The state Government Accountability Board says a Grafton teenager, whose 18th birthday is on November 5th, will not be able to vote in the election next week.
While Zachary Ziolkowski’s birthday is the day after the election, his father argued he actually turns 18 on November 4th and should be allowed to vote. Based on a common law interpretation in one of the high school student’s textbooks, Tim Ziolkowski said “since one is in existence on the day of his birth, he is in fact on the anniversary of his birth of the age of one year plus a day.”
Members of the GAB disagreed though, and rejected a request for an opinion stating the teen should be able to vote next Tuesday. Agency director Kevin Kennedy said the Statewide Voter Registration System has always based eligibility on a person’s actual date of birth, noting that none of the state’s municipal clerks would be able to even register him to vote before his actually birthday.
Zachary told the board he wants to be able to vote so his opinion can be heard, and because everyone else is allowed to do it when they turn 18. The GAB says he will have to wait until the next election that comes after his 18th birthday.
