Universal Sufferage a little to high?

[Honest]

Universal sufferage: where everyone can vote...


...except us kids! Do you think that they should drop the voting age to 16 or even lower? why?

I belive that they should drop it to 16 cause they seem responsible.

 

[Tokin]

while a lot of people under 18 are responsible enough, the great majority isn't, I think the voting age should be left as it is because a lot of younger people might not do the investigating required to make an informed decision

 

[Vernikova]

I believe that the voting age should remain. There are many people under the age of 18 that are 16 and 17 that aren't responsible. Many aren't even thinking baout politics at this age or are only just beginnning to form an idea about it. Anyway, not everyone registered to vote votes anyway so does it really matter? I'm sure that many 16 and 17 year olds aren't going to vote either.

 

[♣Gawain♣]

Age 18 should be the allowable age to vote. The age itself represents the maturity of a person, both physically and mentally.

 

[Hitokage2]

The voting age should stay at 18. We already have enough problems of people not recognizing who the vice president is and not educating themselves over the issues. Although there are probably many people under 18 who are responsible enough to vote, the majority isn't focused particularly on politics based on what I remember from high school. I was going to turn 18 the day after the 2004 presidential election, and I was bummed for not being able to vote. When I finally got the chance to vote this year, it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be even though it's still important to vote. Once you turn 18, you'll have plenty of elections to vote in and get confused over strange people running for comptroller and random judges who you've never heard of.

 

[Spinor]

Maybe we can keep at 18...

Or maybe we can include exceptions.

If you feel responsible enough at age 16, then maybe you can take a test to see if you meet criteria to vote. The perfect Idea for a corrupt continent!

*shot*

 

[Tangerine Fox]

Mature enough at 16? A lot of 16-year-olds I know certainly aren't. Granted, I know plenty of adults who probably shouldn't be allowed to vote, either, but still. I would hate for young teens to be able to vote, it would cause more trouble than it's worth. Just because some teens are informed and ready doesn't mean the majority are willing to pay attention, do their research, and actually go out and vote responsibly. :/

 

[Red1530]

I think it should stay at eighteen. However the only exception is to members of the military who join at seventeen. They should be able to vote right away because of their willingness to defend the country.

 

[Mooshykris]

It should stay at 18.

Most people under 18 only listen to what other people say, and do not reasearch for themselves.

~Mooshykris

 

[Aurafire]

Kids voting at 16? It would be a disaster. Most teenagers have no perspective on the way the world works, so how could they possibly make informed decisions at the voting booth? (That's not to say that a good amount of adults have no perspective either, but just to prove a point =P). 16 year olds usually aren't mature or educated enough to even care about politics.

 

[Jorah]

I doubt the majority of people over age have much idea about how politics work. I'm gonna be 18 in 5 days but that doesn't mean I have any idea which party has a good policy XD (or if any them actually differ at all :/). But it also has a bit to do with maturity, I think, and those 2 years can make a bit of difference, I think. So I think it should stay at 18.

 

[Master Electrician]

Quite frankly, I don't trust the majority of eighteen-year-olds. Raise the voting age to twenty, let the people live on their own for a bit and figure out just how things work in reality as opposed to giving them a ticket to participate in a world-altering decision straight out of Senior year Civics class and $40 from mommy and daddy in their pockets.

...

But then again, I'm a cynic.

 

[doesn't matter]

Mature enough at 16? A lot of 16-year-olds I know certainly aren't. Granted, I know plenty of adults who probably shouldn't be allowed to vote, either, but still. I would hate for young teens to be able to vote, it would cause more trouble than it's worth. Just because some teens are informed and ready doesn't mean the majority are willing to pay attention, do their research, and actually go out and vote responsibly. :/

This. When I last voted I based my votes on who had the funniest names.

Mind you, I had only found out we had to vote the night before and I didn't want to do it anyway, but it's an example of how immature people can be.

And wow, I'm proud of it, hahaha.

 

[icomeanon6]

In all honesty, I'd kind of like to see the voting age raised. Based on what I know of myself and my peers, teenagers are NOT old enough to vote. We're too inherently impulsive to reliably make educated decisions concerning politics. Granted, I have some friends who are very level-headed and trustworthy, but they're definitely the minority. I think that the minimum age for voting should be 21, but I'd be fine if anyone between the ages of 18 and 20 could take a political aptitude test in order to vote.

Democracy may be fair and just, but it is also dangerous if handled irresponsibly. Teenagers, for the most part, are characteristically irresponsible.

 

[Legobricks]

I would like it to be sixteen, then it'd become prudent of schools to actually teach pupils about politics (perhaps instead of religion) for once.

 

[Anti]

I don't think it should be lowered at all. There are people my age (freshman in high school btw) who make have me on the verge of wondering if the will of the people is a very good will. People are clueless (not to say that many adults aren't, but no need to raise the number of uneducated people voting) and I don't think people my age should be voting. Educated freshmen when it comes to politics = in the minority. Of course, anything lower would be "well my mommy voted for McCain and she's always right so I will too."

It's fine where it is imo. I don't think it should be raised, though if it started at, say, 22 to begin with I probably would say the same thing so eh.

 

[icomeanon6]

I would like it to be sixteen, then it'd become prudent of schools to actually teach pupils about politics (perhaps instead of religion) for once.

I don't know about where you go/went to school, but my sophomore history class focuses pretty heavily on politics already. As for religion, do you mean Sunday-school style religion or say, the history of religion? The history of religion is an integral component of understanding history in general.

And again, we have the established age of adulthood for a reason, it's because it's roughly the time when the human brain ceases to be as chaotic as a teenager's. Adolescents simply don't think as well as adults.

 

[Tiny]

I think it should stay at age 18 or raise it.

 

[Legobricks]

I don't know about where you go/went to school, but my sophomore history class focuses pretty heavily on politics already. As for religion, do you mean Sunday-school style religion or say, the history of religion? The history of religion is an integral component of understanding history in general.

England, which has probably always had a naff quality of education going on.
I mean religion as in the compulsory subject 'religious education/studies', though it'd seem to me that you do not have that.

 

[Merzbau]

I think the obvious solution, is that voting should be abolished everywhere.

Democracy is the enemy of peace.