Wyden, colleagues reintroduce bill to empower youth, expand voting access

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) —  Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate colleagues reintroduced legislation Wednesday that would expand youth access to voting.

“Our democracy’s future depends on young voters actively participating in the election process. Unfortunately, young voters, particularly young people of color, face growing obstacles to exercise their Constitutional right to vote,” said Senator Wyden. “That’s why I’m proud to introduce the Youth Voting Rights Act which would empower young voters and close the gap in voting rates between younger and older Americans nationwide. The promises of our Constitution must be universally fulfilled.”

Young people continue to face barriers to the ballot box which weakens their voice and influence over electoral politics. Their provisional ballots and mail-in ballots are rejected at disproportionate rates, and they routinely face serious obstacles to voter registration and in-person voting.

The Youth Voting Rights Act of 2023 would ease many of the barriers young people face in voting, including high rates of provisional ballot rejections, lack of accessible polling places, and restrictive residency and voter ID requirements. The bill would also ensure federal elections are free from age-based restrictions on access to vote-by-mail.

Specifically, the bill would:

• Empower individuals and the government to enforce the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.
• Expand voter registration services at public colleges and universities.
• Allow young people in every state to pre-register to vote before turning 18.
• Require institutions of higher education to have on-campus polling places.
• Prohibit durational residency requirements for all federal elections.
• Guarantee that states accept student IDs to meet voter-identification requirements.
• Create a grant program dedicated to youth involvement in elections.
• Gather data on youth voter registration and election participation.
• Prevent states from placing age limits on no-excuse vote-by-mail ballots.

The legislation was led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Alongside Wyden, the bill was cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. 

The legislation was endorsed by NextGen America, Andrew Goodman Foundation, Demand Justice, League of Women Voters of the United States, Common Cause, American Civil Liberties Union / Democracy Division, End Citizens United / Let America Vote Action Fund, Public Citizen, NAACP Legal Defense and many other organizations.

The text of the bill is here.