Newark gains 415 new school board voters ages 16-17

Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds in Newark will be permitted to vote in the April 15 school board elections, with 415 new voter registrations submitted so far.

A rough estimate is that 16% of the eligible underage voters have signed up to vote in advance of the March 25 deadline, not a bad number.

The Newark City Council passed an ordinance on January 2024 granting the right to vote in school elections to sixteen and seventeen-year-olds, the first in the state to do so.   Technological difficulties meant the program couldn’t take effect until this April’s school board elections.

In his annual budget address, Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a $1 million appropriation to advance his push to lower the voting age in school board elections to sixteen across the state as a way of developing lifelong voting habits at a young age.

Officials hope allowing teens 16 and up to vote for school board members will boost turnout—fewer than 3% of the city’s residents voted in last April’s school board election.

Of the 415 new voters, 105 are from the West Ward, 97 from the North Ward, 93 from the South Ward, 63 from the Central Ward, and 57 from the East Ward.