Opinion
17 going on 18
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A new bill sponsored by state Senate President Fred Risser, D-Madison, would allow 17-year-olds in Wisconsin to participate in primary elections if their 18th birthdays fall before the general election.
Though the idea of sending those younger than 18 to the polls has sent some state lawmakers reeling, we believe the legislation is reasonable and grounded in simple logic. Put simply: If a person is going to cast a vote in the general election, he should have a say in choosing the candidates he will ultimately have to decide between.
The legislation is not a partisan attempt to garner additional votes from the Wisconsin youth — on the contrary, it is a wholly nonpartisan effort to fully enfranchise those who will already have the ability to impact the election's final outcome. There is no bias in this legislation toward one party or another, nor would it set a precedent to lower the voting age.
What's more, the group that would be affected by the legislation is merely a fraction of a fraction of the population. The young people affected are those 17-year-olds whose birthdays fall within the two-month gap between the primary and general elections — about one-sixth of the roughly 80,000 17-year-olds living in Wisconsin.
Perhaps most disturbing about this legislation is not the bill itself but the way some have reacted to its introduction. Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, flew off the handle when questioned by The Associated Press about the issue, calling the idea "ridiculous."
State lawmakers should abandon the notion that the bill is contentious in an effort to save valuable time — a bill with such a limited scope should not occupy our elected officials' time for very long. We call on the Legislature to pass the proposal as a simple measure to counteract what seems to be an unwarranted injustice for some interested young voters.
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Who cares, they won't vote anyway. That's why the politicians pander to the old folks - they vote.