FAYETTEVILLE, Mo. — One state lawmaker pushing to allow some 17 year olds in Arkansas to vote in primary elections.
Arkansas already allows 17 year olds to pre-register to vote as long as they’ll be 18 by November.
State Representative Greg Leding (D) Fayetteville) believes if these teens could vote in May, it would increase turnout for the primaries overall – and specifically for the 18 to 29 age group – which tends to not turn out for those elections.
“There are a lot of issues that affect that age group more so than me or my wife for example. You’ve got student debt, higher education funding, sexual assault on college campuses,” Leding says.
Leding is throwing around the idea ahead of the 2019 legislative session.
Leding also plans to revisit automatic voter registration next year along with mail-in ballots and online voter registration.
