In a historic first for California, the County of Alameda, the City of Oakland, the City of Berkeley, the Oakland Unified School District, and the Berkeley Unified School District are pleased to announce that 16- and 17-year-olds in Oakland and Berkeley will be able to vote in their respective elections for school board in November 2024.
This historic expansion of the local franchise is thanks to the passage of Measure Y1, approved by over 70 percent of voters in Berkeley in 2016, and of Measure QQ, approved in 2020 with 2/3 support of Oakland voters.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters is using California’s pre-registration system–the system that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote in California as a whole–as the system to register 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in their local school board races in Oakland or Berkeley. Therefore, a resident of Oakland or Berkeley who is 16- or 17- years old and who is otherwise eligible must use California’s pre-registration system (https://registertovote.ca.gov) to register to vote as a “youth voter.” Any 16- or 17- year-old residing in Oakland or Berkeley who previously pre-registered to vote will be automatically registered as a youth voter.
“I am very pleased to have the technology and processes in place to deliver youth voting, passed by the voters of Berkeley and Oakland through Measures Y1 and QQ,” said Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis. “This has never been done before in California and we had to make sure that it was done properly. I would like to thank the Board of Supervisors for their support in helping make it possible for 16- and 17-year-olds in Oakland and Berkeley to vote for school board in November 2024.”
“Voting is not just a right but a civic duty, and extending this right to 16- and 17-year-olds will foster a culture of civic participation from an early age. I am grateful to Oakland Council President Nikki Bas, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, and the Oakland City Clerk’s team for all their hard work and leadership to make this new program a reality,” said Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.
“Young people are directly affected by the decisions made by their local school boards,” said OUSD Board of Education President Sam Davis. “Lowering the voting age to 16 ensures that their perspectives are represented in the democratic process and will compel local politicians to address their concerns.”
“By giving 16-17 year-olds the right to vote about their education, we help to create lifelong voters who are more likely to participate in future local and national elections,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “Early involvement fosters a sense of civic duty and strengthens our democracy for generations to come.”
“Berkeley has been working to bring youth voting to fruition for several years,” said Berkeley Unified School Board President Ana Vasudeo.” We’re excited to empower our youth to exercise one of their most important civic duties this November.”
The technical capability enabling youth to vote in this election is the culmination of years of work by the Registrar of Voters with support and direction from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the four involved local jurisdictions (City of Oakland, City of Berkeley, Oakland USD, and Berkeley USD), the team from Runbeck Elections Services, Inc. (the vendor for Alameda County’s election management system), and community-based advocacy organizations. What might have seemed simple in 2016 when Measure Y1 was first passed turned out to require a complicated process in which every aspect of the election—from voter registration to ballot mailing to ballot counting—needed to be mapped, programmed, and tested specifically for youth voters. This process, while lengthy, was necessary to ensure the integrity of the election for both youth voters and traditional voters.
Key Information/Dates for the November 5, 2024, election:
- Voter Information Guides will be mailed to all voters, including youth voters, starting Thursday, September 26, 2024.
- All voters, including youth voters, will be mailed a mail ballot starting the week of October 7, 2024.
- The last day for all voters, including youth voters, to register online to vote is Monday, October 21, 2024, although all voters, including youth voters, may register to vote in person at the Registrar of Voters’ office (1225 Fallon St., Oakland) through Election Day.
- The last day for all voters, including youth voters, to request a mail ballot replacement is Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
In addition, from when early voting begins on Monday, October 7, 2024, through Election Day on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, youth voters can vote in person at the Registrar of Voters’ office (1225 Fallon St., Oakland).
Within the United States, only five small municipalities in Maryland (with a combined total population of all ages of only around 80,000) permit youth voting. Given the larger populations of Berkeley and Oakland, the potential youth vote in each of these two California cities is greater than all the Maryland municipalities combined.
