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By Liam Verster

Voting age requirement

Vernon council to advocate for lowering voter age for municipal elections

Aug 17, 2021 | 1:30 PM

Vernon city council voted 3-2 in favour of writing the provincial government to advocate for the voting age for municipal elections to be lowered to 16, down from the current 18.

Mayor Victor Cumming broke the tie during Monday’s meeting, voting in favour with councillors Kelly Fehr and Akbal Mund, while Kari Gares and Scott Anderson were opposed the motion.

During the meeting, both Gares and Anderson voiced concerns about how youth do not pay attention to politics and shouldn’t be involved in the voting process until they are 18, but Fehr, who brought the motion before council, said that is not the case in the modern world.

“I think our youth are smarter than some people give them credit for. They are far more engaged in what’s going on,” Fehr told Vernon Matters.

“They will be impacted most by decisions made right now, and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

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Cumming backed the motion, saying it’s important to have youth involved with local politics. However, he told Vernon Matters he believes lowering the age requirement should come with an educational component as municipal governments have a limited mandate which he refers to as the five P’s: Plumbing, Protection, Parks and Rec, Planning and Pavement.

“So those are the things that we do, and it’s important that students know that if they’re going to be voting, they’re voting for people who have policies relating to those five P’s. We also do a sixth P here, we do promotion. We do tourism and economic development promotion,” said Cumming.

“So it’s important that people who are 16 and 17 know that we don’t do foreign affairs, we don’t do housing, those are things in the provincial and federal jurisdiction. So it’s important to learn that about what those jurisdictions are, but then fly at it, feel free. If you’re 16, 17, 18 and you’re interested, please come and vote, that’s my feeling.”

Cumming added with the connectivity and involvement in movements such as climate change, Indigenous rights and Black Lives Matter by youth already, it does make sense for them to have the ability to have their say at the local level.

“We fund the police, we fund protection, and we have some sway with their direction, not much but some so that’s pretty important,” said the mayor.

“We have a climate action plan, we put very significant effort into a climate action plan, and we’ve had youth involved and we want to have youth involved, it’s very important.”

Fehr added that young people are able to drive, they pay taxes and they work, so why not let their voice be heard in municipal politics. Fehr also said if someone turns 18 just after an election, they won’t get to have their say in local government until the next election when they are 22.

Fehr also told Vernon Matters that lowering the voter age requirement may also have a ‘trickle up effect’ at the polls.

“I think kids will be talking to their parents, and potentially will see kids influencing their parents to vote possibly eventually as much as we sometimes see parents influencing their kids to vote.”

Cumming said only about a quarter of eligible voters turn up to the polls for municipal elections, and if the age restrictions are lowered, he would hope to see that kind of turnout from youth as well.

Vancouver city council has also approved a letter writing campaign to advocate for changing the voting age for municipal elections, which Fehr said has been happening around the world, including in several U.S. states.

Fehr plans to write to the provincial government to advocate for the change within a month.

General local elections in B.C. take place on the third Saturday in October every four years. The next elections are scheduled for Saturday, October 15, 2022.