Voting age

[Ebowed]

What should the voting age be?

[KEmperor]

I think the current age of 18 is quite sensible.

[Gabu]

It all depends on what your priorities are, but I personally think that 18 is fine.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

16.  But I'm OK w/ 18.

[Joe Biden 2020]

18.  At that age you are a man or a woman, no longer a boy or a girl.  You become an adult at that age.  Anything earlier and you run a higher risk of non-voters because most 15-17 year olds probably care nothing about politics and don't watch the news at all.  Anything over 18 and you're considering 18 year olds to be children and youngsters.

I have never understood why people call adults between 18 and 25 boys and girls or kids.  I have never understood the term "college kid".  If your in college, YOU ARE NOT A CHILD, YOU ARE AN ADULT.  Even if you are in high school, but 18 years old, YOU ARE AN ADULT.  That means I became an adult at the end of my junior year of high school.

That is one of my biggest pet peeves is people calling us in our late teens or 20s kids or boys or girls.

[Nym90]

18 or graduation from high school, whichever comes first.

[John Dibble]

It all depends on what your priorities are, but I personally think that 18 is fine.

[Tender Branson]

In Austria the voting age was lowered to 16 this year by the new SPÖ-ÖVP-coalition. It will take effect 1/1/2008 for all Austrian Elections. In my state, Salzburg, the voting age was already lowered to 16 in 2005 after the Social Democratic Party won the 2004 state elections. I´m fine with both 16 years and 18 years. Turnout among younger Austrian voters is relatively high. Youth voting rights groups had a major impact on the coalition parties to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. The Greens and the Social Democrats are probably the ones who will benefit most in the next Austrian elections.

[minionofmidas]

A minimum voting age above, say, 12 without a maximum voting age as well is a hilariously inconsistent idea.

[Erc]

18 or graduation from high school, whichever comes first.

I'll second that.  (Was already in college by the time of the 2004 race, but couldn't vote)

[Јas]

18.  At that age you are a man or a woman, no longer a boy or a girl.  You become an adult at that age. 

Says who?

Anything earlier and you run a higher risk of non-voters because most 15-17 year olds probably care nothing about politics and don't watch the news at all. 

So what if many of them don't vote? A great many people above that age don't care about politics either and don't vote - that's hardly an argument to set it at 18 or any age. Indeed that's an argument towards assessment on non-age related grounds.

[© tweed]

18.

but I also favor offering a complicated civics exam.  and anyone who can pass it, whether they're 4 or 17, should be eligible to vote.

[minionofmidas]

18.  At that age you are a man or a woman, no longer a boy or a girl.  You become an adult at that age.

Says who?

Anything earlier and you run a higher risk of non-voters because most 15-17 year olds probably care nothing about politics and don't watch the news at all.

So what if many of them don't vote? A great many people above that age don't care about politics either and don't vote

And another great many don't care about politics either but do vote anyways. And the difference between these two groups is 100% class-based.

[CPT MikeyMike]

18 - that should be the age for everything.

Drinking
Driving
Smoking
Voting
Selective Service

[Friz]

18 works fine for me.

[Person Man]

18.

but I also favor offering a complicated civics exam.  and anyone who can pass it, whether they're 4 or 17, should be eligible to vote.

That's a great idea. Otherwise, the answer should be 17. That is what it was in Ancient Rome and that's when I first became truly interested in politics. Actually, I first became interested at 13. The issues that got me interested in politics was wanting more legal and finacial protection in theraputic cloning and protecting the environment and increasing industrial productivity with nuclear power. At that time, I felt that I was either a conservative democrat or independent or a moderate republican. It was the PATRIOT ACT that pushed me to the center-left and Abu Ghraib that made me a Liberal Democrat.

Actually, 17 is a good age to start voting because your future is finally being affected by the law. By that, I mean that kids planning for college should have a say in how much they will have to pay the banks for letting them barrow money for college.

[Joe Biden 2020]

18.  At that age you are a man or a woman, no longer a boy or a girl.  You become an adult at that age. 

Says who?

Anything earlier and you run a higher risk of non-voters because most 15-17 year olds probably care nothing about politics and don't watch the news at all. 

So what if many of them don't vote? A great many people above that age don't care about politics either and don't vote - that's hardly an argument to set it at 18 or any age. Indeed that's an argument towards assessment on non-age related grounds.

The law says you become an adult at midnight the morning of your 18th birthday.  Whether you act like an adult is a different story.  Heck, as you well know, there can still be 40 year olds who act like little kids and 14 year olds who act like grown, mature adults.

The issue of non-interest politics really doesn't make a whole lot of different to me, but I want to try to reduce, as best I can, the non-informed votes.  I like the fact they are voting, because it is our civil duty, but PLEASE try to know something about what your voting on.

So, I said all that to say this, I like it where it is at 18.  I could see moving it back to 17, but really not any earlier than 17 and definitely not any later than 18.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

18 - that should be the age for everything.

Drinking
Driving
Smoking
Voting
Selective Service

I agree with drinking, but not driving.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

17.

I have never understood why people call adults between 18 and 25 boys and girls or kids.  I have never understood the term "college kid".  If your in college, YOU ARE NOT A CHILD, YOU ARE AN ADULT.  Even if you are in high school, but 18 years old, YOU ARE AN ADULT.  That means I became an adult at the end of my junior year of high school.

Kid doesn't mean child. Just a relatively young person.

Drinking
Driving

You want those to have the same age? Uh, not necessarily the best idea.

18 - that should be the age for everything.

Drinking
Driving
Smoking
Voting
Selective Service

I agree with drinking, but not driving.

18 year olds SHOULDN'T be allowed to drive? What about those that have to work and don't go to college?

[Gabu]

The law says you become an adult at midnight the morning of your 18th birthday.

So the voting age should be 18 just because of an arbitrary decision someone made to place adulthood on your 18th birthday?

[Person Man]

18 - that should be the age for everything.

Drinking
Driving
Smoking
Voting
Selective Service

I agree with drinking, but not driving.

That's kinda silly.

[Hatman 🍁]

option #1. Anything else is just an arbitrary number.  I support gradually lowering the voter age though, so people get used to it.  If at any point it is deemed too low (with good reason), then we can just decide to stop there. Right now, there is absolutely no reason not to lower the age to 16.

[Ebowed]

Yeah, 16 would be fine.  The argument that turn-out will be low among younger voters is like saying we shouldn't let a racial segment of society that votes in low numbers vote either.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

option #1. Anything else is just an arbitrary number.  I support gradually lowering the voter age though, so people get used to it.  If at any point it is deemed too low (with good reason), then we can just decide to stop there. Right now, there is absolutely no reason not to lower the age to 16.

I can think of a reason: sixteen year olds.

[Reluctant Republican]

16 seems to work with me. I was already politically actice in 2004 and would have been an informed voter had I been able to vote. Then again, I was a neocon back then, so maybe I needed to age a bit before I was given the right to vote.