D.C. might let 16-year-olds vote

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A slight majority of Washington, D.C., city council members support a proposal to lower the voting age in the District from 18 to 16 for both federal and local elections. The measure was introduced last week and is backed by seven of 13 councilors.

"We work, we pay taxes, we care for family members, we can drive, we can do so many other things," said Alex Shyer, 16, a local high school sophomore who supports the change. "So, adding voting onto that isn't going to be that big of a responsibility. We can handle it."

Others are less enthused at the prospect. Takoma Park, Maryland, is just across the D.C. border and lowered its municipal voting age to 16 several years ago. Takoma Park City Councilor Fred Schultz opposed the change and still does, he told NBC, because the "vast, vast majority of 16- and 17-year-olds simply lack common sense."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.