Odd Behavior

As an advocate for young people, I am often inspired by things I see, sometimes appalled by attitudes I encounter, and occasionally befuddled, as sometimes things strike me as just plain odd.

Today's post falls squarely into the latter category. It seems that Article VIII, Section 6 of the Oregon Constitution requires voters in school elections to be at least 21. It was amended to the Constitution in 1948, and forgotten about in 1971 when Congress passed the 26th amendment to the federal Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18. Forgotten about, ignored -- but still in the Oregon Constitution.

When Hanna Fisher (18) and Ethan Gross (19) were studying the Oregon Constitution and came across this antiquated amendment, they decided to do something about it. Their efforts culminated in an invitation to sit on the House floor last Tuesday as members passed a bill striking Article VIII, Section 6 (source: The Oregonian).

The odd part is that, while the House voted to strike the requirement, the vote wasn't unanimous. The bill passed 56 ... to one. That's right, one member dissented (I don't want to mention any names, but his initials are Rep. Jerry Krummel, R-Wilsonville). The question is ... why? It's an obsolete section. The federal voting age has been 18 for 36 years. I know that there are people who, on principle, don't like altering constitutions. But this isn't altering, its cleaning up the language and bringing it into accord with common practice. Is it possible that distrust of young people is so deeply ingrained in some that they can't bring themselves to support anything that smacks of giving young people more status -- even if its status they already have?

I don't know. I can only speculated on the motivation for the dissent. But, as I said, it strikes me as odd.