LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state senator wants to lower the Nebraska voting age to 16.
Sen. Anna Wishart, of Lincoln, says she intends to propose a state constitutional amendment next year that would do so. She says today’s 16-year-olds are informed and “fully capable” of helping other voters choose people to represent them in state and local offices.
She said at a legislative forum Wednesday that the idea for a lower voting age came after a conversation with a German woman who had been voting since she was 16 and, as a result, was “so much more engaged and informed than I was about local politics” at a similar age.
Sixteen-year-olds are allowed to vote in German’s municipal elections; the voting age is 18 for other elections.