(Boris Sanchez)
Voters with children don’t have to leave their kids behind on Election Day this Tuesday.
“You can bring your kids into the election booth with you,” said Joan Johnson, co-president of the Syracuse-area League of Women Voters. “In fact, I think it’s a good idea.”
Bringing children into voting booths is allowed by state law, and is encouraged by citizens’ groups as a way to promote democracy and an interest in politics.
The state laws that regulate elections say parents and guardians can bring children younger than 16 into the voting booth. It’s also a help to busy parents trying to juggle duties of child-rearing and citizenship, say election officials.
“You certainly wouldn’t want your minor child outside a curtain where you couldn’t watch them,” said Kathy Kimball, of the Onondaga County Board of Elections office. And once inside, it’s just fine for the child to pull the voting lever. That’s not the county’s business whether the parent or child pulls the lever, she said. “What election law is trying to do,” Kimball said, “is protect your privacy.”
For older children, the rules are a little more strict. Parents wanting to bring 16- and 17-year-olds into the booths would have to say they need some help voting, Kimball said. “There is no age-limit for taking someone into the booth with you,” she said. “It’s if you need assistance.”
Johnson, of the Women’s League of Voters, continued a family tradition in taking her own children to the polls. She remembered how her mother brought her, and credited the experience with fostering “I think a lot of parents do it,” she said.
On each of her kids’ 18th birthdays, she gave a voter’s registration card.
“I think it’s important,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to instill this in them early, the importance of voting and making democracy work.”
(Ed Jacovino is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism and anthropology.)
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