The right to vote is a fundamental privilege afforded to every American of legal voting age, and while 17 states already allowed for 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, Connecticut was one of those states in which the voting age, even for primary elections, was established at 18 by the state constitution.
Thanks to a determined group of Stonington High School students in Richard Walter’s government and politics class, history was changed during the recent presidential election when Connecticut voters were offered a chance to vote on referendum question #2 on the ballot: whether to amend the Connecticut constitution to allow 17-year-olds the right to participate directly in the democratic process by affording them certain voting rights.
The amended was approved by a 2-to-1 margin, and now 17-year-olds who are pre-registered to vote and who turn 18 on or before the general election in November will be eligible to vote in March primaries.
According to state Rep. James F. Spallone of District 36 and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz who co-wrote a white paper on the proposed amendment in April of 2007 in support of the Stonington High School students’ leadership on the issue, “This amendment would encourage young people to register and vote, foster discussion about politics and policy among teenagers and their families, and fix an inequity that exists when it comes to 17-year-olds enlisted in the armed services.”
When both the house and the senate unanimously approved that the amendment go to general election earlier this year, their support of the measure came with the clear understanding that while 17-year-old Connecticut residents who, through the early entry program, have enlisted in the armed services can fight and die in war to defend America, they deserve every right of citizenship that an 18-year-old enjoys.
While the measure found its genesis in a simple classroom discussion, the process to bring the 17-year-old voting right to fruition was long and arduous.
“It started back in the spring of 2004 when we were taking about the evolution of voter rights in the United States,” SHS teacher Richard Walter recalled. “That right to vote started with white male landowners, then freed slaves, then women in 1920, and finally the 26th Amendment passed allowing 18-year-olds to vote in 1971.
“My students noticed that the text of the 26th Amendment said that the voting age ‘shall not be set higher than 18,’ but it could be set lower,” Walter continued. “When the students realized it could be set lower, I said there are some states that in fact allow certain kinds of voting for people who are under 18; in particular, primary elections.“
After the students learned that Connecticut was not among those states, four students out of Walter’s class of 18 decided to research the matter and with Walter’s help spoke with representatives on the state level.
“They invited students to write statements and present them at the legislature in Hartford,” Walter explained. “Only after they went through that process did we learn it was not a state law but a constitutional amendment that was needed in order to have this happen. That kind of slowed us down a little bit.”
The four students who first presented the case before law-makers were Corey James Prachniak, Paul Schmitz, Matt Collette, and Dan Terrell, and after they graduated, other students kept an interest in the cause.
“But it really didn’t go anywhere until the winter of 2007/2008,” Walter said. That’s when Spallone and Bysiewicz jumped aboard and helped to compose the voter change as an amendment rather than as a law.
“They asked for student support, and there was a student round-table discussion at the high school this past February, which Bysiewicz and Spallone attended, in addition to Stonington First Selectman Edward Heberek and the Superintendent of Schools Michael McKee,” Walter said. “But the highlight was the students who had prepared statements and press packs.”
After that discussion, come May of 2008 the amendment made its way through the Connecticut legislature. By summer, “It was on the ballot and it was going to be voted on for Election Day,” Walter said. “The fact that voters in Connecticut passed referendum question #2 on Nov. 4 is a testament to the power of students in our democratic system.”
By Jason J. Marchi
Times Correspondent