Who Wants 16-Year-Olds To Vote? We Asked Every 2020 Presidential Candidate About Voter Access

By De Elizabeth


Welcome to Got Issues?, MTV News’s candidate-by-candidate breakdown of your biggest concerns and questions about the 2020 race.


It’s official: Election Day 2020 is much less than one year away. Next November, voters across the nation will line up to cast their ballot for the next president of the United States, potentially setting into motion a new era of government. Although as well as the excitement and possibility of change comes a grave reality: The method of voting is often challenging for several Residents of the
U.S. Eager to create their voices heard.


Various policies and issues — ranging from strict voter ID laws to gerrymandering to miscellaneous challenges at the polling sites — have made the fight for voter access a uphill battle, even for people of color; incarcerated people and those with felony convictions; people living in marginalized, often hard-to-reach communities; and college students. Some voter ID laws don’t let student IDs as a form of genuine identification, while others have strict guidelines as to what constitutes a “eligible” form of ID. People without cars might have trouble getting to a polling location or find it challenging to take time off of school or work to vote, and gerrymandering can make it inordinately confusing for voters to know where they require go categorize in attempt to cast their ballots — a problem that’s amplified for transient students who live on college campuses.


Plenty of people and firms are blazing a trail towards a stronger democracy, one in which voting rights are protected every step of the way. The ACLU’s Voting Rights Project works tirelessly to litigate voting rights cases, along with push back against efforts to allowance access to the polls for marginalized communities. Groups like the Campus Vote Project and Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) are empowering college campuses to inform students about voter registration and other critical data, and individual students all around the nation are taking matters into their own hands categorize in attempt to help their peers participate in both local and national elections — yet they can’t do the work alone.


Voter access has become a key issue for progressive politicians, and many 2020 candidates have been outspoken about the importance of strengthening voting rights for everyone. There really are tangible things that elected officials can and should do sort in attempt to create voting more available to the average American, ranging from bolstering the Voting Rights Act to prioritizing early voting to simply giving people more time to vote on Election Day itself. Nevertheless once it comes down to specific strategies, every presidential hopeful has a different take.


MTV News reached out to every major presidential candidate with the same question: If elected, what would you do to strengthen and protect voter access? Some recommended statements, while others made time for interviews — and naturally, we dug into everyone’s backgrounds and voting records to fill in the blanks. The general consensus is that something needs to change, however how we intend to achieve it differs from candidate to candidate. Ahead, learn more about what each presidential candidate would do to strengthen our democracy and protect the correct to vote.


Michael Bennet


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes!


The Colorado Senator’s  “plan to repair our damaged politics” puts an emphasis on students and young people by allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. He also suggests that states should be required to let students to vote wherever they attend school categorize in attempt to make construct a simpler process for young people.


“We should not only be the world’s oldest democracy, yet the strongest,” Bennet mentioned in a statement to MTV News. “Unfortunately, the fundamental right to vote has come under assault in recent years from a wave of voter suppression unseen since the era of Jim Crow. There really isn't equal access to voting in the U.S. Today.”


Joe Biden


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes, nevertheless the specifics are unclear.


Biden’s published platform for government reform stresses the significance of legislation that protects voting rights, along with reducing the quantity of corporate cash in our elections. (Biden himself has accepted more than $30,000 in donations from corporate interests through a PAC he created, the Intercept reported.) In previous interviews, the former vice president expressed support for expanding voting rights of these who were previously incarcerated, and criticized apparent efforts by Republicans to prepare voting more hard for marginalized communities. While in a May 2019 campaign rally in South Carolina, Biden warned the crowd that the nation was headed for a major regression with regard to voting rights. “Folks, last year, 24 states introduced or enacted at least 70 charges to curtail the correct the vote,” Biden mentioned, per BuzzFeed News.


In 2014, Biden spoke out against restrictive voter ID laws, telling reporters: “Hatred never, never goes away. The zealotry of these who aspire to quota the franchise cannot be smothered by reason.”


Cory Booker


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes!


Senator Booker’s (D-NJ) platform on voting rights carries an assortment of actionable items like putting a stop to gerrymandering, ensuring “universal automatic voter registration,” and ensuring that all voters are able to cast a ballot in a language they understand. If elected president, he would also aim to create new legislation to further protect the correct to vote.


“The right to vote has been under assault for millions of Residents of the
U.S. — Disproportionately for young people and in communities of color,” Booker wrote on his website. “It is time for sweeping reforms to get big cash out of politics and put an end to systematic attempts to allowance access to the ballot box and strip citizens of their constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote.”


Steve Bullock 


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yep!


Per his website, Governor Bullock’s platform includes requiring all states to distribute periods of early voting (both in-person and absentee), permitting same-day registration, and ensuring that Indigenous peoples can use tribal IDs as a form of voter identification.


“Americans are meant to be equal at the ballot box,” Bullock told MTV News in a statement. “We need to do everything we can to help people completely participate in our democracy — that includes making Election Day a national holiday and implementing automatic voter registration and pre-registration to prepare it easier for each person to vote.”


Pete Buttigieg 


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes!


“We cannot call ourselves a democracy whenever people of color, students, and other communities find their votes systematically suppressed by officials from a Republican Party that’s figured out that if everybody votes, it won’t win,” the South Bend Mayor told MTV News in a statement, adding that it’s crucial for the next president to expand voting rights to give each person a voice.


Buttigieg has previously stressed the significance of HR1, a.K.A. The For the People Act of 2019, a bill that addresses voter access and election integrity. “As president, I am going to push to enact nationwide automatic voter registration, make Election Day a holiday, and pass a new Voting Rights Act to end racially motivated voter suppression and student disenfranchisement,” Buttigieg mentioned in his statement. “In taking these steps, we'll also drive higher turnout by reassuring people that their votes really do count. I'm under no illusion that it will be easy to change these things, although I resist to accept a America that does not honor the correct to vote.”


Julián Castro


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voter access? Yes!


The former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development says his passion for strengthening voter rights is personalized. “In 1971, my mom, a 24-year-old Chicana activist, ran for city council with a message to ‘bring government back to the people,’” he told MTV News in a statement. “She confronted a system that suppressed the vote, and lost.” Years later, the then-mayor of San Antonio, Texas, hung his mother’s campaign poster in his office as a reminder of the progress we’ve made — along with everything we’ve although to complete. “Cynical efforts like voter ID [restrictions] and gerrymandering are meant to divide us and exclude underserved communities,” Castro explained.


With a voting reform platform that includes abolishing the electoral college, supporting self-determination for Puerto Rico, and combating corporate cash within politics, Castro says he aims to fight for a democracy that he believes truly resembles all Residents of the United States. “Together, we’ll return power to the people,” he said.


John Delaney


Does he have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yup!


Throughout his tenure in Congress in 2017, then-Rep. Delaney (D-MD) introduced the Open Our Democracy Act, which aimed to combat gerrymandering by requiring independent commissions to draw district lines in every state. The bill, which was not brought to a vote by the Residence, also sought to prepare Election Day a federal holiday.


If elected president, Delaney mentioned he plans to continue the work he did in Congress and pass similar legislation. “We visualize an assault on voting rights in this country,” he told MTV News in a phone interview. “I’d like to start a movement to usually make access to the ballot easier…. If all the American people’s voices were actually represented in our electoral politics, then we’d have a much more functioning government.”


Tulsi Gabbard


Does she have an official plan to strengthen voter access? Yes!


Earlier this year, Rep. Gabbard (D-HI) re-introduced the Securing America’s Elections Act, a bill that aims to address weaknesses within election infrastructure. “This is the huge vulnerability that threatens our next election, that for now, unfortunately, hasn't been addressed,” Gabbard wrote on her website. “The fact that there really are still several states in this nation who don’t have paper ballots or any sort of auditable paper trail; to create ensure that whether it’s another nation, or a sole rogue actor, that comes in and tries to manipulate our votes, tries to change our votes to change the outcome of this election; our system is susceptible to those hacks and attacks today.” Furthermore to tackling election security, her official 2020 platform includes support for the For the People Act and other legislation to strengthen voting rights.


Kamala Harris


Does she have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes!


In May 2019, Sen. Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (R-OH) teamed up with a number of of their colleagues to introduce the Protecting American Votes and Elections act, a bill that aims to protect U.S. Elections from foreign interference. If elected president, Harris also wants to take steps to secure our elections at home.


“Our democracy was build onto the notion that every American has an equal voice, however that’s not the democracy we have today,” Harris told MTV News in a statement, noting that millions of Residents of the
U.S., Especially students and people of color, are being denied their right to vote by laws intentionally designed to disenfranchise them. “I will restore the complete protections of the Voting Rights Act, require the availability of early voting, fight for automatic voter registration, and make Election Day a national holiday,” the senator added. “I’ve routinely stood for the people, and that’s the sort of government I plan to fight for whenever in the White House.”


Amy Klobuchar 


Does she have an official plan to strengthen voting access? Yes!


In November 2017, Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Register America to Vote Act, a bill that would require all states to automatically register eligible U.S. Citizens to vote upon their 18th birthday. Automatic voter registration has already been implemented in some states, with data showing that the practice results in a higher election turnout. “All of the critical policies Democrats talk about getting done — combating climate change, tackling gun violence, expanding access to health care — depend on one thing: a democracy that works,” Klobuchar told Politico, adding: “Passing my bill to automatically register voters in each state would result in 22 million new voters in just the initial year of implementation.”


If elected president, Klobuchar’s first step could be to send the For the People Act to Congress. “The right to vote has been hard-fought and hard-won,” the senator’s platform reads. “Right right now, insidious forces are working to take that right away…. It’s time to take back our democracy.”


Wayne Messam





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