Age And The Importance Of Voting In The United States

Voting has been a core part of our government since the very beginning, however, many citizens chose not to take part in this essential participation. To prevent any one person from gaining too much power voting was put in place as well as checks and balances in the system by the founding fathers. While not everything is decided by voting because our government is a Constitutional Republic, voting is by far the most important way a citizen can participate in the government. Therefore, it’s baffling that people chose not to vote. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” While we can all agree that voting is important there is a debate on whether it should be mandatory. Voting should be an optional but important way to participate in the government.

British dramatist Shakespeare once said that there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Through the ages, controversies about voting age have not quieted down, and there are more and more different opinions about voting age like it should increase to 21, or it should decrease to 17 or 16, even 13. Like a coin has two sides, each opinion has both advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, I prefer the voting age to be 18 in the United States. Teenagers who are 18 years old are independent enough to make their own decisions, and they should have the vote right as other adults do.

Education is a noticable factor to consider when examining voter turnout. Those who are less educated about politics and their rights don't vote because they simply don't understand the imporatance of their vote in the first place. The more interested a person is in politics obviously the more likey they are to vote. Wealthier people are connected and constantly encouraged and reminded that their vote is important by community leaders and politicians. They also feel as if they have more at stake when it comes to taxes and public services, therefore they feel they have more reasons to vote. Whereas people with lower incomes are underepresented, disappointed and feel like nothing seems to change, the rich just gets richer and the poor gets poorer. The same applies for the age difference amoungst voters. Older people are more politically invovled than the younger voters.

Many Americans don't vote because they think their vote doesn't count. This is a common excuse that's rooted in the belief that the Electoral College chooses the President, not the voters. In reality, the popular vote in

Lastly, another reason people do not vote is simple; they are not educated. They don’t understand how the government system works. TCHI tells that “Texans were not aware about even voting” (Texas 21). Most Texans are not informed about what the politicians are offering either. This will result in an overwhelming feeling for whom they will be voting. This is why it is essential being informed and educated about

In the article, “Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history-making moment at the polls,” by Annys Shin, many teens who are 16-17 years old can now vote during the election. The decision was made by the Takoma City Council that in Montgomery County Community, they are the first ones in the nation to lower their voting age from 18-16 years old. A group of 350 students from Montgomery Blair High School were granted the right to vote in elections and one of the student who got the right to vote, Ben Miller had said, “ It’s a valuable Privilege,” and he means that it is a great advantage that many 16-17 years old can now vote. Many young adults who are the age of 18 are most likely not a good age to vote because many of them are planning to leave their childhood homes. And they can lack of discipline and causes them not to vote.

In chapter one, Wattenberg discusses the declining trends of Americans who regularly read newspapers between the 1960’s and present day. This can be attributed the aging patterns among generations who frequently read newspapers as well as with the use of technology rising. Reading the newspaper is a habit that either is or is not developed by the time one reaches voting age. With this, newspapers have become an older generation’s primary source of information, however, are still the best source for political matters. Younger generations tend to be more computer literate and have grown up with television and media more accessible to them than the previous generation. These trends not only reflect in American culture, but in other countries

Five reasons against 18-year-olds having the right to vote are, Numerous individuals contend that 18-year-olds are not keen and deceived. This stems from the secondary school dropout rate in specific locales and the measure of graduates who don 't wind up going to an organization of advanced education. In a great deal of locales of just Ohio, the dropout rate is fundamentally higher than different spots. For

Looking at the voter turnout by education, we find that the more educated someone is, the more like that he/she would vote, because education makes people know the process of voting and the change they can make by voting.

The biggest legal barrier to voting is that all states require voters to be U.S. citizens. Additionally, millions of adults work and may even pay taxes, but cannot vote until they are “naturalized” as citizens which is a process that can take years to

Voting can be said to be one of the most valuable privileges anyone can have in any country. Everyone might have a voice, but that does not mean every voice is heard. Voting is one of the surest ways the voice of the people, along with their demands, is heard. Throughout history though, not everyone had a voice or a chance to vote. It was not until the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments came along, that ensured African Americans the right to vote. Even then, whites made voting a difficult task by setting up voting barriers such as: white primaries, poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause, which not only impeded African Americans from voting, but also uneducated, poor whites. Nowadays those barriers do not exist yet most citizens who are eligible to vote do not. The question asked is why? There are many factors that influence who votes and who does not, as well as

The right to vote for American citizens is the fifteen amendment of the United States constitution. In this amendment, no citizen may be deny to vote base on color or race. For this, many more citizens of the United States are able to vote, even if they are a minority. However, the United States does not have a high turnout rate on elections. As a result, voter participation has an effect on public policies; additionally, Americans do not have a strong ethical duty to vote. Therefore, politicians have the power to change concepts in the government. Nonetheless, Americans do not make voting a larger concern as other citizens from other country to vote.

One factor why a teenager can not vote in the United States can be because they lack in maturity. According to NPR, "It's not that they don't have a frontal lobe. And they can use it. But they're going to access it more slowly,” in other words, teenagers are not capable enough to mature (Cox, 2011). As a teenager begins to grow their brains do too and the frontal lobe increases its speed.

The characteristics of people who are likely to vote are those that have a higher-than-average education. Additionally, young adults are less likely to vote since they do not follow politics regularly and the minorities in race as well as ethnicity are less likely to vote. Not to mention that women vote at a slightly lower rate than men as well as not married people. Lastly, people

Young adults in current times have grown up with many rights that have not always been considered a right but instead a privilege. Voting is one of these rights that was once only considered a privilege, eligible for a particular gender and ethnicity. For many years this meant that the only group of people allowed to vote were white males. Today, things are different and everyone has the choice to vote after they reach the age of eighteen. The right to vote is a powerful right that we must take advantage of because not every country is lucky enough to have a say in their government. Today, in America we have the opportunity to decide if we would like to vote or not. Many Americans take pride in this right as it is considered a civic duty that has not always been eligible to everyone.