May 7th, 2008 | Elections survey

Michigan is considering dropping the voting age to 16 for school board elections. What do you think?

LANSING -- A constitutional amendment has been introduced to let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in Michigan school board elections. OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1');

State Senator Michael Switalski says his goal is encouraging young people to participate in important elections that affect the student body and usually attract “embarrassingly low” turnout. The Roseville Democrat hopes students can learn about democracy by voting.

The current legal voting age is 18.

The proposal introduced Wednesday would lower the voting age to 16 for school board contests. It wouldn’t change the voting age for other elections, including contests involving school millage or bond issues.

The joint resolution would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate to be placed on the November ballot.

Are you kidding? 16 year olds are idiots.

Candidates would lower themselves to promising stupid things to the students to get the youngster vote.

I think this is great! The makeup of the school board had a direct impact on these kids and it will get them involved in the political process.

this whole issue is just surreal. Don't Michigan legislators have important issues to focus on?

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By Dynomoose

42 votes, 395 views , 4 comments