Election 2020: Prop. 18 Would Allow Some 17-year-olds to Vote in Primaries

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4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Some young voters who recently turned 18 will be casting their ballot for the first time this November. But some of those voters were not able to vote in the primary election because they were not of age yet. Proposition 18 aims to change that. The initiative could open up the polls for more than 200,000 California voters who are 17 at the time of the primaries, but turn 18 by the general election. Supporters say the measure could spur more civic engagement among young people -- a group that traditionally posts low voter turnout. But opponents argue that 17 year-olds are not equipped to make decisions on complex issues like taxes, for example. In local measures, voters in Oakland will be asked to decide if 16 year-olds can vote in school board elections while in San Francisco, Prop. G would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in city elections. We take a look at the debate on young voters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:45.9	Welcome back to Forum. I'm Michael Krasny. Some young voters who recently turned 18 will be
0:51.2	casting their ballot for the first time this November. But some of those voters were not able to vote in the primary election because they were not of age yet.
0:58.6	Proposition 18 aims to change that. The initiative could open up the polls for more than 200,000
1:03.8	California voters who were 17 at the time of the primaries, but turn 18 by the general election.
1:09.2	Let's start with an explainer from our friends at KQED's
1:11.9	Bay Curious podcast. And here's KQED's politics reporter Guy Marzarotti talking with Bay Curious host,
1:18.0	Olivia Allen Price. This is really aimed at the voters who turn 18 in the window between the
1:24.1	primary and the general election. It would let them kind of get a head start in voting
1:28.0	and let them vote in the primary.
1:29.9	Now, some people may think, you know, it's only the primary, it's not a huge deal, you
1:34.0	still get to vote in the general.
1:36.1	Why does it even matter that, you know, young people would be voting in primaries?
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