Constitutionality of giving 16-year-olds the right to vote
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  Constitutionality of giving 16-year-olds the right to vote
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Author Topic: Constitutionality of giving 16-year-olds the right to vote  (Read 3511 times)
Helsinkian
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« on: December 06, 2016, 06:27:32 AM »

The 26th Amendment to the US Constitution forbids any law that restricts the right of 18-year-old citizens to vote. But if a state were to expand the franchise to 16-year-olds would that be constitutional?

This would have wider implications if the presidential election were to become based on the popular vote (for example through the NPVI compact). If the president were elected purely on the popular vote I could see states like California giving the franchise to 16-year-olds, since people of that age tend to be more left-leaning.
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Figueira
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« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2016, 05:14:42 PM »

Two cities in Maryland have lowered the age to sixteen for municipal elections. San Francisco tried but it failed.

There's nothing unconstitutional about it AFAIK.
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Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas
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« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2016, 08:44:11 PM »

I don't think they would be allowed to expand the vote to minors in federal elections. The constitution sets the voting age at 18.

Locally and even statewide, they can do what they want.
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Blue3
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« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2016, 12:30:31 AM »

A simple law in the states can make it lower or theoretically even eliminate it.

It just can't be higher than 18.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2016, 09:51:25 AM »

I don't think they would be allowed to expand the vote to minors in federal elections. The constitution sets the voting age at 18.

Locally and even statewide, they can do what they want.
Actually, under the Constitution, if a State set the voting age for State elections to 16, that would automatically make the voting age for Congress be 16. Anyone eligible to vote for the lower house of the State legislature is eligible to vote for the U.S. House, and those voting for the upper State house are eligible to vote for the U.S. Senate. They could still require someone be 18 to vote for Elector.
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Cokeland Chastain
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« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2017, 08:34:49 AM »

It just can't be higher than 18.
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SingingAnalyst
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« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2017, 04:33:13 PM »

http://www.youthrights.org/issues/voting-age/voting-age-status-report/

Though the Cambridge, MA city council in 2002 passed 8-1 a resolution to allow 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections, it has gone nowhere. Not to be too cynical, but if 16- and 17-year olds could vote, it would be harder for state legislators to pass, say, restrictive driving rules or higher insurance rates for drivers younger than a certain age.
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Beet
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« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2017, 04:40:51 PM »

There are only a couple problems with giving 16 year olds the right to vote. One is that angus is against it, and since he made a post about his wet underwear, he's apparently cooler than I. Two is that 16 year olds aren't at the age of majority, so it would be a little inconsistent to say they're not even competent to govern themselves but are somehow competent to help govern the country. The whole point of high school is supposedly to prepare children to become citizens, so if they are already prepared before completing high school, what's the point?

That being said, I do think 16 year olds are capable of an adult understanding of politics and would be able to competently handle the task of voting, I just worry that it is inconsistent with how they are treated otherwise.
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Associate Justice PiT
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« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2017, 09:52:49 PM »

Two is that 16 year olds aren't at the age of majority, so it would be a little inconsistent to say they're not even competent to govern themselves but are somehow competent to help govern the country. The whole point of high school is supposedly to prepare children to become citizens, so if they are already prepared before completing high school, what's the point?

     You make an excellent point here, though I daresay that our country's education system has forgotten the point of high school. Too many people treat high school as little more than a stepping stone to college, and the schools are happy to play along with that idea.
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Bacon King
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« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2017, 09:22:17 PM »

I don't know if any studies show this to be the case (have 16 year olds been franchised anywhere long enough to do long-term studies yet?) but I imagine that being granted the right to express themselves politically when they're still learning about the importance of civics, it will lead to lifelong higher turnout rather than if voting is just yet another thing people are allowed to do when they turn 18
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darklordoftech
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« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2017, 02:50:09 PM »

There are only a couple problems with giving 16 year olds the right to vote. One is that angus is against it, and since he made a post about his wet underwear, he's apparently cooler than I. Two is that 16 year olds aren't at the age of majority, so it would be a little inconsistent to say they're not even competent to govern themselves but are somehow competent to help govern the country. The whole point of high school is supposedly to prepare children to become citizens, so if they are already prepared before completing high school, what's the point?

That being said, I do think 16 year olds are capable of an adult understanding of politics and would be able to competently handle the task of voting, I just worry that it is inconsistent with how they are treated otherwise.
Actually, many states allow 16-year-olds to drop out of school and work full-time, so it's not like being under 18 means being in school and not paying taxes. Also, in many states 16 is the age of consent and is old enough to be tried as an adult.
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darklordoftech
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« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2017, 04:01:10 PM »

Not to be too cynical, but if 16- and 17-year olds could vote, it would be harder for state legislators to pass, say, restrictive driving rules or higher insurance rates for drivers younger than a certain age.
This is exactly why I want the voting age lowered. For too long have politicians, parents, schools, and moralizing busybodies taken rights away from people under 18. Our society seems to think that personhood is dependent upon being 18+. If the trend continues,I fear it won't be long until people are required to be in a school building 24/7 from the day they're born until their 18th birthday and anyone who tries to escape will get the death penalty. Once, teenagers hung out unsupervised, went to the mall, drank, smoked, and had sex without going to jail, and could skip school without being tracked down. But today, people under 18 are pretty much prisoners of adults. Something needs to change. We need to re-examine the way society views people under 18.
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Virginiá
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« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2017, 05:20:35 PM »

http://www.youthrights.org/issues/voting-age/voting-age-status-report/

Though the Cambridge, MA city council in 2002 passed 8-1 a resolution to allow 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections, it has gone nowhere. Not to be too cynical, but if 16- and 17-year olds could vote, it would be harder for state legislators to pass, say, restrictive driving rules or higher insurance rates for drivers younger than a certain age.

But we already have a myriad conflicts of interest like that. Police officers can vote, and police unions make it difficult to pass meaningful criminal justice reform in some places. Teachers can vote, and that sometimes makes it hard to make changes to the school system. Business owners can vote, so that makes it hard to pass necessary regulations on business. And the list goes on and on.

I get what you're saying, but there is another side to that as well. For instance, 16 year olds can't vote, so they can't influence lawmakers to better fund their schools.


edit: just realized the age of this post/thread
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angus
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« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2017, 07:27:45 AM »


Ah ha!  I see my reputation precedes my post here.

Yes, I'm against it and would definitely vote against lowering the voting age on a binding referendum, but that wasn't the question.  The question only regarded the legality of jurisdictions allowing 16-year-old residents to vote.  I don't think there's an argument to be made based on age, since the constitution expressly prohibits setting local minimum voting age higher than 18.  16 is not greater than 18 so you're safe.  If there's a legal argument to be made against it, it would have to rest upon the part of citizenship.  (Citizens, not just residents, can vote.  You can be over 18 but if you're not a citizen you cannot legally vote.)  The question is, then, at what age does a person enjoy the rights generally appertaining to those of the citizen?  There is some argument that this age is viewed as 18 by the legal community.  For example, foreign-born children before the age of 18 may automatically become US citizens when a parent becomes a US citizen, but if the parent becomes a US citizen after the child's 18th birthday, then the child is not automatically a US citizen when the parent becomes naturalized.  Then the thinking that applies to foreigners who become naturalized citizens would logically apply to natives who become citizens by virtue of age.  That is, when a person reaches the age of 18 he begins to enjoy certain rights and certain burdens.  Among those, I think, is the right to vote, and the burden of loyalty.

There are some inconsistencies.  One must be 21 to purchase a handgun and to purchase alcoholic beverages as well, yet one can purchase cigarettes at 18 and join the military at 18.  Then again, those limitations are probably not related to the lofty ideal of citizenship, but rather related to logistics, medical concerns, or safety.  Sort of like getting a driver's license at 16, getting certified as an open water SCUBA diver, or watching certain movies in theaters at 13.  Those limitations clearly have nothing to do with citizenship.  They have to do with personal safety, public safety, and psychiatric or medical considerations.  Perhaps the handgun, cigarette, and alcohol policies are based on such factors as well, and it just happens to be the case, but unrelated, that the cigarette-purchasing age limit is the same as the voting age limit.

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