I got a call the other night from a young woman from Lowell who asked me to help her get a bill passed that would permit young activists like her to vote in municipal elections at the age of 17.
I offered her a lot of free advice about what to do, most of it she was already doing, including getting terrific press in her hometown paper the Lowell Sun, an Editorial Endorsement no less, and a nice human interest story the Globe last week, and then she asked me for money. Of course I made a pledge and decided I had better update the BMG community and tell you all about some concrete ways you can be helpful. So here is a copy of their latest appeal.
Teens in Lowell, MA have been working passionately for 2 years on a campaign called Vote 17. Vote 17 is a campaign to lower Lowell’s voting age to 17 for Lowell municipal elections. Currently, our bill H01111 is in the House Committee on Bills in Third Reading awaiting a release to the House floor for a vote. It will then go on to the Senate’s three reading process and finally to the Governor’s desk before landing on the Lowell November 8th municipal ballot. In order for this issue to appear on the November 8th Lowell ballot, we need to have full State House approval by October 3rd. There are only 7 days left until this deadline.
As the deadline quickly approaches, we ask that all Vote 17 supporters contact Representative Anthony Pedone (D- Worcester), Chair of House Committee on Bills in Third Reading, as well as Speaker of the House, Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) urging them to quickly bring Bill H01111 to the House floor for a vote. You can contact Representative Pedone’s office at 617-722-2410 and Speaker DeLeo’s office at 617-722-2500.
Lowering the voting age to 17 is intentional because 18 is a transitional year for most young people as they’re moving on to college in a different community or working full-time for the first time. However, if we get 17 year olds engaged and voting while they’re still in high school and part of our community, we can plant the seed of lifelong positive voting habits that they can carry with them as they move on. We want to start the habit early and to create a new generation of engaged voters. By doing so, Lowell can be a model for how to increase voter turnout and engagement for years to come. Throughout our journey, we have gained full local support such as The Lowell Sun, the entire Lowell Delegation, the Lowell City Council, and Chief of Police Ken Lavallee.
Ultimately, our Vote 17 campaign is unlike any similar past or current bill as it calls for the initiative appearing on our local election ballot after full State House approval. We are asking that the state legislature allow the voters of Lowell to decide on an issue that has already received full support from all levels of our city government and our state house delegation. As we have said from the beginning of our campaign, given such widespread support, we are now simply asking to “Let Lowell Vote!”
Lowering the voting age to 17 in Lowell’s municipal elections is the next logical step. We believe that by letting Lowell be the first in the country to lower the voting age in municipal elections, our community can serve as a pilot for other cities that wish to do the same thing. I have attached our fact sheet and a few recent articles on Vote 17 to this email for your convenience. If you have any questions, or would like to schedule a time to speak, please feel free to contact me at 978-455-5100 or kturnquest@utec-lowell.org. If you would like to speak to the teen organizers directly, you can email them at organizers@utec-lowell.org.
There you go folks — get on the phone tomorrow morning. Peace in these hard times,
Judy
