"We allow 16-year-olds to go off and get jobs and pay taxes, but we fail to allow them to exercise their voice come election time," said Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights. "Young people are setting aside their differences and identifying issues they think need to change. And they can do everything to get that change except vote."
The shooting at Parkland, which left 17 students and teachers dead, prompted multiple school walkouts and large demonstrations across the nation by students calling for more gun control.
The bills, simultaneously introduced in both the House and Senate, also would require a change in the federal and state constitutions. To change the state constitution, it would require a supermajority in the House and the Senate, which is unlikely in the Republican-controlled Legislature, and a vote of the people. To change the U.S. Constitution, Congress would have to pass the change and send it back to the states for ratification. The last time the voting age was changed — from 21 to 18 — was 1971.
