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Fact Check: Does Voting Rights Bill 'Allow Minors To Vote'?

Representative Ted Budd claims that a proposed federal voting rights bill "allows minors to vote." Politifact reporters say that's a false statement. Photo courtesy U.S. House of Representatives.

A North Carolina congressman says he opposes the Democrats' voting rights bill in part because it lowers the voting age.

House Democrats introduced H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act, to expand access to the voting booth. On March 2, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) tweeted a list of ways he says the bill “rigs” elections to help Democrats. He said that it "eliminates voter ID, allows felons to vote, allows minors to vote, expands ‘no excuse' absentee voting.”

PolitiFact has looked at some of these claims before.

Eliminates voter ID: This is partially accurate. The bill doesn't eliminate state voter ID laws so much as provide voters a way to work around them. In states with voter ID laws, the bill says voters without ID can present election officials with a sworn written statement under penalty of perjury attesting to their identity.

Allows felons to vote: This leaves out context. It's more accurate to say the bill restores voting rights to felons once they've served their criminal sentence. Many states already allow felons to vote once they meet the terms of their sentence, as PolitiFact has previously reported. The bill specifically says rights are restored “unless such individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility at the time of the election.”

Expands “no excuse” absentee voting: This is true. Some states require voters to have an excuse for requesting an absentee ballot. The bill says if someone is eligible to vote, “the State may not impose any additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote in such election by absentee ballot by mail.” It's worth noting, however, that North Carolina is already a no excuse absentee voting state.

Now to the big miss.

Minors not voting

Budd said the bill “allows minors to vote.” That's not true.

When we asked Budd's office about this, spokesman Curtis Kalin said: “I believe he was referring to the provision that allowed those under 18 to register to vote.”

The bill allows people who are 16-years-old to pre-register to vote. As PolitiFact previously reported, some states already allow this practice. Under section 1094, the bill even says the pre-registration has “no effect on state voting age requirements.”

“Nothing in paragraph (1) may be construed to require a State to permit an individual who is under 18 years of age at the time of an election for Federal office to vote in the election,” the bill reads.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass, has introduced a pair of amendments that would lower the voting age to 16. Polls show younger voters tend to lean Democratic. Pressley's amendments failed in both 2019 and 2021 with more than 300 House members voting against the idea each time.

Our ruling

Budd tweeted, among other things, that H.R. 1 “allows minors to vote.”

The bill would allow people who are 16 to register to vote. That's not the same thing as allowing them to cast a vote.

This claim is patently False.

Copyright WRAL 2021

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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