A new bill under discussion in the House of Representatives to give 17-year-olds the right to vote in election primaries has received some mixed views from the faculty and students at NIU.

If approved, House Bill 2734 would allow people aged 17 to vote during a general, consolidated or municipal primary election, if they will turn 18 by the time of the election.

Some members of NIU’s Department of Political Science expressed mixed views as to whether the passage of the bill would have any effect on the primary elections.

The bill is “making the system more complex,” said Lettie Wenner, chairman of the political science department.

“Registration laws are too restrictive,” Wenner said. “The 18-year-olds should not be discriminated against.”

Robert Albritton, a political science professor said, “Any particular age is arbitrary. There is no sacred age.”

Even if children voted, it would not change the percentage results of the primaries since it would only weight the votes of their parents, he said.

The current stipulation of allowing 18-year-olds to vote is based on the draft, Albritton said. Previously, the 21-year-old voting age was based on the British system, he said.

“The proposal (HB 2734) is somewhat inconsistent” because it only involves the municipal elections, Albritton said.

He said the voting age “should not be based on the level of government.”

Younger people know less about local government than national government, so the bill won’t have much of an effect on the number of voters in the primary elections, he said.

NIU freshman David Perry said the bill would not affect the primary elections, because the students don’t want to vote.

Perry doesn’t think the bill will make a differnce because, “I don’t think that many people of 17 that understand the politics” will vote, he said.

Other freshmen believed the bill would have an effect on the votes in the primary elections and that it would be an advantage.

Freshman Brenda Adams said, “I think it’s OK. They should be able to vote in the general primaries. I think younger people will get more involved.”

Freshman Latisha Marcus said when she was in high school, the students held a private election in which the results differed from the national results.

“A lot of people in high school wanted to be a part of it (the primaries),” she said. “More people are aware of the issues than people think.”