Would you favor lowering the voting age to 16?

I think there are lots of responsible sixteen year olds--why not? those who are not responsible probably wouldn't vote anyway, just like any other age group.

Lines would be even longer.

and lines are too long right now, then doesn't it follow that we should raise to voting age to 25?

No thanks!

:hide:

repub parents or grandparents.

influenced by their parents :eyes: But they're generally the ones who still live at home with mommy and daddy.

influenced by Mom and Dad. I was very uninformed then. I pulled the lever for President only because the candidate shares a birthday with me.

Looking back, it was the right decision. Too bad the Supreme Court did not agree with me on that.

My parents aren't really too into politics. I started supporting Obama before I found out they supported him. Although I guess I should have figured. They've been life-long supporters of democratic ideology and have hated Bush with a passion through both terms. I love my parents :)

...some young voters could have helped head off a * presidency after hearing his '99 promise to invade Iraq--before they reached enlistment age.

Although our teens tend to be woefully undereducated, it's not entirely a bad idea to let them help form the government they're about to have to live under.

I see no compelling reason to keep the voting age as it is ....

I see no compelling reason to raise the voting age ....

For bthe same reason they cannot marry, join the military or enter into any other legal contract: They're not ready.

sorry. I wouldn't want to give them the vote just because a few are mature enough or informed enough.

so that a person has had to work, pay some bills and taxes, budget expenses etc.

Why extend the vote to some one who thinks that everything comes from mom and/or dad or the government?

For example the people of Florida has proven they are unfit for the franchise. There are many other examples.

I was politically active when I was 14. And not allowing people younger than 18 to vote is a form of age discrimination. It may be the next big battleground in the sphere of human rights.

I'm sure you were an informed and active in politics at 14, I was working in the LBJ campaign at 10, but that doesn't mean I was "informed" as in able to really study the issues and make an informed decision on my own.

Not to 16, to 18. 16 year olds don't have full rights. Full citizenship rights should all start at the same age.

If a teen is old enough to die in a war, he/she is old enough to go have a beer before deploying.

The military is a young mans game. I signed up at 18. No one recruited me, I walked in to the recruiting office and said sign me up and give me infantry. At 21, I would be less likely to join the military.

I would prefer they let their hormones settle out for a little while before giving them a gun and sending them half-way around the world to keep the peace.

I was a good kid, got good grades, didn't get into trouble. But I had no political sense. I didn't think about issues much.

I don't see the problem in lowering the age to 16.

And I believe in mandatory sterilization for repulicans.

I think the limit at 18 makes sense:

It is the age of majority for just about everything else in our society.

In theory you have the minimum basic education (a high school diploma) at this point to make an informed choice.

I think it is just fine at 18.

Doug D.

Maybe with an exception for going to school or work.

There are some responsible 16-year-olds out there for sure, but most of them are very naive.

Leave it at 18.

I have been trying to remember the name of that stupid movie for years, and normally reliable Google failed me. You wouldn't believe how the inability to remember that silly bit of trivia has vexed me. You are my hero of the day.

AND Shelley Winters, in one of her delicious over the top hammy performances.

AND Ed Begley tripping ON LSD. :-)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063808/plotsummary

I don't think so.

should check it out. :)

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so why would we want to give it to teenagers? Sure, SOME of them would know why they were voting for whomever, but far too many aren't even close to being ready for that.

I wasn't (and am not) any sort of genius, but I sincerely believe I already knew more about politics at that age than the average adult American. And yeah, I realize that isn't saying much... I guess I'm still just bitter that a couple of my friends were old enough to vote for the Idiot Son of an Asshole when I was still 17 and couldn't cast my vote for Gore. (I did write the endorsement for Al for my high school paper, though, so woo hoo! haha.)

Really, though, even realizing that there are a small percentage of well-informed and/or politically involved Americans that should be able to vote who are getting shut out of the process, I think it's best to keep the age where it is. Not as any sort of punishment to smart, politically active 17 year olds, but just because you kind of have to draw the line somewhere and keeping the voting age in line with the age at which one can serve in the military seems consistent. I don't embrace the argument that 16 and 17 year olds are notably less informed on political matters than 18 and 19 year olds, though... There are plenty of people who are already quite well informed as high schoolers and others who will go their grave ignorant about political matters. Many may actually be more up on things in their high school years than they will ever be again. if only out of necessity; being aware of what's going on around you is largely up to you.

There may be some responsible 16-year-olds, but most are not.

and are you joking? For what reason? No. Just no.

Voting rights are a privilege of adulthood, so the age limit should remain 18.

and end voting rights at 65!

They're all out of touch with the new way!

:sarcasm:

18 is a good voting age.

I'm tired of reading about mass loss of life being traced back to a teenage driver text-messaging while driving! Sixteen years old?!? Give me a BREAK!

Sixteen is not old enough to be making independent decisions that affect the direction of our country or the lives of others, imo.

Voting age 16 to 40 sounds about right.

I would definitely say NO to age 16. At this age, students have not had the requisite coursework to fully understand the nation and it governmental structure. There is ALSO that immaturity issue.

I have friends with 16 and 17 year old children that are much more knowledgable about politics and U.S. government than some that are in their 20s.

So, keep the standard voting age at 18, but maybe add provisional voting for 16 and 17 year olds that can pass a governmental and America knowledge test similar to the one that is administered to immigrants trying to become U.S. citizens.

"How many branches of government are there? Name them."

"Which branch of Government does the President belong to?"

"How many U.S. Supreme Court justices are there? Who is currently the Chief Justice?"

"How many U.S. Senators are there? Name the Senators from your home state and their party affiliations."

"How many U.S. House Representatives are there? Name the one from your area and his/her party affiliation."

"Describe the First Amendment"

"Describe the Second Amendment"

"Describe the Fourth Amendment"

"Describe the Tenth Amendment"


etc. etc. etc.

18 seems just right to me.

While I'm sure there are some politically active 16-year-olds, I think the majority of them are really not well enough informed or interested to vote. And I agree they would probably just vote for whomever their parents voted for.

until 11th or 12th grade.

I would prefer to have voters who are more likely to have had a high school level US History course, and even better, a Civics course.

A change like that needs a compelling argument; "Why not?" doesn't cut it.

There are enough rational, intelligent people at that age who should be allowed to participate in the political process.

Teenagers have difficulties with impulse control, not with broad political judgment. The driving and drinking ages should probably be raised. The voting age should be lowered.

Edit: Also, in a sense, it is less important. Say 10% of teenagers lack both the judgment to vote and the judgment to sign contracts. Let them vote; not much will change, because the numbers are just not high enough. Let them sign contracts, and that's a lot of people who might make rather self-destructive decisions.

The voting age now coincides with being a legal adult and being able to enter (although sixteen year olds can enter some, i.e employment) contracts, enter military service, right to marry without consent. I assuming (i know what they say about assuming) that when you are 18 and voting you have more at stake.

It is assumed that parents are making decisions that would be best not only for them but also for their children. I think if a 16 year old really wants to get in on the process they should try and exert influence over their parents by letting them know that when they walk into that booth they are voting on their behalf as well.

During the course of this election there were many people that weren't old enough to vote that offered significant amounts of help. One 15 year old has mapped his future. He plans on finishing high school, going to college, majoring in political science and then running for a local office. I assume from there he will go on to bigger things.

The one exception to what I have written abpve is if that 16 year old has been emancipated.

Also, if you lower the voting age to sixteen then why not lower it to 14 or 13.

As for raising the voting age...I am gonna pass on that as well.

...be able to vote.

a smart boy I don't see him anywhere NEAR being ready to make a intelligent well considered vote. I have hope that by 18 he'll have enough going on to make an informed choice.

We've spent this past year getting he and his younger sister involved in things. We took them to the caucus, the poll training we attended, we've have Hardball, Countdown and Rachel on every night and discussed everything as it unfolded during the campaign. But their analytical skills are still underdeveloped (thank you NCLB).

:rofl:

Hell, I say we get rid of the age restriction altogether. As long as you can prove you're actually capable of understanding the issues...

but they've volunteered enthusiastically for the Obama campaign.

It feels wrong to me to let them volunteer with us, work with us, and fight with us to make this country better, but not let them have the vote.

Sixteen it is! They let kids drive cars at 16, don't they?

Just no.

I think 18 should be the age of adulthood in absolutely every respect, from driving to contracts to voting to serving to drinking.

18 year olds can't buy alcohol. Yet they can vote. How realistic is it then to extend voting rights to people without even minimal adult rights other than driving an automobile?

I'd lower it to 8.

responsible 13 year old as well.

Uh...no.

For the same reason kids shouldn't enter college right after high school; they are not ready. Kids' perception of reality comes from eight hours a day of television watching and sophomoric movies. (Although, if they spent eight hours a day watching LinkTV, I might be swayed.)

Regardless, at sixteen years old children do not have the social awareness required to cast a thoughtful ballot. They may not have it at eighteen (or 48, for that matter), but since that is the age for most "adult" things, voting should be at eighteen as well.

by then.

A line should be drawn and adhered to. This willy nilly sometimes 18 sometimes 21 sometimes 12 is for a backward society.

NO