The Newark City Council on Wednesday night gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that, if adopted, would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the city’s April school elections.
Suffrage for younger teens is not a new idea, having been adopted in other U.S. cities and proposed in New Jersey, at least as far back as 2015, including a student-led movement that began last summer in Jersey City.
But if the council votes to adopt the measure following a public hearing scheduled for Jan. 10, proponents say Newark would be the state’s first municipality to grant voting rights to people under 18.