Lowering voting age to 16?

[sureq]

In my country you must vote, if you don't vote you get fined. I'm not interested in young people being forced to vote when they haven't even started studying politics in school in depth yet (usually about 16/year ten). Most would only vote for who their parents tell them too.

My boyfriend is 21 and he just donkeys because he hasn't a clue. I would never support it being lowered below 18.

Edit: For those who might not know, a donkey vote is when you fill out the ballot by choosing the first candidate on the list first, the second second, and the third third and so on until you've numbered everybody and dropping it in the ballot box with out even caring who you just voted for. It's common in my country because you are made to vote, I guess maybe it isn't so common in countries that can choose if they want to vote or not.

 

[Mr.Morbid]

I don't agree with lowering the voting rate, but I also think that there are two things that need to be taken into consideration.

Two years younger seems like a lot (I know it's a lot of people, but not percentage-wise of population or population of current voters.), but really, it's not as drastic as it could be.

How many of the younger people would actually vote (besides just being able to say you did) unless they cared to some extent?

 

[Libra]

[SIZE=14pt]That would just be up there with one of the biggest mistakes our government could make if they pull that load of bull. I bless my US Gov teacher for making us watch clips on politics. As some may know of the medical reform plans being tossed around most teens would vote for it. Again thanks to my teacher while I don't get what the people in the news say I do get the basic idea that doing such a thing would screw us over later in life. just an example of how our own generation would mess us up though ( makes me ashamed of being a teenager x.x; )[/SIZE]

 

[Mothra]

Problem with lowering the voting age *as has been mentioned before* is that when you have 16 year olds voting is they are sorely uneducated. Even the ones who seem to want to educate themselves on the issues, they have been taught by their teachers!! This is a very bad thing because for some reason, teachers tend to be left wing liberals. Education is stuffed full of them.

This being said, your political education as taught by schools is sorely slanted. Public schools churn out left wing kids sometimes not really understanding this.

When I look back, I am truely ashamed of believing the stuff my teachers taught me. As a 16 year old, I more than likely would have voted for the Democrats as that is what I was taught.

Lesson: You need time in the real world to learn what life and politics is really about. Even 18 is too young. I am pretty sure when I first voted, I wasted my vote on Democrats. Yes, I am embarassed but I have realized the error of my ways.

Actually, there are a lot of adults who have no business voting. I have a friend who openly admits this and he does not vote. I love people like that. He does not bother with politics so he just does not vote. I wish there were more people who would understand that.

 

[magicboa]

Lowering the voting or drinking age? Heck no!!! I think both should be 25. The USA is in such a mess right now because mostly young voters put Obama in the WH, and they couldn't see the forest for the trees. A lot of younger people don't really listen to what these politicians are actually saying. I voted for McCain.

 

[x.Smile]

No way.

Then more idiots would be voting for people they don't even think about.

Plus, 18 is the U.S. is getting to be officially an "adult" Shouldn't you have the privilege then?

EDIT: magicboa, Your right. except I can't vote.

 

[bmxyyy]

16 year olds?

NO.

They are FAAARRR to immature to vote.

 

[.:VeganCheeseBurgerFTW:.]

I think it could work if they also introduced decent education on politics. I don't know what they teach you overseas but here, in NZ we did a very in depth study on politics and I definitely learnt a lot about the government and all that. I now understand a lot about the government systems and I have formed intelligent opinions and would love to be able to vote and have my opinion counted but of course not all people my age are quite as educated as me, but then again, a heck of a lot of people, all ages, are too uneducated to form a decent opinion.

I think that level education is much more important than age.

 

[Imbored]

They're not mature enough. And they arn't even legal adults yet. So, no.

 

[11:11]

Last week at school, I had to fill out a form to register to vote.

To be honest, I don't want to vote! I don't know anything about politics and I don't particularly care either.

I'm not 18 till next year, And even then I probably won't care. Most people in my year at school are turning 18, which is why everyone had to fill out the forms. Everyone thought it was a load of crap! Imagine how the 16 year olds would react!

 

When I'm older and more mature, say 20+, maybe then I might care, because I might actually understand what the heck is going on.

So, If anything I think the age should be raised to at least 20.

 

When I was young, I thought that teenagers (Like, 17-18) would be really mature, but now that I'm in that age group, I'm like 'Hahaha...no.'

 

And while there are a small number of teenagers who are mature about this sort of stuff, It's a pretty SMALL number.

 

[ChansonJoyeuse]

As some people have mentioned not all 16 year olds or younger people are imature or don't pay attention to politics. We seem to get a bad rep but I can see the evidence around me everyday as I walk into High School.

I still don't see the need for the voting age to be lower. When your in school that should be your main priority. Yes, you should been aware of the world around you but as a younger person your still developing what you want to do in life. You need to focus more on yourself. Yes this may sound rather selfish of me but I need time to figure out how i view the world and what affect I want to have on it. When your 16 you should still be gathering information to work out decisions later. When you don't focus on your schooling education you end up hurting your future. The same could be said for the politics. You need time to view them and see how you feel on certain topics and what it takes for you to form your opinion. It should be a thing of research which many younger people wouldn't take the time to use.

 

[Penguins.]

Oh god, no. 18 is a perfectly acceptable age.

If it were up to me, driving, drinking, and voting would all be 18.

I don't think 16 year olds are usually educated enough on the topic to make such an important decision. I know plenty of 16 year olds who would not take it seriously.

 

[x.super.m o r m o n]

Why would we let children vote?

If 16-18 were to vote, I would want them to get some kind of license. Like a driving license. They would have to take a class and pass it if they want to vote before 18.

But if not, then, no.