Should the legal age to vote in the US be lowered?

I don't see the point in lowering the age as long as people under 18 are still minors. They don't have the same rights as adults and I don't see why they should be voting as long as they're still considered "less" than adults. If we lower the voting age, then we should also lower the age of adulthood. But I don't agree with either one of those. Of course as someone interested in politics, I'm anxious to vote, but I'd be pretty terrified if some of the 16-year-olds I know had a chance to vote...

 

Where's the "no, keep it at 18" option?

 

Done.

 

Yes, I believe it should. Probably to 16. I trust today's youth more readily to be ethical.

Adrienne

 

This.
There is a risk and a likely price to pay, but I think it would be worth it.

 

No minimum age.
The requirements for voting should be different for different ages, so most voters would be 20 or older.
No matter the age, you should know what the person is for and against.
No matter the age, you should not know the person's gender, race, religion, or where they have lived.
No minimum age, because some five year olds would do it more responsibly than someone who is 18.

 

Well, that's part of the problem. Teenagehood is a time of contradictions. The law considers you a child until you're 18. But then you're also allowed to be tried as an adult, but you can't drink or vote. The law should pick one, really.

 

I want it to change so I can vote :lol:

 

I think it's fine where it's at.

 

Keep it at 18. Most high schoolers don't really know enough about politics to have an actual say in them.

 

I just finished my freshman year at high school and I can tell you, for now there's no hope for my generation. I don't want to see what would happen if we could vote now. I think it should stay where it is.

 

It should stay at 18, but it should be made easier to vote, like making National Election Days federal holidays, so that everyone has the opportunity to vote. You should also be able to vote in local and national elections of the college you are attending, so that you do not have to go home to vote especially if you live outside of state. We should also have same day voter registration at polling places.

 

Nor do most 18 year olds...or 21 year olds really...should we shoot for 30, maybe? Not sure that would cut it either.

Ok, I got it...let's get rid of an age requirement altogether, but require a brief exam on Political Awareness prior to each national election to have your voter registration validated for a 4-year cycle?

 

I was 15 in 2004, but I was competent enough to vote against George W. Bush. I was also competent enough to vote against having my right to marry banned by my state. Yet I was denied that opportunity by adults who I now know are quite mediocre in their political and intellectual powers.

I get that teenagers aren't always the wisest people. But what I'm questioning is why youth shouldn't be allowed to participate in decision-making that affects them. Youth are also governed by the laws.

To me, it's a matter of knowledge, not development or perspective. A person is fit to participate if and only if they have a minimal understanding of how the government works.

A teenager could can tell me some of the powers in Article I or what standing is in Article III is considerably more fit to participate than an adult who thinks a court cannot strike down a statute (which has been settled law since Marbury v. Madison).

I agree with Sister Annika's position. It seems elementary to me that we could device an entirely factual (and free) civics test with accommodations for people who have disabilities (scribes for those who need them, people to read questions to the blind, etc) that would do more to assure a knowledgeable voting public than an age requirement does.

 

I'll have to ponder this.

Interestingly, perhaps, I recall one conversation with my mother on the way to school one day. She said that a lower voting age might be justifiable in one way: there is the possibility that high school students are better informed about current events, etc. Of course, this assumes the school is doing its job, which was not the case at Alcatraz High (as I called my high school).

Indeed, I shudder to think of the first time I voted. I don't think I was properly informed about candidates or issues. One thing social studies should have done in 12th grade, I think now, is teach people how to be informed voters. Although I think that would pose some real problems politically. Certainly in our culture in 2015, we'd have some conservatives screaming about "indoctrination" (assuming that word isn't too long or complicated for those who've fried their brains on Fox TV. :lol. Indoctrination is a concern, and should be avoided, but teaching basics would be good: understanding issues, the political parties, and basic tools that allow one to evaluate candidates (e.g. voter guides published by the state).

---------- Post added 19th Jun 2015 at 11:59 AM ----------

My thoughts exactly.

For that matter, I'm not sure that people at 40, 50, or 100 are necessarily better informed. There are plenty of people who vote for a given party because that is what Dad and Grandpa always voted for. There are people who look only at the surface appearance of the person. (Which explains Ronald Reagan, as he took on his last, big acting job: President of the US.)

A part of me agrees with this. I have even thought of this. But I--and many others--also shudder, thinking of how "tests" in the past have been used to disenfranchise voters.

---------- Post added 19th Jun 2015 at 12:07 PM ----------

Absolutely true. One thing that is appalling to me is that a young man in the 1960s (before 18 was the standard voting age across the US) was old enough to be shipped off and killed in Vietnam, but not old enough to vote for the knuckleheads that got us into that war and kept us in it for years.

And the same experience could have been mine, too. Bush won his one term in office less than 2 months before I turned 18, so I was unable to vote against him. However, had his mess in Iraq turned really ugly, and the draft brought back, I might have been shipped over there and killed. (Bright note: back then gay guys were not welcome in the military. This was before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Perhaps in the event of a draft, I'd have contemplated that I'm gay a lot sooner than I did. :lol

 

Hmmm, I see your point, but I just think voting should be an adult matter. Why should 16 year olds be allowed to vote if they have no adult responsibilities? I feel like 18 year olds would have a better understanding of just what they are voting for because it affects them more.

 

Should be lowered to 16. Laws also affect high school kids as well (Common Core) and 16 is the age when we could start working, so we want a say in labor laws.

However, I think the first step is to make voting easier for the 18+ crowd. We have voter ID laws and paperwork for registration. Not to mention that there are ex-cons that have been disenfranchised. We need to make voting more accessible before we could include high school students as well.