Elizabeth Warren Has a Plan for Getting More Young People to Vote — and She Just Brought It to Senate

Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren
Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren
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SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty From left: Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren at the Democratic primary debate in Ohio in October 2019.

Elizabeth Warren is urging young people to get out and vote.

The Massachusetts senator and Georgia Rep. Nikema Williams introduced the Youth Voting Rights Act before Congress on Monday, a comprehensive piece of legislation to help enforce the 26th Amendment and expand youth access to voting.

The 26th Amendment, ratified on July 1, 1971, prohibits the denial of the right to vote on account of age for all citizens aged 18 or older.

Due to a historically low turnout of young people heading to the voting polls, Warren is proposing to "expand voter registration at public colleges and universities, ensure all states allow 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, require colleges and universities to have polling places on campus and ensure that all states include student IDs as a form of voter ID," according to a draft of the new bill obtained by The Daily Beast.

It would also prohibit durational residency requirements for all federal elections, create a grant program dedicated to youth involvement in elections, and gather data on youth voter registration and election participation.

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"Voting is the beating heart of our democracy," Warren wrote in a release announcing the legislation. "Young people are the future of America, and with voting rights under attack across the country, we must do everything we can to ensure they can exercise their right to vote."

"My new bicameral bill with Congresswoman Williams will ensure young people aren't left out of the voting process, and I'm thrilled to partner with her and my colleagues on this effort," she continued.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush spends night outside Capitol to protest return of evictions
U.S. Rep. Cori Bush spends night outside Capitol to protest return of evictions

Cori Bush/Instagram

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Warren's bill currently is co-sponsored by six additional Democrats in the Senate, but no Republicans.

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The bill is endorsed by a wide range of democracy and youth organizations including: American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Campaign Legal Center, Demos, League of Women Voters of the United States, End Citizens United / Let America Vote Action Fund, MoveOn, NextGen America, The Andrew Goodman Foundation, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, When We All Vote, the Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project, Students Learn Students Vote, The Civics Center, and Tufts University's Institute for Democracy in Higher Education.