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Prop 18 Fails: 17-Year-Olds Won't Vote In Primaries
Illustration by Chava Sanchez/LAist
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Proposition 18 has failed, with 55% of the elctorate voting no, according to the Associated Press.
The ballot measure would have let 17-year-old Californians vote in primaries, as long as they would have turned 18 before the general election.
Currently, 18 other states and the District of Columbia allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries —with the caveat of turning 18 before the general election. It's unclear how the measure would have affected actual turnout if passed; only 16.1% of eligible California voters aged 18-24 voted in the March 2020 primary.
More than 12 million votes were counted before the AP declared the result.
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Major donors to support Prop 18 included Kevin Mullin for Assembly 2020 (he introduced the measure in the state legislature) and the Committee to Innovate for California's Future.
The measure was endorsed by the L.A. Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Diego Union-Tribune, and opposed by the Southern California News Group and the Orange County Register.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, the ACLU of Southern California, and the California Democratic Party also supported the measure.
READ MORE ABOUT PROP 18:
Your Guide To The Ballot Propositions In California's General Election
- Legislative Analyst Office fiscal impact statement
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