Pre-registration of 17-year-olds to vote.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE  VI, Section 11

Adopted: November 24, 1976 by a popular vote of  393,819 in favor and 301,751 against.

“it’s designed to cover students who leave their homes to attend out-of-state colleges prior to becoming 18 and are unable to return home to register to vote in person.  Every year, just before the elections, I receive letters from students who have in effect lost their right to vote because they can’t afford to make an expensive trip home to register since they turned 18 after they left home.  The inability of a young citizen to become a voter   … constitutes a real barrier to the attainment and use of the franchise now guaranteed to 18-year-olds.”

--Secretary of State Gloria Schaffer explaining proposed constitutional amendment H.J.R. No. 51 to members of the Government Administration & Policy Committee at a public hearing held April 5, 1975.