Panel OKs Partial Votes for Youths

At a time when California election officials are struggling with the complexities of electronic voting machines, a state Senate panel approved a measure Wednesday that would create a whole new dimension in balloting by giving teenagers between 14 and 17 a fraction of a vote.

The measure, which is intended to address poor turnout among young voters by instilling democratic habits at an early age, passed the Senate’s elections committee 3 to 2 along party lines, with Republicans against.

But even supporters said they did not expect the proposal to become law and only backed it to give the topic of youth apathy a broader airing.

“I don’t agree with the concept that people just out of puberty should be voting,” said Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City). He said he supported the measure even though he was deeply troubled by the notion of partial votes, something he associated with the era of slavery.

“Once you determine that one person, by any distinction you can make, gets a partial vote, then it’s a very slippery slope,” he said.

The bill’s sponsor, John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), said he came up with the partial votes -- a quarter vote for 14- and 15-year-olds and half a vote for 16- and 17-year-olds -- because he believed giving the teenagers full voting power would guarantee the bill’s failure.

Pamela Karlan, a Stanford law professor, said it was a very iffy thing to grant people fractional voting rights, even if that is more than they currently have. “Once you give people the right to vote, the [Supreme] Court has generally required that you treat them equally.”

The logistics of counting fractional votes weighed heavily on legislators. Don Perata (D-Oakland), the chairman of the Senate elections committee that approved SB 1606, said the measure could easily overwhelm local elections officials, who sometimes have trouble handling elections as they are now, he said.

Vasconcellos dismissed such concerns. “You just have three boxes” -- one for full votes, one for half-votes and one for quarter-votes. “Is that so hard? I’m tired of obstructionists who have no faith in people.”

He said the potential benefits were substantial enough to risk suffering some difficulties.

“If we open this door on this graduated basis I think we help develop them into full citizens who are likely to vote in the future,” he said.

Sen. Ross Johnson of Irvine, the ranking Republican on the committee, said he would be dumbfounded if the measure passed the full Senate and added that it did not make sense to treat those under 18 as juveniles in state courts or to prevent them from marrying but allow them to vote.

“You reach a point in time, you should be an adult for all purposes,” he said. “You’re going to treat them as a child in most regards, but then you’re going to let them vote?”

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Times staff writer Stuart Pfeifer contributed to this report.