Oregon Voting Age Should Be Lowered To 16, State Senator Proposes

PORTLAND, OR – Oregon lawmakers are considering lowering the voting age to 16 years old from its current 18. The measure, introduced by Democratic state Sen. Shemia Fagan, would lower the age for voting in all elections.

It would give Oregon the lowest voting age in the United States.

Referring to teen activism after the Parkland massacre last year where 17 people were killed, Fagan said that teens are "begging us to take action to protect their future."

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The measure faces an uphill battle to passage.

More than a dozen states have introduced measures to lower the voting age for at least some elections over the past 20 years. None of those measures have passed.

Oregon also has a history of being resistant to lowering the voting age.

After Congress passed a law lowering the voting age to 18 from 21 in 1970, Oregon didn't go along. That led to the 26th Amendment being passed the following year, making the change official across the country.

There is also strong Republican opposition in the state Senate.

Republican leader Sen. Herman Baertschiger, of Grants Pass, says the measure is just an attempt by Democrats to expand the voter rolls.

He says that as long as people are not considered adults until they are 18 — younger than 18, people can't get married, own property, sign a contract, own firearms, he points out — they should not be allowed to vote either.

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