Residents of the city of Golden, Colorado, will decide this November whether they want the minimum voting age lowered from 18 to 16.
The Denver Post reported Monday that the Denver suburb with a population of 21,000, which passed the ballot measure in late August, would be the first in the state to approve such a measure.
If the ballot measure passes, the community would allow voters as young as 16 years old to vote for candidates running for local office and local ballot measures and would go into effect by November 2019.
The city would still require residents who plan to run for office to be at least 18 years old.
Other municipalities across the U.S. have put forth proposals to lower the voting age in local elections. A Washington, DC, Democrat council member introduced a bill in April that would allow 16-year-olds to vote, and Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced a resolution in August aiming to change the U.S. Constitution so 16-year-olds could vote.
Some cities have even opened up voting in local elections to non-U.S. citizens. San Francisco began allowing non-U.S. citizens to register to vote in November’s local school board elections in July.
The city’s voters passed Proposition N in 2016, giving non-U.S. citizens the ability to vote in local elections. The measure is set to take effect in the 2018 election season.
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