If some lawmakers get their way, kids and non-citizens could be voting in Massachusetts elections soon.

The Joint Committee on Election Laws heard testimony from dozens of advocates and lawmakers speaking in favor of several different bills to adjust the voting age for some elections, allow permanent resident non-citizens to vote in hometown elections, and allow municipalities to use ranked-choice voting locally.

“It’s a statewide bill, it would extend voting rights to legal permanent residents; so non-citizen residents of Massachusetts, to be able to vote in local elections,” state Sen. Jamie Eldridge said Wednesday of a bill he filled alongside state Rep. Mike Connolly.

H.671, or an “An Act extending voting rights in municipal elections to noncitizen voters of the commonwealth,” would allow adults with legal immigration status but who are not U.S. citizens to vote for their local “mayor, school committee, city council, town council, board of selectmen, select board elections, a school committee referendum, a local ballot referendum or other municipal elections.”

The bill, if it were to clear committee and be made law, would not allow non-citizens to vote in federal or statewide elections.

“Immigrants are essential to our communities. They pay property taxes, support the economy, and send their children — who may be American citizens but not able to vote yet — to public schools,” Vanessa Snow, the director of policy and organizing for MassVOTE, told the committee. “Many are on the path to citizenship but lack the ability to apply, but they need to have a say in how public services are funded and governed.”

Many cities and towns are already on board with that and other ideas, according to Snow, several of which had representatives there to ask the committee to consider petitions allowing them to set their own elections rules.

“We are pleased that the committee is examining various proposals that would give cities and towns the opportunity to decide their own election laws,” she said. “Today’s home rule petitions show that many cities and towns seek to increase voting rights through reducing the voting age to 16, permanent resident voting, ranked-choice voting bills and home rule petitions.”

Some of the proposals would only impact single municipalities which have elected to lower the voting age, but some bills, like H.670, would aim to remove it altogether.

“Only with suffrage are social groups able to hold their governments truly accountable to their needs,” John Wall, a professor of childhood studies at Rutgers University told the committee. “It is incorrect and discriminatory to apply to children the need for voting capacities when we don’t apply such capacities to adults. All adults have the right to vote, even if they have severe dementia, cognitive disabilities, illiteracy, or just plain stupidity.”

H.711, or ‘An Act providing a local option for ranked-choice voting in municipal elections bill, garnered significant support, with dozens of speakers saying it would allow cities and towns to try the practice without forcing it on the whole state. Ranked choice voting was specifically rejected by Massachusetts voters during the 2020 election.

“Many cities and towns supported ranked-choice voting,” Snow said. “By providing the local option for municipal elections these cities can choose the voting method that works best for them.”

“I’m not unaware of the irony of me advocating to change the same system that recently rewarded me at the ballot box,” Somerville At-Large-Councilor Will Burnley Jr. told the committee. “My advocacy here today is an expression of the overwhelming support for ranked choice voting from my constituents.”