2.11.16

Suggested lead:   A bipartisan majority in the state House Thursday voted to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote when they get their drivers license.. Dan Frizzell has that story.

Wrap (:85 total):  Over the last 60 years or so, the percentage of registered Washington voters who turn out for major elections has stayed more or less steady, with a respectable 4 out of  5 casting votes in presidential elections.  What hasn't stayed steady is the percentage of eligible citizens who are registered to vote.  That's a figure that's been shrinking, year after year. Steve Bergquist, a Democratic state representative from Renton, thinks the key to increasing voter participation to help citizens begin voting as soon as they turn 18.  He's written a bill that would let 16- and 17-year olds PREregister when they apply for their first drivers license.  They couldn't vote until they were 18, but they'd be in the system early and would be automatically eligible to vote on that 18th birthday.  Bergquist is a social studies teacher when he's not writing laws in Olympia and knows a little bit about teens.

BERGQUIST:  "Student engagement.  How do we get students to really tune into what's going on in the classroom, in our world?  I've got one solution.  We have a voter preregistration bill that really gets our kids engaged.  When I have kids in my class that are already registered to vote, they tune in more.  They know that they have a voice.  I think that we can give our other kids a voice in this in our junior and senior years in high school." [:21]. 

The teen preregistration bill passed the House last year with Ds and Rs in the yes column, only to die in the Senate.  It was OK'd again Thursday with a bipartisan majority . . . and Bergquist hopes the second time will be the charm. In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.