1. What is Vote16 Maine?
Vote16 Maine is a youth-led campaign advocating to lower the voting age to 16 for state and local elections in Maine. This bill is being proposed to the Committee on Veteran and Legal Affairs. It proposes an amendment to the Maine state constitution to simply change the voting age number from 18 to 16. The bill would have to pass with a ⅔ vote in both the house and the senate before going to the ballot in the fall.

2. Who is behind Vote16 Maine?
Vote16 Maine is an initiative of Maine Students Vote, in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Maine Youth Council. We’re a nonpartisan coalition of students and supportive adults focused on building lifelong civic engagement across the state.

3. Why 16? Isn’t 18 the traditional voting age?
Sixteen-year-olds already take on adult responsibilities! They can drive, work, and pay taxes. Research shows that voting at 16 encourages stronger lifelong voting habits, greater political trust, and more open-minded political engagement. Beyond this, turning 18 usually correlates with graduating highschool/moving onto the first stages of adulthood. These changes sometimes involve moving to a different state where registering to vote can be confusing. By starting voting education and the ability to vote longer, we ensure more civic engagement in younger brackets.

4. How would lowering the voting age impact civics education?
Schools would have a greater incentive to teach civics and government meaningfully if students could actually participate in elections while still in high school. This makes civics more relevant and engaging and will lead to a better-informed electorate.

5. Are sixteen-year-olds competent enough to vote?
Questions about competency were also raised during discussions of giving African Americans and women the right to vote. And the short answer? Yes. Developmental neuroscience research shows that cold cognition reaches adult levels after about 16 years. On the other hand, hot cognition, which deals more with the “maturity” side of things, doesn’t develop until someone’s early to mid-20s. However, cold cognition is the type of decision-making that is rooted in rational thinking and plays an important role in voting.

6. Will voting be overly influenced by parents or others?
Parental influence CAN affect voting, just not in the way that is usually expected. Parents can positively influence their children to vote but research shows that these voters won’t reproduce beliefs from their parents. The truth is that everyone gets influenced by outside sources when it comes to voting and 16 year olds are not any more susceptible to this than older voters are.

7. Will younger voters use lesser quality information sources than older voters? 
A common fear is that these younger voters will get their information from social media, which generally contains false information. However studies have shown three important things. Number 1, younger voters actually do MORE political research than middle aged and older voters. Number 2, There are similar levels of political knowledge between younger voters and voters up to the age of about 30. And number 3, 16 and 17 year olds use a variety of different sources to round out their political knowledge and score the same as 18 year olds on tests of political skill, efficacy and interest. In my experience, a lot of social media platforms contain misinformation but they give younger individuals a starting point of what they want to learn more about.

8. Will the 16- or 17- year old bother to vote?  
This question comes from the fact that there is low voter turnout for 18-29 y.o so one could assume this would translate if the voting age were lowered. However, there are multiple barriers at 18 that aren’t there at 16. If we started voting at 16 we could get these younger voters engaged earlier. Beyond that, we could quell misunderstandings and answer questions before they make these big changes in their lives. Across the world, there has been large voter turnout from 16 to 17 year olds. Younger voters in Tacoma, Maryland, the first city to lower the voting age to 16, not only far exceeded voters in terms of turnout but also sustained this engagement.

9. Is this just a progressive power grab?
Not at all! The longer answer is that research shows that younger voters have a wide diversity in which issues they support and feel passionate about. In fact, a lot of younger voters have yet to form a strong attachment with a particular political party unlike their older counterparts.

10. What legal issues could arise should efforts to lower the voting age be pursued? 
There are no current federal barriers against states or towns lowering their voting age.
However, opponents argue that this creates multiple ages of maturity, but this already exists across the United States. Another argument would be that this would expose youth to greater potential legal risk through ‘adultification’. Counter to this, however, proponents argue that the legal status of 16/17 y.o has already changed and that these individuals should have input into the laws that will impact them now and going forwards.

11. Has any progress been made in Maine?
Yes! We have a bill sponsored by Senator Craig Hickman currently submitted to the Maine Legislature. We’re actively building a coalition to support this effort and are looking for more organizations and individuals to get involved.

12. How can I get involved?
Join the coalition! Whether you're a student, educator, advocate, or community member, your voice matters.

Fill out this form to get started.

13. Where can I learn more about this issue?
Check out the League of Women Voters of Maine’s consensus study on lowering the voting age to 16. It dives into the history, research, and arguments behind the movement.