Rep. Fernandes Joins Empower Voting Act Initiative

BOSTON – Barnstable/Dukes/Nantucket State Representative Dylan Fernandes has joined an effort to support the Empower Voting Act.

The bill ensures municipal participation of the widest eligible range and will grant cities and towns the option to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections.

It’s supported by Generation Citizen, a civics education mentorship and advocacy group, as well as Vote16 Massachusetts, an organization that advocates to allow 16-year-olds the right to vote in municipal elections.

Fernandes was among a group of lawmakers that kicked off the initiative on Thursday.

Massachusetts passed a comprehensive civic education bill last year that mandates all high schools to provide civic education to their students, creating a more educated and politically active young adult demographic.

The legislation, if passed, would not automatically enfranchise 16- and 17-year-olds, but rather allows cities and towns to extend municipal voting rights to this demographic by their own volition.

By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center 

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