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Voting Rates by Age planned for a Hyattsville city council meeting 5
to draw such attendance, but on this freezing
cold night, teenagers had walked, carpooled, or
taken public transit to plead for the right to take section one
part in the same local elections most adults
blow off. /
Among them was Juwan Blocker, who got a
ride from an English teacher. And after he saw
that his voice really mattered when his city Bill Bystricky
lowered its voting age to include him, Blocker’s
engagement grew, and he continued taking part
as he became an adult.
U.S. Census Bureau board twice and got elected as a student
“I got involved in running for the school

member,” he says. “And now I’m here at the age
of 20 running for a full term on the board of
This is a chart from the United States Census education. So it definitely impacted me and
Bureau. others.”
What conclusions can you draw from this That shouldn’t be too surprising. A study 20
chart about voting rates by age, especially published in the Journal of Youth Studies found
6
trends in recent years? How would this
chart help or hinder Bystricky’s argument? that “political interest of 16- and 17-year-olds
Conduct brief research to identify the was higher after lowering the voting age.”
latest data on youth voting. Two years after Takoma Park lowered its voting
age, Male emailed me and told me how young
people’s involvement has become every day.
“[It’s now] normal for older people to stand
for voters younger than 18 was four times that of in line with younger people to vote,” he said.
4
older voters . “Normal for 16- to 17-year-olds to be at
But that’s Takoma Park, an affluent suburb of campaign events and asking questions of
Washington where many parents are among candidates. Normal to see 16- to 17-year-olds at
America’s policy leaders. Their kids grow up council meetings. And best of all, as an elected
informed and engaged. Surely, critics said, that representative, it has become normal for me to
couldn’t happen in a more typical city. get requests from 16- to 17-year-olds — for
The next campaign arose in working-class information or representation or services that
Hyattsville. This time, teenagers turned out in the city provides.”
such numbers that the council chambers had Blocker found his increased engagement
5
standing room only . The architects had never even rubbed off on his parents. Before, he says,
his parents were only occasional voters, but now
4 Wogan, J.B. “Takoma Park Sees High Turnout Among Teens After they vote in every election. That too is
Election Reform.” Governing, November 7, 2013. https://www.
governing.com/news/headlines/gov-maryland-city-sees-high-
turnout-among-teens-after-election-reform.html
5 Schneider, Elena. “Students in Maryland Test Civic Participation 6 Zeglovits, Eva & Martina Zandonella. “Political interest of
and Win Right to Vote.” The New York Times, January 9, 2015. adolescents before and after lowering the voting age: the case of
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/politics/students-in- Austria.” Journal of Youth Studies, 16:8, 1084-1104, May 24, 2013.
maryland-test-civic-participation-and-win-right-to-vote.html DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2013.793785
13
Copyright © Bedford/St. Martin’s. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
Distributed by BFW Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

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