Social Welfare Professor Laura Wray-Lake spoke to CBS News’ Bay Area affiliate about efforts across the country to lower the voting age. In some cities in California, Maryland and Vermont, youths as young as 16 or 17 are permitted to cast ballots in local elections. “There’s brain research showing that young people have the decision-making capacity, particularly for reasoned and planned decisions, which voting is,” said Wray-Lake, who researches youth civic engagement. Some critics of a lower voting age note that teenagers tend to be more liberal and that could tilt elections. Wray-Lake said that that argument doesn’t hold up. ”Not all young people are liberal,” she said, “and we don’t give rights or deny rights based on people’s political orientation.”