SACRAMENTO — California would become the first state in the nation to allow 17-year-olds to vote in a general election under a proposed state constitutional amendment introduced this week by a Silicon Valley legislator.

In 1971, 18-year-olds across the United States won the right to vote through the 26th Amendment. But the U.S. Constitution doesn’t prevent states from further lowering the voting age, notes the measure’s main sponsor, Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Cupertino.

Allowing citizens to vote while they’re still in high school will help to establish their voting habits early, before their transition to college or work, argues Low, who heads the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting. Related Articles California voters show little appetite for race-based affirmative action, lukewarm over “split-roll” property tax

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“It’s really about civics and the habits and patterns of democracy and making sure people are engaged in their government,” Low said.

California already allows 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote, and 17-year-olds who will turn 18 before a general election are permitted to vote in the primary. Last fall, a San Francisco ballot measure to lower the voting age to 16 for local elections failed, but Berkeley passed a measure to allow 16-year-olds to vote in local school board elections.

Low, just 33, did not need much coaxing to become involved in civic life. He first ran for office at age 20 and became an elected official two years later when he was elected to the Campbell City Council. But he describes boosting voter turnout and civic participation, particularly among his fellow millennials, as one of his passions. Other pending proposals of Low’s would make Election Day a state holiday and would require all statewide vote-by-mail ballots to come with prepaid envelopes.

Constitutional Amendment 10, whose cosponsors include Republican Assemblyman Phillip Chen, of Brea, needs two-thirds approval of both houses of the Legislature to make it on a future ballot.

Then the proposal would be up to voters — for now, those 18 and over.