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Edmonton’s public school trustees added their support to a growing number of groups calling for a lower civic voting age in Alberta.

School trustees voted 8-1 in favour of lobbying Alberta’s municipal affairs minister to amend the Local Elections Authorities Act to extend the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds.

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In split votes, both the Edmonton Catholic school board and Edmonton city council have voted for similar advocacy, at the prompting of the City of Edmonton Youth Council.

Public school trustee Nathan Ip said the youth council attempted to advance a similar change when he served on it 15 years ago, and is happy to see it progress.

Society is incongruent in how it treats youth, telling 16-year-olds they’re mature enough to drive a car, or even pilot a plane, but not to vote, Ip said.

Lowering the voting age to 16 yielded high turnout among teens in elections in Norway, Scotland, Austria, and Tacoma, Wash., youth council member Thomas Banks told the board Tuesday.