on social media or whether they should have a political voice in who represents them. We already have the latter in several cities in Maryland, so all the more reason to make it uniform across the United States. Even many countries that have had faced difficult opposition to the idea are slowly, or even rapidly, moving in that direction. Not to mention that it already exists in so many other countries even before many supportive organizations started working on the idea.

This post isn’t questioning whether there should be a set minimum age for social media- that can be sorted out in the digital sphere. Instead, this post looks at one of the uncommon common grounds that the left or right even have- setting a minimum age for anything, coming at a time when we have a divided Congress.

Now that we have something we an agree on, let’s get the voting age lowered.

Jester Jersey

DavisKiwanian@mail.com