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 [1]. 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 [2] and here [3]), 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."