Poll: Voting Age

[CuddlyCombine]

16. If you are old enough to be drafted, you are old enough to drink and vote.

If you're drafted, you've got people telling you what to do. It isn't your decision. Drinking and voting are, on the other hand, decisions, and 16-year-olds are hardly well-developed enough to make their own decisions.

I'd say 16 because the government affects young people too.
Any younger would abuse it. I can imagine some stupid 13 year old boys writing 'Jedi!! lol!" or something.

Adults do that as well. There was a turnout of 500,000 people claiming they were Jedi, or something like that. 390,000 alone in Britain. Also, cops do it too.

I disagree with 16. Here in Manitoba, where the age is 18, one notices the vast difference between the maturity of 16- and 18-year-olds. Lowering it to 16 would be ridiculous.

Also, remember that young people think that they know everything and form opinions faster than steam evaporates. At least, this is my experience with my peers.

 

[Matronadena]

snip.

I really like this idea of slowly introducing teens to politics. This, mixed with education on rational thought and politics, would be a good idea, I think.

well the way I look at it:

City and State/County results are noticeable in a very short amount of time after being voted in...and because many things voted on, go through renewal periods, or altered and needed to be voted on again..there is also the ability to CHANGE a position on something that sounded good in words, and on paper, but bad in practice...


so the younger ones I thing gain a vital skill in seeing " a time laps" version of cause and affect, and learn some of the sights, and sounds on a social level when things are really working or not on their own, and not second hand off anyone else.

 

[murphy7801]

At 16 you feel entirely capable of many things, and why not, you're as experienced as you've ever been.

But you'll get older, and look back on yourself at 16, and you'll probably be thankful that you weren't afforded the ability to vote back then. I know I am. Was I dumber then? Hell no. I was one of the bright kids in the class. You know the ones, they don't study but they always ace everything? That was me. Am I dumber now? I'd like to think not.

But what I was when I was 16/17/18 I was:
A) In highschool, surrounded by peers mostly my own age, who mostly had very similar experiences in life as me.
B) Not responsible for anybody's well-being except my own.
C) Not thinking about children in any sense but the "Ohgod, did I pull out soon enough?"
D) Not even really responsible for my own well-being.
E) Free of any significant debt.
F) In about the best physical shape of my life.

None of which is typical of the majority of society.. and what's worse, I hadn't yet even had any experience with what is typical of the majority of society. That's a bad place to be voting from. Looking back now, I can see that my political leanings hadn't really settled at all til I hit 20 or so, and I have friends that it took a lot longer, even though we all thought we were really quite worldly and bright.. and you know, for our ages, we were. But that clause is a key factor.

Sure, you may think you're fully responsible, very bright, very mature and all that, and you may well be.. but you're still inexperienced, and those good qualities will only get better as you grow.

seconded well apart from the health thing its generally down hill from hear on out

 

[BardSeed]

oh another note so few people actually understand the true meaning and madness of money but i would recommend people people check out the zeitgeist movies there free to watch legally help people understand fair but would publish the link but im not sure im allowed to or not

You probably shouldn't mention those movies, if you want to be taken seriously. I haven't seen the second, but I know both are considered conspiracy theories, and conspirators are considered mental. It shouldn't devalue your opinion, if it's logical, but you can't stop people from thinking what they will.

 

[Simalacrum]

I found that my political opinion really began to solidify around 17/18 years of age... so I think its fine as it is yeah

 

[murphy7801]

oh another note so few people actually understand the true meaning and madness of money but i would recommend people people check out the zeitgeist movies there free to watch legally help people understand fair but would publish the link but im not sure im allowed to or not

You probably shouldn't mention those movies, if you want to be taken seriously. I haven't seen the second, but I know both are considered conspiracy theories, and conspirators are considered mental. It shouldn't devalue your opinion, if it's logical, but you can't stop people from thinking what they will.

yer they are a bit but there's alot interesting facts the second and the third move away from conspiracies. also when you say conspiracies they laid alot stuff which was talked about during the Renaissance by men of power but the life comes whole circle sometimes.

 

[Arcyde]

It should be at least 16.

 

[Hitman 43]

From the age of 20.

 

[Nitehammer]

I say that people of any age should be able to vote. Everyone is affected by their country's government and deserve to have a voice in an election. That being said, I strongly believe in the idea of an intelligence test to ensure that voters have been properly informed. Until a test like that is created, the age limit should be kept at 18.

 

[Pezzer]

Oooooh.

Here's something else I though of to support lower voting age. People of any age pay VAT on items they uy, thus they pay taxes and thus they should ge tthe vote.

Vote or VAT exemption, one or the other, You governments must decide.

 

[gh0ti]

Hmmm, here are a few of my thoughts concerning restricting voting franchise:

No voting if:

You can't read.
You have served a prison sentence of greater than twelve months.
You have been diagnosed with a mental illness.

Ideally I would add to that the need for people to pass a short political quiz before being allowed to vote. Something concerning the policies of the various parties on offer so that people would know what they were voting for when they picked a party, rather than voting the same way regardless.

As for the age thing, it's pretty irrelevant to me. There are people 'qualified' to vote by their early teens and others who never outgrow their immaturities. Thing is, you've got to have a cut off at some point and I'd say 18 is about right for most of us.

 

[Low Key]

I don't know about the UK, but in America, most people under the age of 25 don't vote. They say they will, but they never do (even though I did). My guess is they are too busy having sex, which clearly, I wasn't getting at the time since I voted.

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

I am sixteen. With that said, I think the voting age should stay at eighteen or even go up to twenty-one. Why? Because about 95% of my peers are idiots. I wouldn't trust them with a hairbrush, let alone deciding who runs a country. I acknowledge that there are exceptions to what I said, but there is an exception to almost, if not, everything.

Someone said an intelligence test? Sounds good on pen and paper (theory), but in practice, you'd find that that's going to be hard to accomplish. That and the fact that it breaks the idea of what a democracy is.

 

[Libur]

I find it rather stupid that 16 year olds are allowed to get married and are allowed to move into there own home at the age of 16, but are not allowed to vote?
I think by the age of 16 people are mature enough to vote?

 

[secretsantaone]

If you enfranchise someone by IQ, it's elitist and unjust.

Just because someone is bad at maths doesn't give someone the right to take away their right to have a say in how a country is run.

It's a step back to the days of the landed class vote.

Decreasing the electorate increases corruption, reduces democracy.

An age limit gives everyone a chance to vote at some point in their lives, while making sure that they are mature enough to make an informed decision. Puberty gives you massive mood swings, one day you could be pissed off for no good reason and vote BNP, then immediately regret it.

You can drink alcohol at 5 years old, does that mean you should be able to drive?

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

It's 18 here in Australia, but so is drinking (HA in you're face USA) it's not to bad, a couple of years ago I would have said 16 but when I look back I realize how immature I was (and all 16 yr olds are) and really 18 is fine.

 

[Spirit_Of_Fire]

I think it should stay at 18. Also I think that it should be against the law not to vote.

 

[Labyrinth]

As a 16-year-old I have enough to ***** about what with getting paid less than everyone else for the same work without having no say about where my hard-earned tax money goes. I'd also like to add that being entirely ignored is a pain in the arse.

So I'd go for, in Australia, optional voting from 16-18, and the usual mandatory after that.

 

[Mackinator]

They can also join the army at 16 in the UK.

As soon as you can start paying taxes you should be allowed to vote, I'm 16 and hoping to get a job in the next few months and a fair amount of my wage will be going to the Government, therefore I think that I deserve a say in who they are.

Exactly.