16-Year-Olds Want The Right To Vote In East Brunswick BOE Elections

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Should 16-year-olds in East Brunswick get the right to vote in school board elections? A group of school students think so.

During the last Council meeting, a group of students from East Brunswick High School petitioned council to lower the voting age in BOE elections.

Student Roshini Ramesh said the group met with lawmakers, advocates and garnered local support for their cause over the past nine months.

The group argued that allowing 16- 17-year-olds to vote in local BOE elections would cultivate a lifelong habit of civic engagement.

“While 16-and 17-year-olds are attending high school, there are opportunities for increased civic education as well as information that provides healthy voting habits and lets students know the importance of voting,” high schooler Sahil Kochhar said.

Kochhar noted that the high school regularly hosts voter registration drives encouraging hundreds of students to vote.

Another student told the Council that getting students to vote in BOE elections would allow them to “grow in civic virtue.” The students are part of the group Vote16 EB, a local chapter of Vote16 NJ and Vote16 USA. They have been advocating through their organization, Youth Voice in Action. The students also have a petition to lower the voting age for school board elections to 16.

Resident Dave Chan spoke in support of the students.

“I think it’s a great idea to empower and enfranchise our youth. Its a great way to maintain the greatness of EB,” Chan said.

The effort to lower voting age for school board elections is not new.

Newark became the first municipality in New Jersey to allow 16-year-olds to vote in local school board elections by adopting an ordinance in January.

Newark joins the cities of Oakland and Berkley in California in lowering the voting age to 16 for school board elections. Battleboro, Vermont and the municipalities of Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Riverdale Park and Takoma Park in Maryland have lowered the voting age to 16 for all local elections.

In May New Jersey lawmakers proposed a bill that would lower the voting age for BOE races.

Lawmakers introduced S-3240 in the Senate that would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in elections for their local school board. The bill wouldn’t allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in any other election.

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Senators Raj Mukherji and Brian Stack. The Assembly bill is co-sponsored by Assemblywomen Cleopatra Tucker and Jessica Ramirez.

The proposed law has picked up support from civil rights advocates, who say that it’s a win-win proposition for “democracy.” According to Newark-based nonprofit New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), the proposed law could impact almost 240,000 young people across the state.

(Residents who would like to learn more about the effort in East Brunswick, can contact Kochhar at sahil@youthvoiceinaction.org)

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