I have a question and hope some of the regulars here can point me in the right direction. A friend asked me about this yesterday and I don't know the answer but it got me curious.
My friend has a 17 year old brother that would like to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. The kid will turn 18 on November 6th (election day) and an 18 year old should be able to vote, but I know that you have to register a few months ahead of time. He went to a local library that offers voter registration and they turned him away. They said he cannot register until he is 18, but if he waits until he's 18 he'll miss the election.
So, how does that work? Can he vote this November or does he simply have to wait until he's older? Or did he just run into an uninformed registrar and needs to go back.
Please no rants or soapboxes for answers (Yeah, i've seen the usual fare in this section) or I'll just report.
Will2012-07-18T10:14:21Z
Favorite Answer
The 26th amendment established that citizens who are eighteen years of age or older shall not be denied the right to vote on account of age.
That being said, the registration process (and the rules for determining who can register) are controlled by the states, and the standards vary widely.
For instance, in Georgia a person who is not yet 18 may register to vote if they will be 18 by election day.
And in Washington state a person may register once they have reached the age of 17, but may still not vote until they are 18.
In short, it depends on the rules of the state where you are registering. --
With respect to your friend’s brother being turned away, and depending on the rules of that jurisdiction, it *may* simply be that he will be able to register prior to the election but that it is simply too early. If there are other scheduled elections in that jurisdiction that will occur before the National elections, I can believe that they won’t allow registration until after those elections have occurred.
I would suggest calling the county registrar and asking. Surely this situation comes up in every jurisdiction from time to time.
Tough question, without checking into the laws/guidelines in each state. My guess, is that he will have to wait until he can legally register, and only then be able to vote in following elections. I appreciate his enthusiasm and commitment to participate, but as I guessed, he will probably have to wait...go to your local courthouse and just ask, maybe there is some way to "dance" around it and get him in for the election on the 6th....good luck with it
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