Why would anyone think 16 year-olds should be allowed to vote?

[MsAmerica]

Be honest - think back to when you were 16. Did you have an understanding of a broad range of issues? Did you pay serious attention to national news? Okay, even many adults may lapse on the score, but still, it seems crazy to me.

In the U.S., voting age had been 21 and the only reason it was lowered to 18 was that teens were being drafted to fight in Vietnam, and it was felt as unfair for them to have no say.

Well if you don't want poorly informed people voting, perhaps we should introduce a test to make sure people are going to vote the right way before we allow them to vote. Or just abolish democracy altogether.

"You're old enough to kill, but not for voting". eve of Destruction, by the way.

Yes some sixteen year olds (and younger) are old enough to kill. I wouldn't say that was a good reason to give them a vote, though.

Exactly this. If the objection is that the younger cohort are poorly informed, then we should indeed introduce a test before allowing people to vote (and how much would that cost?) and apply it to everyone 16+. Or, if you're going to go on about brain maturity then we should also remove the vote from older adults with a dementia diagnosis, people with learning difficulties, people in active addiction and people with unmedicated mental ill health.

Or we could stop being terrified of our young people and get over ourselves. Let them vote, let them learn, let's hope that political parties will start offering them things that matter instead of always pandering to the old (I am one of the old).

I’m sorry as soon as I see enlighten me I can’t take that seriously..it screams patronising.

Someone asked a question I answered it.

Or we could stop being terrified of our young people and get over ourselves.

But they're not really our 'young people', are they? They are our school-chidren. I remember well the change from 21 to 18. It was a big and drastic change at the time, much more than this proposal is, I think. I think it got the balance right, and 18 is fine.

But what are you so afraid of, given that this is a small cohort of additional voters who will not make much difference? Enfranchising 16 and 17 year olds in Austria has increased turnout - this is a good thing. And the world hasn't ended. Nor have Scotland and Wales combusted after enfranchising this age group.

Also, 16 and 17 year olds aren't simply children. 16 is an age threshold for many things. Their status in terms of adulthood is a grey area - a 16 year old can leave home and refuse to go back, and they cannot be compelled (I know this - I've fostered one, a young man from a deeply abusive family). A 16 year old can do many things that adults do. So what is so bad about letting them vote? They aren't entirely children any more, and describing them as such is infantilising as well as inaccurate.

I'm not afraid of anything. I don't think letting them vote would be a disaster, in fact, I doubt it would sway many elections. I just don't think it's a good idea.

Because letting boomers vote gave us Brexit and the Tories

I did, I had a few friends that were the same as me.

I'm not sure you should qualify for the vote either, with that statement! 😆

Agree. Most 16 year olds live with their parents and are cocooned from the realities of life like getting a job paying enough to live off and pay tax and rent. (I emphasise most 16 year olds as of course there are exceptions). While they may be politically engaged it's good to have a bit more experience of the reality of adulthood and what their vote really means. And how voting Green for example might affect their job prospects/future standard of living etc.

I was paying income tax at 16. I should have had a say in where it went.

There are also plenty of adults less well-informed than I was as a voracious reader who kept up with the news. But it doesn’t matter because democracy is not about the informed, the intelligent or the wise. If it were, the franchise would be very much smaller indeed.

Any 16 year old who is going to be bothered to go and vote is probably far more politically aware than most people imo.
Some young people are very passionate about politics and I certainly think at 16 they are old enough to vote. If they can work and legally live alone then they should be able to vote!
There won't be massive uptake. A sad proportion of the general public vote anyway as it is.. I really think it's positive if it's opened up to the many teens who care enough to go and vote.
After all we have an aging population so things are massively skewed when it comes to voting.. older people voting on the futures of the young. The young get quite hard done by really. Good to give them more of a voice imo.

This is very biased by your own political opinion. Being afraid someone is going to vote for a party you dislike is not a good reason to prevent them from voting!
You could say similar things about the elderly.. but you wouldn't dare try and remove the vote from them.
Anyone who can work or has worked should be able to vote. So that includes 16 year olds. Some of home are living alone.
At 16 I worked full time and lived in a shared house with other people paying my own rent. Yet I was unable to vote. Ridiculous.

I found out today my father (90) who has lost mental capacity is still eligible to vote. Even though he thinks he's working for the government on a secret mission under cover of a nursing home, My 15 year old would be excited to vote next year and give it some serious thought, would definitely do a better job.

The unbalanced demographic of this country with so many million oldies voting for policies that subsidise them but throw away our country's future needs redress.. Someone suggested votes for babies. I didn't think it was a terrible idea. Everyone needs to be properly represented, not just the ageing majority.

You can’t get married until you are 18 in this country. The law has recently been changed.

Your summary of my post is off.

I am not biased by my own political opinion.

I am not afraid someone is going to vote for a party I dislike and therefore think this is a good reason to prevent them from voting.

Greens was just an example. Most kids would think "environment".

I am not suggesting removing the vote from the elderly.

I did emphasise that not all 16 year olds live with their parents and don't work. But most do.

How many times must it be said.....
you can marry at 16 in Scotland.
(and in Northern Ireland with parental consent)

So only people in work should have a vote? and certain parties shouldn't be allowed to stand because YOU don't agree with them....

Yet these "immature children" can make exam & career choices, take out student loans that take 35years to pay off.... which in 2010 were just 3k pa, now 9.5k pa
The Tory Govt we have had over the last 15 years have wrecked the job and standard of living standards of the young.....

With housing costs through the roof, forcing many to live at home....

Your summary of my post is off. Like the PP.

I didn't say only people in work should have the vote.

I didn't say certain parties shouldn't be allowed to stand because I don't agree with them.

A 16 year old is not "forced" to live at home (most of them). They simply live at home.

They are 16. Most have not supported themselves or had to put up with the realities of working to pay for food and rent. I emphasise (again) this applies to most of them.

Honestly. Some of you guys do like to read something into other people's posts that is only in your own heads.

It's not being "afraid". It's just common sense. Something that is sorely lacking in today's politics. And having a few teenagers myself, one being the relevant age, common sense is probably not going to be increased in politics by extending the franchise age downwards.

This is a shit argument. Most adults have very little common sense.

On another site I read a thread where someone was blaming Kier Starmer for a sentence handed down by a court. She had no idea that courts follow sentencing guidelines or that politicians are quite rightly not involved. But she will base her vote on this, and she is allowed to vote.
Bringing down the age for voting might encourage secondary schools to include relevant information in their teaching: economics, government functioning, the judicial system etc. Perhaps the government should be petitioned to upgrade the curriculum.

There are plenty of adults I don’t think are intelligent enough to vote. My kids are very smart. I’d be happy for them to vote.

The only reason a political party will want to introduce this is because they think that 16 to 18-year-olds will vote for them. There is absolutely no other reason for wanting this. The state of education is so poor in this country in certain regions and the idea of giving a 16-year-old the vote in those circumstances is horrific. It was the lack of education that caused Brexit to go through. Most 16-year-olds have absolutely no idea about politics. Yes a few do but they are vastly in the minority.