Vote 16 would allow 16-year-olds to vote in municipal elections in Culver City
By Sam Catanzaro
The Culver City school board has expressed support for an initiative that would allow 16-year-olds to vote in Culver City.
At the Tuesday, May 10 Culver City Unified School District Board of Education meeting, the Board voted to support an effort that would allow 16 year olds to vote in municipal elections in Culver City.
For the past few years, an organization of Culver City students have been meeting with local officials and to build support for their initiative to lower the municipal voting age to 16. Vote 16 Culver City is part of Vote 16 USA, a national campaign to support lowering the voting age at a local level. It would allow youth aged 16 and older to vote in local elections, including City Council and ballot measures specific to Culver City. The group has met with City Council Members and gained the endorsement of the local Democratic Club chapter and others.
According to the Culver City Unified School District, CCUSD school board elections are managed by the County of Los Angeles and not the City of Culver City, these elections would not automatically be included, without special dispensation, in the items on which 16 and older could vote.
At their meeting this month, acknowledging that students are the people who are most affected by Board of Education elections, the Board voted unanimously to direct the superintendent to support the city’s efforts in possibly lowering the voting age to 16 and to pursue the inclusion of the school board elections.
