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Voting age to be lowered?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
A report from the Electoral Commission to the Government calls for the minimum age for voting and standing for Member of Parliament, to be lowered from 18 to 16. The recommendation has come amidst concerns about voter apathy and disillusionment with national politics. Gordon Brown has signified he may support the Commision's idea.
Will young people benefit from participation at a lower age? the issue being at which stage of a person's intellectual and social development are they adult enough to be included in the democratic process of the nation. Whether Britain should include every youngster who reaches 16?
Will young people benefit from participation at a lower age? the issue being at which stage of a person's intellectual and social development are they adult enough to be included in the democratic process of the nation. Whether Britain should include every youngster who reaches 16?
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Comments
I don't think it should be lowered at all. Even next year when I am 18 I won't bother to vote mostly because I have no idea about the groups and everything and I don't want to screw up proper votes with me voting for the youngest and fittest politiciany guy I can find.
I don't think I am mature enough yet to vote, never mind at 16. It's a bit of a pointless change - perhaps they should concentrate on changing important issues.
If the age were 16 then this sort of attitude could be diminished. Fair enough not to care about voting, but tarring people who do (or who could if the age were lowered) 'geeks' is the usual snotty nonsense.
The National Lottery is 16, right? Then there's no question.
Ignorant as it may sound, but what's the difference between voting Tories and Labour nowadays? The lines are no blurred as far as I can see.
Driving? (and I guess pilots licensces).
Also as a member of the armed forces you can't be deployed on active service until you're eighteen (though you can join).
On moving voting age to sixteen can't say I worry either way - it will be peripheral on increasing the voting numbers and there's not many people who are politically engaged at eighteen who weren't at sixteen.
Didn't they just increase the age you can buy tobacco at to 18?
I think they should pick an age (16, 17 or 18) to make everything legal, drinking, gambling, voting, driving, smoking and marrying.
The current inconsistent laws are rather daft. 16 years olds can have babies and jobs, but aren't considered mature enough to drink, gamble or vote.
If it was up to me it would be 18 for everything.
It takes a few years of work e.t.c. to get rid of them.
In some cases I will be proven wrong, i accept that quite happily, but not always, and certainly not the majority.
I also think 16 year olds are too young and immature :yuck:
Voters are apathetic because it's a choice between the rich guy who likes wasting money and invading other and countries and hates people who need the government's help and the rich guy who likes wasting money and invading other countries and hates people who need the government's help. It really comes down to do you prefer red or blue? Red was my favourite colour as a kid so I might as well go with that one, although blue is supposed to be a good colour for the living room.....
16 year olds will be affected by the decisions the government make as much as anyone, in some cases more than older people. Do you think the government would have introduced top up fees if 16 years olds were able to vote a few years ago? The chances are it wouldn't have been considered.
Of course they would, not only will 16 year olds not vote, but its the mums and dads who largely pay the top up fees and they vote now.
But the other issue is that I think it's important for there to be a certain standard throughout Europe on this issue, since we could all be voting on the same issues.
The fact that the immaturity argument was used against women, the working class and 18 year-olds getting the vote doesn't mean it doesn't apply to 16 year-olds. Does the argument apply to anyone or should we allow children and toddlers(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/2275407/Germany-plans-to-give-vote-to-babies.html) to have the vote as well? The "16 year olds are affected by the decisions of the government" argument pretty much applies to everybody of every age living in the UK.
http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk/howdoijoin/canijoin/Pages/EntryRequirements.aspx
But it doesn't apply to 16 year olds. Like Jim V said, you're allowed to pay tax and be a soldier at 16 so you should be able to vote.
If we're discussing the idea of being able to vote when you're mature enough to I think it completely depends on the individulal. Some people would probably be mature enough to vote at 14, others are 40 and still not mature enough to vote.
16 year olds are expected to contribute to society in many of the ways that an 18 year old contributes, so they should have a say in how society is governed.
Why not actually give people something to vote for in the first place? Currently, we're stuck with Fuhrer Brown, a control freak who tries to be Prime Minister and Chancellor at the same time, and fails miserably at both jobs. But what else have we got? We've got David Cameron, the man who views himself as the "heir to Blair", promising us more of the same. We've got Nick Clegg, possibly the most useless leader the Lib Dems have ever had. Give Vince Cable the job - he slaughtered the government over their handling of Northern Rock, now The People's Bank. Being criticised by Nick Clegg is like being licked to death by an overly-friendly Dalmatian.
Vote? Don't bother!
This topic was supposed to be about whether 16 and 17 year olds should be able to vote and what sort of influence their vote might have, but it seemed to become an issue of current politician slamming again.
If you're talking about tax, then why 16? I had a weekend job at 15 and worked pretty much full time in the holidays so got taxed. Do you suggest lowering it to 15 in that case?
Tax? I've yet to meet or hear of a 16 year old who pays anywhere near the amount of tax the rest of us have to pay.
Marriage, they need parental consent so they're not free to marry anyone they want.
we're not saying someone at 16 is too stupid or immature to vote, just lacking in life experience. And a 16 year old is a child. Not an adult.
Your parents are responsible for any financial mess you might get into, you can't fight on the front lines, you can't drive, you can't work in a myriad of jobs, you can't be sent to adult prison e.t.c. e.t.c.
So you're saying 17?
I just think that its only after you've left school that you (in most cases not all) start catching a glimpse of the world around you and not just what is in the headlines.
Though I would be interested to hear how much lowering the age would increase the voter turn-out, as someone else said I doubt that it would add a great deal to the lot already voting.