Supes propose lowering municipal voting age to 16

Several San Francisco supervisors are supporting a charter amendment that will be introduced at Tuesday’s board meeting that would give voting rights to 16- and 17-year-old city residents for municipal elections.

The measure, which is planned for the November ballot, would make San Francisco the first major U.S. city to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections, according to the office of board president Norman Yee.

The young voters would have to meet all of the qualifications for voter registration under state law besides the 18-year-old age minimum, and would have to register to vote with the city’s Department of Elections, according to the language in the proposed charter amendment.

Yee and Supervisors Sandra Lee Fewer, Matt Haney and Shamann Walton are set to join state Sen. Scott Wiener and other city officials and community advocates at a noon virtual briefing Tuesday to talk about the proposal before the board’s regular 2 p.m. meeting.