Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote?

[ExitChasedByABee]

Great points raised by Kate Williams on Twitter. Should 16 year olds be allowed to vote or are they still too young?

Yes. They already do here in Scotland and at every election I’m impressed by how articulate, informed and passionate so many of them are. It’s absolutely something the rest of the the U.K. should adopt.

No. 18 is fine. If anything I think the voting age should be raised.

Sorry OP, you don’t say what country you are in. Obviously in some countries this is already the case.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

I actually think the voting age should be raised, not lowered. Even most 18 year olds are too inexperienced and immature to vote.

Agree. My 16 year old has just voted as we are in Wales. She is informed and sensible but....only 16. It is much too young. 21 or even 25 (brain maturity) much better.

No. DS16 is really hoping the YouTuber in the running for London mayor gets in because his main manifesto point is to reduce Cadbury Freddie to 5p. He thinks it's hysterical.

I'm sure there are lots of very sensible and informed 16yr olds but there's also a lot of immature ones like my DS who would vote for cheap Freddos for a laugh.

Voting for the youtuber "for a laugh" is pretty immature, but there are plenty of adults who voted Conservative in the last election not because they had read the Tory manifesto and were impressed by the policies but because they liked Boris Johnson for equally superficial reasons. Not all Conservative voters, obviously, but a depressingly high number.

I'd be open to 6 year olds voting... would make things interesting!

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/06/give-six-year-olds-the-vote-says-cambridge-university-academic

@MadMadMadamMim

I remember at 16 paying income tax and NI on my part time wages and being very frustrated I had no influence on how the government spent it.

You don't pay income tax, or NI on part time wages. The government don't tax 16 year olds on their part time earnings. Your tax allowance is currently £242 per week - any less than that you do not pay any tax at all.

This was 2008 and I definitely did pay tax and NI! I think the personal tax allowance was only around £5k annually then.

Still very feasible to think 16 year olds would be paying income tax and NI now, plenty go into work and apprenticeships at 16.

I think you should be able to vote once you're out of compulsory education age - you can't say someone is too immature to take part in voting but mature enough to hold down a full time job and (potentially) not be educated at all any more. It should be one or the other, if someone is mature enough to work full time then they ought to get a say on issues affecting them.

So that would be 16 in Wales and Scotland and 18 in England then, sounds right.

They can marry, fight for the country etc, they should have a say

Well no actually. 16 year olds can join the army, but cannot be deployed, and 16 year olds can only marry with parental consent. So they are still under the supervision of adults.

No

I'm not sure. I do think everyone deserves representation. They are impacted by lots of political decisions but obviously most won't have any work experience yet which is important.

In reality the decision will probably be based on what party the polling shows they would vote for. Any amendments made to voting criteria are usually done for the sake of growing support for a particular party. It's never about what's right unfortunately.

Yes they should. Government policies affect them far more than some other demographics that can vote.

No. I would raise it.

There is no logic to letting 16 year olds vote in Scotland. The SNP tried to push through legislation to have a “Named Person” as a legal guardian for all under 18 year olds as it regards them as children in need of protection. At the same time as giving them the vote. Ridiculous- they can’t have it both ways.
Sixteen year olds are schoolkids. They have no experience of being taxpayers or any responsibility in running a home or doing a job. Their knowledge of politics is likely to be limited to propaganda on independence from the SNP, with no idea of the dire economic consequences. Of course they should not have a vote.

No

I say yes, as long as government and politics is introduced into the curriculum so teenagers are given a chance to understand how it works.
I would argue that at 16 I had a better understanding of how and what politics is than I do now at 30 because I was interested in learning although this is because my parents are very politically engaged.

However I would argue at 16 that my views and opinions were still to a degree coloured by my parents which could impact how 16 and to be fair anyone still living with their parents may vote...

I knew more about politics at 16 than 99% of 18+ in the UK (Politics A-level ).

@HelpfulBelle

I knew more about politics at 16 than 99% of 18+ in the UK (Politics A-level ).

Not at 16 you didn't. You started your ALevel at 16, and therefore wouldn't have known much more until you finished your ALevel's at 18.

Some of the comments on this thread have made me laugh.

Raising the age to 25 because brains continue developing lots til then, 16 year olds can't have reasoned debates/arguments etc.

Fwiw I don't see the point in changing it at all, 18 seem about right. But as for brain development, there must be an awful lot of older people whose brains never really developed much, given so many seemed to have voted for Boris for no other reason than 'he seems like a good bloke and he's funny'. On that reasoning, I can't see 16 year olds doing much worse tbh.

@BigWoollyJumpers

My Ddad was a politics teacher, and had firmly schooled me in the main concepts, so I still knew more than 99% of people

No, it's inconsistent with the other things they can/can't do at 16. They're not adults. I discussed this with my 16yo son the other day. I said "you would vote for [infamous right wing populist] if your mates did, just to see whether he'd get elected, wouldn't you DS". Him, big grin "Yes".

Yes, they can vote on the Isle of Man at 16. Teenagers are often more involved and interested in politics than many an adult I know.

No

@cariadlet

Voting for the youtuber "for a laugh" is pretty immature, but there are plenty of adults who voted Conservative in the last election not because they had read the Tory manifesto and were impressed by the policies but because they liked Boris Johnson for equally superficial reasons. Not all Conservative voters, obviously, but a depressingly high number.

I knew fully grown adults who voted for Brexit "for a laugh", not expecting it to actually happen, so I agree that sadly this isn't an age thing.

I do though think 18 is just right.