Measure 54: Voter Eligibility

[October 15th, 2008]

What’s the fuss ? The Oregon Constitution has three anachronisms when it comes to voter eligibility in school district elections: Voters must be 21 years old, residents of the district for six months, and pass a literacy test.

What’s the fix ? An amendment to the state constitution that deletes those three provisions, which are unenforceable under the federal Constitution and law.

Here’s the deal : Thanks to class research by students on Grant High School’s constitutional law team, the Legislature learned about these three outdated voter requirements. Turns out Oregon voters put these requirements into the constitution in 1948. But nobody bothered to realize that the 26th Amendment’s lowering of the voting age in 1971 to 18 years old and other federal changes later made these requirements unenforceable. When the Grant kids learned about this, they persuaded Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature to refer this measure to voters. Good job, kids. Vote yes.

Video of WW endorsement interview (thanks to Portland Community Media)