Should people under the age of 18 be allowed to vote?

[analogue]

Since the whole election buzz is around right now i thought it would interesting to bring up this question. Now i really believe that people under the age of 18 have an opinion and should have a right to vote. Now i think that alot of people's argument would be ''Is anyone under the age of 18 mature enough to vote'' and in repsonse to that i gotta say that just because someone is under the age of 18 it dosen't been their not mature enough, you could also ask the question ''Is a 40 year old mature enough to vote''? cause at the end of the day maturity is about the individual person and not the persons age.

 

[144000]

no. because there are domineering parents out there. and a person shouldn't be trusted to vote unless that person has the power to keep their parents from having control over them.

 

[blue_eyed_belle]

I don't think people under the age of 18 should vote. Although younger people do obviously have an opinion, and many are mature enough, even at 18 you're still heavily influenced by those around you and what they think. The first time i voted i asked my mum who she thought i should vote for, and she encouraged me to look into it and decide for myself...which party would have the biggest positive impact on me and my life.

It's therefore because once you hit 18 you're able to make an informed decision rather than just following the crowd that i think you shouldn't be able to vote until you hit 18.

 

[Mechi]

Nope there is a time to be an adult and deal with responsibility and there's a time before that. 18 years old is early enough to deal with it.

 

[Scorpio]

I went with yes. I mean I think it could easily be moved down to 16. There are people out there that that are 16 or even younger that have been paying attention and understand more so than most adults what is going on. They've been all over the news the past 24hours.

Then again, I can easily see the argument as too why it should stay at 18. So I guess its a bit of a toss up for me.

 

[Dri]

Here in Brazil the people with 16 years old can vote or not.Under 16 is not allowed.
But ABOVE 18 the vote is bounden.
I voted YES.

 

[Chihiro2]

no. because there are domineering parents out there. and a person shouldn't be trusted to vote unless that person has the power to keep their parents from having control over them.

i think political education at schools should help teens to form an independent opinion and there would be a lot less ignorance among adults too. voting is anonymous, you don’t have to ask or inform your parents who you're goin to vote for.

I don't think people under the age of 18 should vote. Although younger people do obviously have an opinion, and many are mature enough, even at 18 you're still heavily influenced by those around you and what they think.

lol, you contradicted yourself within one sentence.

The first time i voted i asked my mum who she thought i should vote for, and she encouraged me to look into it and decide for myself...which party would have the biggest positive impact on me and my life.

It's therefore because once you hit 18 you're able to make an informed decision rather than just following the crowd that i think you shouldn't be able to vote until you hit 18.

because you didn't have an opinion at age 18 it’s not a reason to not allow others, who have one, to express it by voting in elections.

Nope there is a time to be an adult and deal with responsibility and there's a time before that. 18 years old is early enough to deal with it.

some people have enough mature political views at age of 15 and act with more responsibility than many adults. why should they be discriminated? they are people who think and people who don’t. teens should be treated as human beings too and have right to vote if they have basic understanding how their country is governed.

I went with yes. I mean I think it could easily be moved down to 16. There are people out there that that are 16 or even younger that have been paying attention and understand more so than most adults what is going on. They've been all over the news the past 24hours.

Then again, I can easily see the argument as too why it should stay at 18. So I guess its a bit of a toss up for me.

I think the right to vote shouldn’t be based on age but some kind of political/social/mass media knowledge test. and it would apply to adults too. then democracy would work much better.

 

[arXter]

i don't buy the argument of the 'naive teen' used against them voting. because unfortunately many adults allow themselves to stay naive. in fact, a similar argument was used just a century ago to prevent women getting the right to vote.

I think the right to vote shouldn’t be based on age but some kind of political/social/mass media knowledge test. and it would apply to adults too. then democracy would work much better.

i agree that there should be a small and quite easy test one has to pass before they can vote. and as you say, there should be no age limit to this test. it would be interesting to think up some specific eligibility requirements.

but the general reasoning is this: if you're going to have a say in what government we get, you must actually know a thing or two about the system and important rights of citizenship. the vote of folk who don't have the faintest on some fundamentals or the issues, that vote is automatically considered important. and because it is important, politicians will pander to them, and we get a dumbing down of politics.

 

[MJsBollywoodGirl7]

There used to be a time where the voting age in this country was 21. Until it was lower to 18. So I really don't think the voting age should be lower. Because at 18 you are consider and adult. And voting is something only adults should do.

Though I do remember when I was in 8th grade. My Social Studies teacher had us to vote for the next governor of our state. But that was just something we did for fun. My teacher wanted us to vote and then I think write on why he would make a good governor.

 

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

Well you have to think that by lowering the age limit, then an argument can be made that any person of any age can vote. It's merely a cut off point put in place in order to control, just like every other law. 18 seems like a good age since it is at that age when you are viewed, legally, as an adult. If they lower the voting age, then there would be arguments that the age one is deemed an adult would have to change too, which would in turn affect many other laws. Of course, age has nothing to do with intelligence. You're intelligence is innate and not something which can be learned or taught. Only experience can. So I don't think the maturity argument has much weight. But as all things in society are, there has to be a line drawn in order to keep things in the desired order.

 

[LovelyOne]

Hell no, 18 is the perfect age.

 

[dare_me]

being 17, and turning 18 in february, i can definitely attest to being in an very frustrating position for this election and absolutely wish i could have voted.

i personally am extremely upset over prop 8 being passed here in california and i know a whole lot of young people around my age upset as well and wish we could have put in our vote because it's us that the propositions are going to be affecting as we get older (i'm very bitter about this right now, been fuming all day)

but with this said, i don't think i would fight for lowering the voting age. there obviously has to be a cut-off somewhere and since 18 has been designated the legal age for just about everything else, i think it fits as voting age as well.

 

[Grand Master S]

Nah, there needs to be a cut-off. I'm sure a 17 year-old is just as qualified to vote as an 18 year-old, and some are on-the-ball enough to vote even younger than that, but in general 18+ is a nice safe rule to hope that the voters mostly know what they're talking about. The legal adult age being the legal voting age is apropos.

And I'm not saying that necessarily all adults are better at this than all children, but generally speaking I'm assuming this is the case.

 

[Mechi]

some people have enough mature political views at age of 15 and act with more responsibility than many adults. why should they be discriminated? they are people who think and people who don’t. teens should be treated as human beings too and have right to vote if they have basic understanding how their country is governed.

I'd certainly never say that's wrong.
While I also think to not give young ppl already the right to vote doesn't mean to not treat them as human beings.
If those some youngsters do have mature political views or better let's say informed political view they are very invited to go for it when it's the time.

Still there has to be a cut off somewhere and I think 18 is a good choice.

Schools nowadays do give children education also about their working political system as good as possible... at least as long as noone finds better ways.
While I agree a political informed opinion is important I also think there should be some experiences in everyday adult life... like some job experiences, some social experiences maybe a relationship, if possible some voluntarily social work experiences etc.... at least more than you could ever read in books or even learn in school.

So the age cut off seems to be ok to me, because it looks that a good majority of young ppl do reach a certain 'mature' age with 18... you can read that easily out of other statistics (employment, crime, traffic accidents etc. etc.)... it's an ok age to be an adult... get independent and take responsibility for yourself and also others.

 

[Bob George]

Definitely not. A vote is an important thing and an important decision to make. You need to have some level of maturity. Though it can be argued there are many "adults" who are not mature and vote for stupid reasons. But I don't think that justifies letting teenagers vote.

 

[last unicorn]

Absolutely.

In my country, people can vote at the age of 16.

16 year olds are very mature these days and many political decisions affect them as well, so I do believe it's right for them to vote. It's a right and it also means taking responsibility.

Most teenagers here are interested in politics and have many ideas what could be done better.
Political education is important and young people should be encouraged to participate actively in the social and political life around them.

 

[Prince Of Pop]

18 is the legal age and it should remain 18. I believe a parent would influence a teenagers vote if it was lowered to say 16.

When your 18, you are an adult and can make up your own decisions. Leave it as is.

 

[snorlaaax]

No, def. not. Of course everyone has an opinion, but people under 18 are often more easily to influence and are most of the time not enough informed, since most of them dont really care. There are those who are serious and mature enough to have an own opinion and know whats going on, but a lot of them dont and if youre gonna let the mature teenagers vote, you also need to let the '''not-mature'' teenagers vote. Me myself as a 17 year old teenager, would like to vote, but I know it would not be good for me to vote. I know I have a clear opion and I know from myself that I know quite a lot of politics compared to other kids my age, but I know it wouldnt be realistic for me to vote, because I don't experience causes which have a big effect in the country and world. Like the economy or health care, it doesnt influence me personally because those are things your parents arange because your underage. I don't know how to arange those things personally which makes it quite unrealistic for me to vote about it, of course I have an opinion about how it should work, but my view on those things will never be that reliable because i havent experienced the ups and downs up those things. Then you have those kids who are easily influenced on their friends opions or dont know of any of the ideas and just vote for fun or because it's ''hip''.

 

[Sdeidjs]

Under the United States Law:

1.) An adult is an individual who is 18 years or older.

2.) Someone under the age of majority. (Under 18) - Minor

Probate Court Juvenile Division has jurisdiction over anyone under the age of 18 and in some cases (severity of the crime) until the person is 21.

People under the age of 18 must have the "capacity" to enter into a contract and or vote.

CAPACITY is defined as: (1.) The legal power to do something; (2) the ability to understand the nature and effects of one (s) actions or inaction.

Therefore, minors are not permitted to vote.

 

[last unicorn]

I think it's wrong to generalize young people by saying: 18 year olds are more mature than 16 year olds, because it's not true. It's only 2 years, they don't make much difference. If you're not mature enough with 16, you're not mature enough with 18 as well. Parents can influence you at ANY age. Or you can have your own opinion and interests with 15 or 16. It always depend where you come from, what your background is and how open-minded families are.

In my country, people are not allowed to drive a car under the age of 18 and I believe this is right.
But for voting and participating in political decisions that affect everyone, I still say 16 is a good age to start.

 

[snorlaaax]

I think it's wrong to generalize young people by saying: 18 year olds are more mature than 16 year olds, because it's not true. It's only 2 years, they don't make much difference. If you're not mature enough with 16, you're not mature enough with 18 as well. Parents can influence you at ANY age. Or you can have your own opinion and interests with 15 or 16. It always depend where you come from, what your background is and how open-minded families are.

In my country, people are not allowed to drive a car under the age of 18 and I believe this is right.
But for voting and participating in political decisions that affect everyone, I still say 16 is a good age to start.

But the thing is that people under 18 dont experience the things personally on which you are voting for. Theres not a child who arranges its own health care or is influenced by the economy personally. That makes an underage vote unreliable, maturity doesnt have anything to do with it.

 

[xo_lola_xo]

No.

Children should not get involved in politics and most children would just vote for who their parents would vote for.

 

[~Lindsey~]

No, def. not. Of course everyone has an opinion, but people under 18 are often more easily to influence and are most of the time not enough informed, since most of them dont really care. There are those who are serious and mature enough to have an own opinion and know whats going on, but a lot of them dont and if youre gonna let the mature teenagers vote, you also need to let the '''not-mature'' teenagers vote. Me myself as a 17 year old teenager, would like to vote, but I know it would not be good for me to vote. I know I have a clear opion and I know from myself that I know quite a lot of politics compared to other kids my age, but I know it wouldnt be realistic for me to vote, because I don't experience causes which have a big effect in the country and world. Like the economy or health care, it doesnt influence me personally because those are things your parents arange because your underage. I don't know how to arange those things personally which makes it quite unrealistic for me to vote about it, of course I have an opinion about how it should work, but my view on those things will never be that reliable because i havent experienced the ups and downs up those things. Then you have those kids who are easily influenced on their friends opinions or dont know of any of the ideas and just vote for fun or because it's ''hip''.

I'm sort of in the same boat. I live in the UK and turned 18 last month but if I lived in the US and the election was before my 18th I would have been wishing I could vote. However at the same time at 17 I probably wouldn't have been as qualified to vote although I keep up to dates with politics, people older than me will have experienced the results of many decisions and will have a better idea as to what will and will not work. Another member suggested maybe having to complete an entry test before being able to vote. I think thats a better idea. I think if a test was put in place for everyone it would be better. With the age lowering and without an entry test I would also be scared of groups of young people influencing each other or making pacts together which may have a negative result.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

old thread but no. they too young. let kids be kids and kids stay kids.

 

[PoP]

Nah, they can dream of voting one day, but they shouldn’t trust politics at all like I do, they’re cause more corruption and harm than good and making promises like they said they would. They just broke promises way too many times.