Voting at an early age
The large turnout of voters in the primaries yesterday is a good sign for the future of democracy in this country. Anyone watching the TV images of young voters flocking to rallies and vowing to vote for the candidate of their choice could not help but be impressed by their interest and attitudes. Now a proposal has been floated that teenager should be allowed to vote before they reach 18. An op-ed piece in the New York Times suggests that 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote after they have completed a civics course that teaches the basics of the political process. Those of us who watched our children go through the teenage years have been impressed by the interests and ideas they express about what the country should be doing. Perhaps it is time to give them a chance to put those ideas to work. At least it is worth thinking about.
posted by League of Women Voters of San Francisco at
11:02 AM
32 Comments:
I agree that teenagers of at least 16 should vote. I am 16 myself and feel left out of my country's desicions just because of my age, I feel it should be the mental maturity and understandng that should judge who should or should'nt vote.
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This is a really interesting topic, but i'm not sure that all 16-year-olds should have the right to vote. I agree that there are the well-educated who may, in fact, make their decision of who to vote for on their own, but I believe the majority of 16-year-olds don't know enough about politics and will simply vote for whomever their parents vote for. Do you agree?
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age is a social construct anyways as is gender or anything else
I feel the current age of 18 should be maintained as the legal voting age.
Many of the same reasons that people under the age of 18 aren't allowed to enter into legally binding contracts apply in this situation - their impulsiveness, their immaturity, and their lack of experience in the "real" world, for instance.
Undoubtedly, there are young teens who possess the maturity and knowledge to make an informed vote, just as there are adults who vote in an uninformed and haphazard manner. However, I believe that the number of kids under the age of 18 who would be responsible voters is small, and voting should be reserved as a right of legal adults.
What a great day in politics. This should be an interesting year.
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hahahaha yeah right 16 year olds shouldn't be allowed to vote. The majority of 16 year olds aren't interested in politics anyway and are easily influenced by thier parents and friends, so why should we let something so huge be put in the hands of adolescents? That would just be stupid, and you can thank your fellow 16 year olds for being so immature and not allowing you to vote. It would be more of a joke than a privilege, anyway. So, with that, keep our government safe from 16 year olds!
I'm glad that someone else realizes that teenagers under sixteen have far better ideas than there parents. It's things like the voting age that are destroying our political system. I am also under eighteen and the only way I can really be involved is by my blog.
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This is something we Liberal Democrats in the UK have been committed to for some time. It is clearly right.
One word of warning: it is not of itself a cure for political apathy. When the voting age came down to 18, young people were keen to exercise their right for the first time, but my experience was that they didn't come back in the same numbers at the next election.
(I am 66 myself)
I agree with the point of consistency, Young people , myself included, from what i can see, see voting as a sort of novelty, they usually base their vote on who is the coolest, or who is the least stringent and fixed in their ideals. If a president , or a prime minister legalized marijuana for example... he would be a hero amongst the 16- 25's and would be seen as a parents worst nightmare. I mean us youth are always looking for rights, but the question is do we deserve them? What use is a vote if our opinion is flippant and ill thought out? The vote for votings' sake is the youths mentality and it is flawed and hypocritical.
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I believe 18 years old is fairly decent compromise. I can understand both sides of the story but at 18 you are an adult, you can get married, and you can enlist. Interesting topic!
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16 yr. olds would not be out voting on vote day. They would be out doing whatever they would be doing on any other day of the year. If a 16 yr old or younger is out voting, so be it. Voting is not an obligation due to age it is a duty of responsibility.
A responsible 8 yr old is always more responsible than an irresponsible 30 yr old. Responsible is a character not an act.
i find it so encouraging to see so many people wanting to be involved and get others involved in the political process. I agree that the age should be lowered, once they have a basic knowledge of the political system.
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16 is a little young. Most 16 year olds live with their parents and would vote for reasons more frivelous than those who are out of high school or out of the house. Those who vote a little older may not be more educated but surely a little more mature about voting in a sense that it is more of a personal vote and hopfully not as selfish.
hello good idea, but 16 years of age compared to older person thought process is different. just sharing my ideas at http;//nwhyse.blogspot.com/ take care
1. You are joking. OR 2. You've suffered a massive brain injury. This country is in real trouble. How 'bout we focus on real solutions and not look to our children to figure it out.
Only thoose teenagers who have done their homework, cleaned up their rooms, washed Daddy's car, helped mum with the loundry and didn,t bully other kids at school or got involved in any othet non-sense, may vote ! What other non-sense are we going to hear? 16 years is barely mature enough to decide which color their sneakers should be. I think 18 is a good age and not a day earlier. The right vote alos include the obligation to adheare to social responsibilities !
The same teenage vote at 16 years old has been suggested in the U.K. It was raised last year. There is great political disinterest with young people and it has been mooted that early age voting would reverse the trend. I am not so sure; it might in the short term, but I cannot see young people being hooked on modern politics in the long term the way the whole shabang is being presented in the UK.
Our media have given so much air time to your primaries, we wonder if we are inadvertently the passive 51st state. I only pray we don't get a further year of the same onslaught. We don't get force fed European elections to the same extent. I suppose it gives the journalists a jamboree.
In the not too distant future we will have our own major elections in the UK. By then we'll be tired of it all and switch off.
I wish you well with your election process.
Reduce the voting age to 16 years huh? In my opinion that's too bold a step to take right now. For one thing I believe that we learn from suffering. At least make these kids suffer for 18 years so that when the time comes to choose they may do so after some deliberation. At sixteen kids (at least those in the "developed" countries of the world) are already fighting with hormones, parents, rules and what-not. Give them time to sort themselves out before they have a say regarding the future of the country.
All said however I do believe that the maturity age of children is decreasing with each passing generation. So as a compromise maybe in a decade or so we could give 16-year-olds voting right, but with reduced weightage. That is to say, for example, if a vote by an 18 year old counts as 1 unit. Then a vote by a 16 year old could be given as 03 - 0.4 units of value. (The weights should be decided only after a scientific study of course). Good idea though. At least the politicians will have a new section of society whose needs they should take into account while campaigning. As Jesus said, maybe the new catchphrase wud be "Let the children come to me..." Enjoy!!
i think minimum age is a bad and lazy requisite for just about everything. rock on!
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I let my daughter vote on my mail-in ballot from the time she was 11 years old. She read the voter's pamphlet religiously, asked many questions of the adults in her life, and then voted her conscience. If she couldn't decide on a topic or a race, then I cast my vote.
When she turned 18 she registered to vote in her own name and has been a rabid advocate of the democratic process ever since. She nags her friends until they register and vote too.
She is 26 years old now, she's lived on her own since she was 18 (never asked for a dime), is taking classes at a local art school, is readying to buy a house on a waitress' wages, pays her taxes without cheating, and votes in every election. She is an inspiration to me and all who know her.
Children will live up (or down) to our expectations of them. So raise the bar and have faith that they will rise to the occasion. The human spirit cannot thrive unless reaching for a goal. These children will be inheriting the problems that the elders have created for them. They might as well have a say in whose mistakes they are left to solve.
And anyway, it's not like they will have to try very hard to make wiser choices than the American electorate has in the last 2 national elections (not to mention the Reagan years--can't wait to see what history says about that).
Increasing the education and political participation among young people is a wonderful goal. Yet, I do not believe that voting at 16 is consistent with the prevailing laws and statutes. Sixteen year-olds are still legally considered minors. The voting age dropped (rightfully so) to 18 when the citizenry demanded that 18 year-olds be given a voice in the politics that created a draft and sent these youths to war. Unless, God forbid, the draft, drinking, smoking, and the legal rights and responsibilities of adulthood become legally granted to 16 year-olds, these teenagers should not be given the vote.
The point of voter qualification is that those who have some stake in the community (and will be funding the agreed activities) should participate in the decision process. Those who are merely dependents, or those who are the beneficiaries of public programs, should not have a key role in coercing from others the funding for those same programs. Otherwise politics is nothing but legalized robbery.
Using this approach, age becomes irrelevant. The question is how much you are putting into the system and whether you are taking out. Some earnings-less "adults" wouldn't get to vote on how other people's tax dollars should be collected or spent. Some young people who have by choice or by unfortunate circumstance gotten themselves into the work force could vote.
i think that 16 year olds should be alowed to vote
i think its not fair that younger people dont have a voice in deciding who is going to control the country they live in. even though some might think that they arent interested in politics, did anyone really bother to explain it to them throughoutly if they asked?
when i ask my parents about it, i never get the whole picture, because they think im not going to be able to understand, but they never really tested that theory, right?
and if the 16 year olds arent interested, they dont have to vote.
i hope that whoever decides what happens will leave out any hatred for "the young". i bet that when they decided to lower the age to 18 they had the same arguments (imature, mindless, dont like politics...ect...) [et TOC'!]
16 year olds are old enough to decide who should partialy control them. i've heard 12 year olds vote in class "who thinks he shouldnt have been elected?", and people would raise their hands, while others argue that {...}.
i feel that if 12 year olds are mature enough to realize that, 16 year olds should be able to realize who they think is better to rule their country.
and anyway, age isnt a good argument for ANYTHING.
its like two 5 year old lamb, a 10 year old sheep and two 10 year old wolves deciding whats for dinner with a 8 year old limit.
do you think that's fair?
Perhaps 16-year-olds who are emancipated should be allowed to vote. If they are legally an adult in other ways, they should be allowed to vote.
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