Canadians lose battle to lower voting age

EDMONTON, Alberta, May 15 (UPI) -- Two Edmonton teenagers have lost their battle to lower the legal voting age to 16 in Canada.

Nineteen-year-old Christine Jairamsingh and 18-year-old Eryn Fitzgerald are both in college, but they began their campaign when in high school to grant the 1 million 16- and 17-year-old Canadians the right to vote.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday three judges with the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld an earlier judgment that a youth's right to vote is not guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 2002, Justice Erik Lefsrud of the Court of Queen's Bench agreed in principle that voting-age limits violate democratic and equality rights under the charter, but the court said infringements were justified because they maintain the integrity of the electoral system.

Some 22 percent of Canadians ages 18 to 20 voted in the 2000 federal election, according to an Elections Canada.