Referendum Vote to Amend the Seneca Nation Constitution to Lower the Voting Age Eligibility Requirement to 18 ~ November 5, 2024
ANNOUNCEMENT
On October 3, 2024, Council passed a resolution setting November 5, 2024, as the date of a referendum to determine whether the Seneca People agree to amend Section X of the Seneca Nation Constitution to lower the age of eligibility for voting from twenty-one (21) years of age to eighteen (18) years of age.
BACKGROUND
For many years, the youth of the Nation have advocated for lowering the voting age to eighteen. Other jurisdictions have a minimum voting age of eighteen (for example, eighteen has been the minimum age in Canada since 1970 and in the U.S. since 1971). The Seneca Constitutional Reform Work Group, consisting of Nation community members appointed by President Armstrong in 2023, held public meetings and proposed constitutional amendments that included lowering the voting age to eighteen.
On September 24, 2024, Council appointed a three-person committee, as authorized in SECTION XVI of the Constitution, to prepare amendments to the Constitution and submit them to Council. The committee consisted of Councillors Josh Becker, Arlene Bova, and Geraldine Huff, and it recommended to Council that amendments be made to the voting age eligibility requirement (lowering it from 21 to 18) and that the proposed change in voting age be submitted to Nation voters in a referendum vote.
THE REFERENDUM VOTE
The referendum vote will coincide with the Seneca Nation General Election on November 5, 2024. The referendum question will be included on the Seneca Nation General Election ballot.
