China News Service, September 24. According to the US "World Journal" report, youth voting rights have increasingly become a hot topic in American politics.
In San Francisco, a number of Chinese girls who actively participated in political activities took the lead in supporting a referendum proposal that allowed 16-year-olds to vote and lowered the current voting age threshold.
On the ballots in November this year, both the California level and the San Francisco city level have similar proposals to lower the voting age threshold through a referendum so that more young people can vote.
Among them, in San Francisco, the G proposal is to reduce the voting age to 16.
Three Chinese girls, Crystal Chan, Sarah Cheung, and Adrianna Zhang, are current or former members of the San Francisco Youth Committee. They often participate in municipal discussions on behalf of the city’s youth and provide suggestions for the San Francisco city government.
Crystal Chan, who once served as a youth committee, is now actively participating in the election of city councillors.
(Photo by U.S. "World Journal"/Li Han)
Once a youth committee member, Chen Yuyi is keen on politics, and is now helping local city council candidates in the election campaign.
She said that the San Francisco G proposal is very important, because after young people have the right to vote, they can form the habit of voting earlier, and they can actively participate in politics and vote in the future.
Chen Yuyi said, "Young people now understand that different policies will affect their lives, so they must be able to speak out politically."
Zhang Shiyan is a student at the University High School in San Francisco, and is also the chairperson of the Citizenship Branch of the Youth Committee appointed by Mayor Breed.
She said that in the past year, she has been actively participating in promotional activities to lower the threshold for young people to vote.
"Everyone first learned about citizen participation and American history when they were 16 years old, so this is also an ideal time for young people to learn to vote." Zhang Shiyan said.
Zhang Keying, who is now studying at Lowell High School, is appointed representative of Yu Dingang, the city’s speaker of the Youth Committee.
She emphasized that young people are eager to speak out and participate in democracy, and hope that everyone supports the G proposal.
San Francisco had promoted the 16-year-old voting rights proposal as early as the 2016 election, but it was rejected by voters in the referendum.
This year is the second attempt. Even if it passes, local young people can only vote in the city and county elections, but not in state and federal elections.
Greenberger, a San Francisco Republican who opposed the proposal, believes that teenagers are still children, lack the experience of adults, have not yet worked, have not paid taxes, and cannot sign contracts. Therefore, the threshold should be maintained at 18. (Li Han)