Democratic Council members Kriss Worthington, Darryl Moore and Max Anderson co-sponsored the recently defeated proposal that would have allowed the city's residents to vote on whether or not 16- and 17-year-olds could participate in local elections. In recent years, Democratic leaders across California have tried and failed to get under-18 voting established in some form or another.

It's not just in California that Democrats are the ones pushing the issue forward. Washington State Representatives Sam Hunt, Brendan Williams, Tami Green, and Kathy Haigh—all Democrats—have recently co-sponsored a bill that would lower the state's voting age to 16. Last week, New York City's Councilmember Gale Brewer, a Democrat from Manhattan, introduced a bill that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections.

Is Youth Voting for Democrats Only?

As Worthington reflects on the teens' upcoming efforts to get the state legislature to consider under-18 voting across California, he says the real obstacle will be winning enough Republican support for the two-thirds majority needed to pass such a bill.

"I think more conservative people have opposed most of the voting reforms that have been proposed historically in expansion of suffrage," says Worthington. "Many conservatives opposed the right to vote for women and African Americans. It's consistent that they would oppose expanding the suffrage to younger people."

Numerous young Republican groups were active on college campuses this year. But that activism doesn't necessarily translate into support for the lowering the voting age.

TheriAnn Rowen, who serves on the Santa Clara Citizen's Advisory Committee, has been involved with California's Silicon Valley Young Republicans since before she was able to vote. However, she does not support persons under of the age of 18 being able to vote, saying that voting is a legal privilege that should only be exercised by adults.

Adult manipulation is a concern for Catherine Brinkman, chair of the California Young Republicans. "When you're in high school and even at the college level, the influences within academics are so liberal and slanted that you don't get the full story," she says. "If it was totally nonpartisan, I would have a different story, but it's very partisan."

When Brinkman was 17, she volunteered to work for Senator Bob Dole's Presidential campaign. Would she have cast a vote for Dole if she could have? "I really don't think that I'm a good example because I'm very political, and most people aren't," she responds.

Not Automatically Liberal

The conventional wisdom says that lowering the voting age would help Democrats and hurt Republicans, because young people tend to be more liberal than older people.

"I think there's always that kind of hope on the Democratic side, and that fear on the Republican side," says Carrie Donovan, the youth director with the nonpartisan Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

But is it true? Individuals who are ineligible to vote aren't a prime target for pollsters, so there isn't a lot of hard data to go by. Most polls of younger teens are opt-in polls, mainly held online, without random samples—so they are not reliable indicators of how this age group would vote.

"The funny thing is, if Republicans are worried that young people will always vote liberal, with the cycles of generations there could be a time when younger people are more conservative that older people on certain issues," says Worthington. "I don't see this as a partisan, 'This helps Democrats and hurts Republicans issue.'"

On the Republican side, Rowen comments, "I can see the other side's point because I got involved when I was in high school and I went to a political convention when I was a senior and I had a great time."

Robert Reynolds, now 18, who helped spearhead the Berkeley youth voter campaign, says, "I really don't know which party teens would support, but it shouldn't matter... If politicians believe in democracy, they would appreciate a higher voter turnout."

Reynolds even suggests a ripple effect: "Kids would talk politics with their parents, thus getting them out to vote as well."

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Rob Capriccioso is a former staff writer for Connect for Kids.