In researching the under-18 voting issue for this week's homepage stories, I've been itching to point out this May 26 Daily Californian article. In it, reporter Jessica Lum quotes Berkeley Councilmember Betty Olds as giving the following reason for not supporting a recent proposal in the city that might have led to lowering the voting age: “There's enough idiots voting already.”

How frustrating it must have been for teens who attended the meeting to support their hard-fought cause to hear such an argument—from an adult, no less.

For my stories this week (here and here), the teen leader of the Berkeley campaign, Robert Reynolds, wouldn’t comment specifically on Olds’ comments. He’s too busy trying to build a coalition to support the issue down the road to badmouth any politician.

But Councilmember Linda Maio had this to say: “Betty's comment was nothing short of insulting.”

And the editorial team of the Daily Californian offered this summary of the situation on May 31: “It’s embarrassing that each of the Berkeley High School students presenting a proposal at the City Council last Tuesday were much more eloquent than the average adult who makes his case there.”