The future is now: 16- and 17-year-olds win the right to vote in local elections in a Vermont town

By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — Sixteen and 17-year-olds in one Vermont town will get to vote in the local elections next week. And those who turn 18 by the November general election will be permitted to vote in the state’s presidential primaries on Super Tuesday. That means some voters in Brattleboro could have a hand in choosing major party nominees who are more than 60 years older than they are. Democratic President Joe Biden is 81 and Republican front-runner Donald Trump is 77. The change to the town’s charter required legislative approval and the Republican governor twice rejected the measures. But the Democratic-controlled Legislature last year overrode a veto and gave more of Brattleboro’s teenagers the greenlight to cast ballots.