I’m here to provide your periodic update on the effort to allow children to vote in local elections.

The Wakefield Youth Council had planned to get an article on the Nov. 8 Regular Town Meeting warrant, but there “wasn’t enough time.”

Too much homework, I guess.

But after listening to a recent Youth Council meeting, it’s clear that the kiddos are determined to pull out all the glottal stops and get it done in time for the Annual Town Meeting in the spring. To quote the Youth Council chair, that would be “amazing.”

We are assured that the youngsters would only be voting in municipal elections, not in state or national elections. But local elections have a much more direct impact on your day-to-day life than voting for governor or president, which is the real reason they’re starting local. And those who want teenyboppers to vote in municipal elections have every intention of expanding it to state and federal elections. This is just the camel’s nose under the tent.

The proponents of lowering the voting age to 16 have a pretty good idea how these kids would tend to vote. After all, they’ve overseen the total ideological immersion that these kids get in school and pop culture. By age 16, their disciples have reached peak saturation. It would be a shame to waste it.

We recently saw socialist Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York City. Having Mamdani as mayor has been likened to being governed by the undergraduate student body of Columbia University. But at least most Columbia students are over 18. We’d be handing the reins of power over to 16 and 17-year-olds.

At a recent meeting, the Youth Council and their adult advisor discussed the steps required to lower the voting age in local elections. The legal voting age in Massachusetts is 18, so for a town to lower the age for municipal elections, the State Legislature would have to approve a home rule petition. Getting a home rule petition before the state legislature requires Town Meeting action. To get a warrant article in front of Town Meeting requires a petition with at least 10 signatures.

A question was asked by a Youth Council member: Do the petition signers have to be 18 years old, or can kids sign it too?

No one at the meeting knew the answer, so they were going to check with Town Counsel Tom Mullen. I didn’t pass the bar, unless you count the one at the 99, but I’m prepared to give my legal opinion for free and let me assure you, it’s worth every penny.

Any citizens’ petition to place an article on the Town Meeting warrant must be signed by 10 registered voters. And for now, at least, you have to be 18 to vote.

So, sorry kids. You can’t sign the petition. But look on the bright side.

At least you don’t have to learn cursive.
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[This column originally appeared in the December 4, Wakefield Daily Item.}