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Pros And Cons Of Lowering The Voting Age

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The proposal to change the voting age is nothing new. In the United States, this heated debate goes all the way back to WWII, coinciding with the decision by President Roosevelt to lower the draft age from 21 to 18. The response was overwhelmingly negative, sparking the slogan “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” (Birnbaum 2020). At this time, the voting age was also 21. With the signing of the 26th amendment by President Nixon in 1971, the request to lower the voting age was approved and the debates died down - for a short time. Today, the proposal is to lower the voting age even further, from 18 to 16. If approved, this proposal would have many impacts across the country, changing everything from levels of civic engagement to the outcome …show more content…

Logically, lowering the voting age would result in at least a slight increase in voter turnout, simply because a wider amount of people would be able to vote. But it might not be as big of a change as some would expect or want. As seen throughout history, just because people are able to vote does not mean that they will vote. Through the course of several elections, the percentage of voters under 30 has fluctuated, ranging from 39% in 2016 to 50% in 2020 (Tufts, 2021). These fluctuations are caused by many factors, such as the competitiveness of the election, the level of the election, and the political views of the candidates (Frame, 2022). This means that the voting age is not the only factor in the voting turnout, and so changing the voting age would not definitively increase the civic participation of teens or the percentage of voters in the United States. However, this does not mean that lowering the voting age would not have any impact on these factors, either. As seen in recent years, the number of teen activists, teen civic participation and political engagement has been on the rise. This means that lowering the voting age is about as likely to have an impact on voter turnout in the United States as it is to have no effect or a limited

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US senate lowers voting age to 18 On March 10th, 1971, U.S senate lowered the voting age to 18. Richard Nixon was the senate who made a law on lowering the voting age to 18. He also made the 26th amendment stating, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” Georgia was the first state to lower their voting age. A lot of teenagers started voting after this change was made.

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There were many characters in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird that were victims of stereotyping. Some of these characters include Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson. Scout is often stereotyped by her Aunt Alexandra, and by her neighbor, Mrs. Dubose for not being ladylike. Usually, Scout is wearing overalls, and is outside throughout the day with her brother Jem, and her friend Dill, instead of following the expectation for a lady and wearing dresses, and doing housework. Scout is aware of the stereotype that is held against her.

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Hey jackson! I completely agree what you said in your discussion. The low voter turnout should not be worried about and that it is a good thing in general. The people should not vote if they are not interested or are not educated on the election. As you said, If you introduce and educate the people on politics this should help the low voter turnout in time.

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At the age of 18, one has new rights associated with being independent. One also has new responsibilities and are held personally accountable for their actions. The new rights that come along with being 18 lead into the topic of the 26th amendment. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

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Since the 26th amendment there was already a small number of young voters voting. This was commented on in the article where Shin states that “They typically go to the polls in much smaller numbers than their elders.” This has been a trend seen in about every election ever since the 26th amendment was made. They hope that this new age limit will bring a better connection to younger teens and get them into a habit of voting for the rest of their lives (Shin). There was a study done to show that after 21 days of doing an activity, it becomes a habit.

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Nowadays, the young generations are not aware of how important it is to go out to a poll and vote. Without the votes, voter turnout will continue to decline. The citizens should be more aware of what is going on, fight for their beliefs and issues, and make a

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Given the general dejection that faces this state political process currently, changing the voting age to 16 and upward will really get young people thrilled. Allowing 16- years old and upward the right to vote while still living with their parents would encourage a habit that will continue once they leave their nest. Teenagers who come from a non-politically active household tend to take on their parents political views, if such teenagers sees other teenagers participating in a local election, they would be encouraged to turn out putting behind their inherited non political participation views from their parents. Teenagers are the future of the states, the voting age adult who don’t turn out during election will soon expire and the youth who will eventually make it an habit to go vote will replace

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521 Words | 3 Pages

If the age was lowered to vote, i think many kids would take advantage of their

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In the book Allegory of the Cave, Socrates was talking with Glaucon and he began to explain how light and darkness are found within the nature of a human. In order to provide a better explanation Socrates created an image. This image was a dark den in which many humans were chained from the hands, feet and neck since they were children. These chains kept these prisoners from moving and allowed them to see only a wall of the den. Behind them there was fire, which was the only source of light in the place.

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For example, if the electorate consists mainly of older voters, politicians will focus on the issues important to them at the expense of issues important exclusively to younger people. In conclusion, voting is an important part of being an active American citizen. It’s the one chance for each person to register their opinion about politics and how they believe the country should proceed. Statistics demonstrate a slight change in the number of voters can have a major impact on the outcomes of an election. When people consider the influence

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504 Words | 3 Pages

For over 30 years the age has remained the same at 21 and has worked just fine. People 's lives would become more dangerous than it already is if the age was lowered. Not only that, everyone, including the state, would be hurt by lowering the drinking age. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.

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Many statistics change over the years, however, one that has been steadily decreasing is the voter turnout. Which is odd considering the overall population has increased roughly 3.3 million every year. Many theories have been proposed to attempt and increase these numbers and encourage more people to vote, but none have really been put into action. There must be a better way. First lets cover possible reasons why the turnout has decreased.

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The ongoing debate about the drinking age is a close one. Some say that lowering it will bring disastrous consequences; others say keeping it the same is not doing any good. Yet, most of these opinions are from much older adults that have no idea the way the younger adults perceive things. It is important for the opinions of these younger voices to be heard as well, seeming as they will be most affected. As I am apart of such a generation, I must say that I am for lowering the drinking age.

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Imagine your 16 year old self. Would you not want to be voting in elections and make the right decisions towards politics? States in America are already lowering the age when you can vote to 16. Turn out of US voters below 25 at presidential elections fell from 50% in 1972 to 38% in 2012. The Asia-Pacific Economics Blog notes the young demographic is some of the most engaged, and by extending it to a younger age could fuel their passion for many years.

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On the other hand, many people who want the voting age to remain the same claim that at age 16 or 17 there’s no burning issues to motivate or interest teenage voters. If the justification for lowering the voting age was to to boost voter turnout there was plenty of other solutions presented in the article. Shin states“Other possible changes include same-day registration, allowing paroled felons to vote, and giving candidates easier access to apartment buildings to campaign.” This only reinforces the importance of young voters to Council members because as stated in the article, “reports from Denmark suggest that younger teenagers are more likely to cast a ballot than slightly older peers.” At such a young age teenagers are taught to take action and strive towards creating a better future for themselves and starting at grassroots level with municipal elections in my opinion is the perfect way to start.

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