As an 18-year-old high school senior, I’m excited to finally vote in the fall election. However, it’s troubling that I was denied the right to vote in the 2022 midterm elections at 16, a right also denied to millions of politically active young people solely based on age.
When the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971, it enfranchised more than 10 million 18- to 20-year-olds, but it drew an arbitrary line.
In Chicago, 16-year-olds can drive, pay taxes, be tried as adults and are subject to labor laws but are denied a say in the issues that affect them. While Illinois does allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they’ll be 18 by the general election, more must be done.
Globally, seven countries permit unrestricted voting for 16-year-olds, while others allow it conditionally. In Austria, lowering the voting age to 16 led to turnout rates for 16- to 17-year-olds surpassing those of 18- to 20-year-olds.
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Across the U.S., more cities are expanding the vote. After Maryland allowed municipalities to decide the issue by referendum, five towns and cities introduced these voting rights. In Takoma Park, Maryland, registered 16- and 17-year-olds have outperformed all registered voters in every municipal election since 2013.
But the most compelling reason to lower the voting age is to build lifelong voting habits. In the U.S., over 30% of eligible voters weren’t registered, and only 52% of registered voters cast a ballot in 2022.
By establishing voting habits early, we can increase Chicago’s turnout significantly.
Illinois should allow municipalities to lower the voting age to 16 in municipal elections, helping to create a generation of lifelong voters. This move would bring us closer to a democracy that genuinely reflects the voices of all those affected by its decisions.
Logan Gouss, senior, New Trier High School
Larry Hoover was worse than Al Capone
Al Capone was no Larry (“King”) Hoover. The Gangster Disciples dwarfed the Capone mob. Yea, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre still awes people today. Seven people gunned down in a garage, rival Capone mobsters machine-gunned in the streets, Capone rival Dean O’Banion murdered in his floral shop. By Hoover’s and the Gangster Disciples’ standards, it was small-time.
Hoover and his gang were a cartel before the word was made famous.
I worked the Southeast Side as a Chicago tactical police officer when Hoover and Jeff Fort, the founder of the Black P-Stone Rangers, were teenagers. They were smart rivals who eliminated anyone who threatened their individual leadership and territorial boundaries. Killings, shootings, extortion and drug-dealing were a constant, everyday scene.
The Rangers under Fort stayed east, Hoover and the Disciples moved further west. Hoover even extended his reach across country, supplying drugs and muscle to other gang factions. They somehow reached agreement, and both survived and are still in custody in the same prison in Colorado.
It’s almost shocking to me to read that Hoover is even being considered for release even though he’s still under conviction for murder in Illinois.
Hoover and Fort had one thing in common that still is alive and well in Chicago: They were able leaders who appealed to young men who really had no direction, living in an impoverished and racially divided city. They both knew how to spread the wealth to youth who had no other means of survival. They had armies of loyal gang members that haunt Chicago to this day.
There are gang members who never left the gangs started by Hoover and Fort and are still settling territorial disputes with gun violence. It’s time to realize that in order to get to the root causes of crime, we have to get to the young, impressionable teens before it’s too late. Hoover and Fort were successful. Why can’t well-meaning politicians follow their lead?
Bob Angone, retired Chicago police lieutenant, Austin, Texas
Questioning CTU’s demands, performance
As Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago School Board wrangle about CEO Pedro Martinez’s contract, funding issues and school closures, perhaps everyone should step back and take a hard look at the state of Chicago’s schools.
Case in point: Fenger Academy High School on the Far South Side. The school’s capacity is more than 1,200 students, yet in 2023 only 234 students were enrolled, according to the state report card. The taxpayers’ per-student expenditure in 2023 was $24,314. In 2023, 0% of Fenger students were proficient in math and English/language arts. Only 7% were proficient in science. Chronic absenteeism among students was 78%.
Can anyone blame Chicago taxpayers for demanding to know why such dismal results are so ridiculously expensive, or for concluding that a broken system that habitually misspends so much can never be fixed by simply enabling it to misspend even more?
The CTU’s solutions are to add staff to even the most underutilized schools, bash selective enrollment and private schools, scrap standardized testing and demand gigantic salary increases, but the mayor and CPS are just as culpable. All three are kidding themselves if they think that Chicago’s taxpayers will continue to foot the bill.
John H. Flannigan, Albany Park
Let CPS go bankrupt
Chicagoans should look forward to a U.S. bankruptcy court appointing a trustee to clean up Chicago’s overpriced, underperforming schools. Cancel exorbitant private janitorial contracts, close underutilized schools and lay off do-nothing or do-little employees. Give school vouchers to families who want them. And clip the wings for good of the greedy, selfish Chicago Teachers Union.
Michael Sullivan, Avondale