Stage Two

Let Teens Work at Polls
By: W. Gardner Selby

Roger Williams, who recently stepped down as Secretary of State, proposed that those under the legal voting age of 18 should be allowed to work as election clerks in Texas. Currently Texas requires election clerks to be qualified voters, but Williams would like to see that change. He believes getting 16 and 17 year olds involved in the voting process early will lead to a greater voter turn out in young adults for Texas. In the 2004 presidential election, Texas ranked 46th nationally for voters between the ages of 18 and 29. In the 2007 legislative session, Sen. Robert Duncan proposed allowing students 16 or older to be election clerks. This cleared the Senate but did not make it to the House before the session was over. The current Secretary of State, Phil Wilson, is “yielding” on the issue. Many others have spoken up about this and I believe in time the proposal will go through. It is a good way to get youth interested in government early so later when they are of age to get involved, they will!

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/10/05/1005elections.html