From the San Francisco November 2020 Nonpartisan Voter Guide.
This charter amendment would lower the voting age in San Francisco to 16, allowing residents who are 16 and 17 years old to vote in local elections for local candidates and measures, though they would still be barred from voting on state measures or in state races, or in federal races.
This will be San Francisco’s second time voting on such an expansion of voting rights; a similar 2016 measure was unsuccessful. Nationally, only a few municipalities have extended voting rights to youth, but in other countries where youth can vote, their turnout rates tend to be higher.
Earlier this year, before the Board of Supervisors placed this measure on the ballot, “Civic” spoke with two youth commissioners and advocates for lowering the voting age in municipal elections. Listen to that interview here:
