Student Govt. at Michigan State Wants Non-Citizens to Vote
“important to help address the living standards of noncitizens”
What other country has this problem? Where else are young people demanding rights like these for non-citizens?
Campus Reform reports:
Michigan State student gov: Let non-citizens vote
The Michigan State University student government passed two resolutions, 55-23 and 55-24, on Thursday, calling on state and local government to allow both non-citizens and 17-year-olds to vote.
The first bill sought to extend voting rights to noncitizens. The proposal argued that this change was important to help address the living standards of noncitizens. The proposal stated, “certain policies will affect non-citizens’ living standard in East Lansing and may cause them to leave the area.”
During debate, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources student representative Josh Grindling pointed to the Illegal Immigration and Reform Responsibility Act of 1996, which prevents non-citizens from voting in federal elections.
However, the explicit non-application to state elections allows for Michigan or East Lansing to change their voting laws, Grindling argued. The noncitizen voting bill passed the policy committee unopposed.
The next bill advocated lowering the age for voter eligibility from 18 to 17. The original recommendation was 16 but that changed with concerns over the rights of 16-year-olds to vote.
Rep. Oscar Garner of the Business College was first to bring up his suspicion. He referenced the twenty-sixth amendment, which passed in 1971. The passage secured voting for 18-year-olds. He supported this expansion of voting.
“Someone old enough to fight for your country deserves the right to vote,” Garner said.
He did not approve of a greater expansion to age 16: “I don’t really see the reason for 16-year-olds to be voting.”
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Comments
The fact that students passed these resolutions just shows that the voting age actually needs to be raised.
Leave the voting age as it is, or raise it to 21. I didn’t have enough personal judgment at 18 to do the task right; 17 or 16 isn’t nearly mentally mature for such choices to be made.