WASHINGTON — While some Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have proposed lowering the voting age to 16, former Attorney General Eric Holder said he opposes the idea.
“I don’t think I’m necessarily in favor of that. Look, I’ll take it on directly — I was 16 and I was 18. There was a fundamental difference between 16-year-old Eric and 18-year-old Eric. I think moving it from 21 to 18 made a great deal of sense,” Holder, who served in the Obama administration, said on Tuesday during an event at the National Press Club with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) focused on their opposition to gerrymandering.
Schwarzenegger declined to share his opinion of lowering the voting age.
“I’m not an expert in that but I don’t think that’s our problem guys. I think our problem lies in fixing gerrymandering,” Schwarzenegger said.
The moderator accepted questions from the audience on note cards. In addition to the question about 16-year-old voters, someone else asked about eliminating the Electoral College.
“I don’t see the Electoral College being the problem with our political system in America,” Schwarzenegger said. “I’m focused on saying hasta la vista to gerrymandering.”
Holder said he does support eliminating the Electoral College, arguing that it would benefit the majority of voters.
“We have to do away with the Electoral College. We have a system now that was — it’s a defect in our democracy,” Holder said. “You would have Republicans who would be campaigning in California. A Republican would campaign in New York. A Democrat would campaign in Texas — that means that some swing states, some smaller states would not get as much attention as they do now but I think the vast majority of people in this country would get a great deal more attention that they deserve.”
Holder added that “our democracy is at stake” if partisan gerrymandering continues.
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