Vote at 16?

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Lead Teacher Mentor

I recently had the privilege to present “Inquiry in the Middle Grades” at the DuPage County Social Studies Conference at Metea Valley High School, an Illinois Democracy School. In the session, participants explored the essential question, “Has suffrage expanded far enough?” to demonstrate the instructional shifts in the Illinois Social Science standards and the proven practices of civic education embedded in HB 2265 which requires students to engage in current and societal issue discussions within a semester of civics in the middle grades.


To start the inquiry, we began with the staging question, “What restrictions on voting would you support?” Age, citizenship, registration were the most popular categories. There was less agreement on distinctions based on criminal status, education and wealth (see image below).

While all can agree age is an appropriate category to use to limit the franchise, there is less consensus on what age that should be. Vote 16 is a national initiative to lower the voting age to 16 years of age for local elections and elevate this issue to a national level. The Vote 16 initiative builds on the positive trajectory of youth participation in recent elections and young people taking center stage in initiatives such as 22x20 campaign which endeavors to get the 22 million teens who are eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential race registered and prepared to participate.

The Vote 16 movement has gained traction in the District of Columbia, Oregon and the state of New York where legislators have deliberated extending franchise rights to 16 year olds. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced an amendment to lower the voting age to 16 nationwide. This current and societal issue discussion topic was recently highlighted by the August edition of Junior Scholastic magazine. Youth participation in voting is a focus in several bills introduced in the Illinois General Assembly this session. House Bill 3106 allows 16-17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. State Representative Daniel Didech (D-59) introduced a constitutional amendment (HJRCA 28) to lower the voting age in Illinois to 17. Didech is a graduate of Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, an Illinois Democracy School.

Has suffrage expanded far enough? Here are a few more resources to engage your students in this lively topic using the case study of the Vote 16 movement.

• Ilinoiscivics.org has a lesson plan featuring resources from the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago and Vote16 in Illinois.
• Deliberating in a Democracy in the Americas has a lesson plan on the Minimum Voting Age, with resources in both English and Spanish.
• You can watch a master teacher, Liz Robbins from Chicago Public Schools, engage in a Structured Academic Controversy on this issue via Educating for Democracy: Deep Dive from the Teaching Channel.
• National Public Radio KQED has a free lesson plan, “Should 16 year old be able to vote?”
• Youth Media Reporter has classroom resources around the theme, “Are Teens Age 16 and Older Ready to Vote?
• NBC News has a brief video clip to start the conversation.
• The Washington Post has a piece about some of the possible consequences to lowering the voting age.
• Generation Citizen published a white paper on “Young Voices at the Ballot Box: Advancing Efforts to Lower the Voting Age.”
• Dr. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Executive Director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), was recently interviewed by WGBH on the question, ”Should the Voting Age be Lowered to 16?”

What essential questions do you use to have students explore issues around suffrage rights? Please comment below. Together, we can prepare ALL students for college, career and civic life.