HB 2679 VOTE:NO
Died In Committee on 06/26/21
Status (overview) of bill:https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/HB2679
Committee assigned to bill: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Committees/HRULES/Overview
This bill allows major political party to permit a 17 year old to vote in the primary if 18 before the general election. Forces a party to adopt rules to be competitive.
Limited Government
This bill sets up a situation that can be changed every election based on party rules. The real goal is to allow 16 year-olds the vote. So if parties compete for 17 year-olds and establishes that norm, it will be easier to go to 16.
Current research states that, ” the human brain does NOT fully mature until approximately 25 years of age.’ Does this make sense to allow children to make such decisions at this young of an age ? The should we not allow them to drive at 12, marry at 14, drink alcohol at 16 and all of those activities allowed so called adults ? Another ballot rigging scam by the people that brought us the vote by mail issue which has not produced a republican Governor since it’s incept except Vic Atiyah ??? Am I the only one that sees this as the king has no clothes ?
What does this bill really say? That voting in the Primary election is VERY important. Think about that all you Non-Affiliated Voters who aren’t allowed to vote in Oregon’s primary elections.
These are quotes from teens admitting they are not ready to vote. An article from The Student Room states: Many students believe that 16 and 17-year-olds should not have the vote because they are not interested in political issues and current affairs. One TSR user, Rybee, makes this clear – he states that “In general, 16 year olds have no interest in politics and are not educated well enough in politics to make an informed vote.”
Another TSR user, Simoncino, says that despite the existence of legal limits for 16-year-olds – marriage (with permission), sex, paying taxes, getting a full-time job, etc – this is not enough to justify lowering the voting age.
Even more compelling is that 16-17 year olds are not allowed to serve in the Military. The Constitution outlines until 18 years of age Serving and Voting both carry serious responsibilities for U.S. Citizen – Let us not rush these two burdens on our children. Let them mature and be ready and then welcome them at 18 to this next level of civic duty.
Letting 17 year olds vote in primary elections would allow them to be used as political pawns by special interest groups that will prey upon their naive emotional responses as opposed to the informed rationale of older adults. Moreover, as non stakeholders in society at that tender age, 17 year olds simply do not qualify to weigh in on decisions that will impact the lives and fortunes of established adults who actually have skin in the game.
In the 2020 primaries, many Oregonians parties had been changed. A facebook group cropped up that had 2,000 people in it with such claims. They could not get their party affiliations changed in time to vote in the primary (most election offices were closed due to covid). We even had a green card holder state she received a ballot (I imagine many would not publicly do that), but she was concerned it might upset her application for citizenship. In Oregon, we need to seriously do something about this motor voter law and folks getting auto registered in fine print there into non-affiliated parties (unless you know you’re being registered and ask for a voter card on the spot — it’s in the fine print). We voted down to give illegals IDs, yet the Gov. of this state is implementing it anyway? This is SO WRONG! They claim to mail you a card to choose your party which some never receive. There is a timeframe prior and post elections you can change your party affiliations, however, most don’t think to check that (why would it change by itself?) prior to elections. Adding in teens who could care less to vote into this mix is another way to harvest ballots. This is not solving the problems we already have in our elections. We need to seriously advocate the removal of universal ballots in this state by making folks request ballots and require ID to vote by mail. We need in-person polling places and any ballot drop off boxes need to be manned/supervised with cameras at least with paper ballots on special paper like a dollar bill – can be forensically audited to remove fraudulent paper ballots. There should be a scanner identifying fraudulent ballots in place. Enveloped need to stay with the ballots and ballots should be stamped from where they came from so one could go back and verify who dropped it off if need be. Voting in any election should be held to the highest standards as these people represent all people in the state, where our $$ are spent, and the law implemented here. It should not be so ripe with fraud. We need cleaning up of our elections!