Argumentative Essay: Keeping The Voting Age

The voting age should be increased to 19 or 21 years of age. Most 18 year olds have just graduated or are still in highschool, so many of them are immature,and lack life experience. In addition, many 18 year olds do not have a plan(s) after high school, so if they can’t make a decision about their future what makes people think that they can make an informed decision about the future of the country. However, there are some states like Ohio that are allowing seventeen year olds to vote in primaries.

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.

They can make immature choices regarding politics and at the same time not really care about politics activities. It is normal that teens can be irrational, unreasonable and complain about things because they are still in their process of maturation and growing up. Still, when it comes to voting it can risky that they could be given the right to vote at that age because they might not think about their impulsive decisions or the consequences of their decisions when it comes to politics activities. They get distracted by everything and focus more on technology and relationships in school; therefore, they are still maturing. People at the age of 16 are not mature enough, they do not pay attention of their consequences of their choices. They might not make serious decisions about many stuff because they think they are not adults yet. This might change a little be more when they turn 18 years old , they might have matured a little be more and if not, they are self-aware that at 18 years old they are seen as adults and expect from them to act as adults and make serious decisions. According to article, “Current voting age in US should not be lowered” by Vanessa Way, concluded, “If we can’t confidently trust a 16 year old to drive a vehicle, how could we trust them to make an informed decision about voting on the highest political positions in the country?... The fact is, most adult Americans don’t understand how the government works or how the people they vote into office affects it. They are just as easily influenced by the politicians as teenagers are…However, if we can’t trust these kids to look after themselves, how can we trust them to make responsible decisions for our country? Their vote affects us, too.” Adolescence in general, most of them do not understand their consequences of their act and most of the time they do not think before

Another reason I think the voting age should not change is because 16 year olds are not as

Imagine a time where teenagers are allowed to vote on important positions or issues that could possibly define our nation’s future. The average teenager may seem responsible, but would they be able to handle the responsibility of deciding our nation’s fate in the world as well as their own. In the article, “ Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history making moment at the polls,” Annys Shin, who writes in depth about the historical event as well as shares valued opinions of those who participated in the making of this event, exclaims that the, “ Montgomery County community [was] the nation’s first to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.” This seems to be a test to determine if the nation should lower the voting age completely. However, this test shows varying results, but majority seem to shed some light on the fact that teenagers simply should not take part in voting. The average teenagers seem too young to be mature about issues, are uninterested in what major decisions are made by the government, and are simply being used by their parentals for an extra person support their own beliefs.

The current minimum age for voting, 18 years old, isn't a very good time to start allowing people to vote. When people turn 18, they have plenty of things to worry about. They're (hopefully) moving out of their childhood homes, and they're (probably) going into college. How does that affect their abilities to vote? Well, people are less likely to vote when their lives are disrupted. Eighteen-year-olds have a lot of things

Only 53.6% of eligible voters vote, leaving 46.4% not voting (“Political Participation in the US”). This 46.4% of people do not believe their votes count. They believe that the Electoral College system cancels out their votes and that the government will not listen anyway. People think that nothing will change due to the incumbency rate in Congress. That is where the people do not see what is really happening. Americans do not vote enough, so they cannot possibly make a change in government when they are not exercising one of their most powerful rights. Citizens of other countries yearn for the right to vote and Americans who fought so hard for this right do not even use it. “US voting rates are among the lowest in the developed world” (“Political Participation in the US”). Young people should be concerned with this issue. Because America has a democratic form of government, political participation is necessary, everyone’s vote counts, and corrections in government can only be made by the people first.

If maturity is the issue, it important to take into account that 16 year olds are just as informed as 18 year olds (in some cases more so). In fact there could be many 20, 30, or even 40 year olds who are irresponsible, do not make informed decisions and are clueless; this does not mean we deny them the right vote. Just because they are older necessarily does not mean they know everything in detail about politics because they have more life experience and can make better informed judgements than a 16 year old.

America has been built on the idea that as citizens, we have the choice to decide what is the best for our country. Millions of Americans cast their vote every election day to make sure their voices are heard on who is going to run their country and what new policies they will bring with them. As stated in Anny Shin’s article, “Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history-making moment at the polls,” voting is a, “valuable privilege,” in which many don’t realize. In the United States, not every is allowed to vote, only 18-year old citizens are allowed to vote. However the number of 18-year olds voting is very low and this has been an issue in the political for quite a while. The concerns and desires of most millennials are not being expressed as many are not voting. Many, like the city of Takoma have proposed to allow 16 and 17-year olds to vote as they believe that voting among millennials will increase.

In my position I agree to lower the age of voting to 16-17 years old because it can raise up the percentage of voting. Many people are not voting because they don't believe it can help them and their community also with the support from 16-17 years old, it can show a huge difference on how the votes are increasing little by little. Also it can gives them experience on what's the voting like. Once they get older, they will know what to do because they registered the vote in an

First, I think that the voting age is appropriate. You are 18 when you can vote and you are considered an adult. Furthermore, you are considered an adult at 18 in 47 states, so you should be able to vote for who is the president. When you are 18, you should be mature enough to take voting passionately. I think that voting needs to be taken seriously, and you need to make sure you are researching

In my opinion, I feel as though the voting age should stay at 18 and not be changed to 21. One of the reasons why the voting age should stay at 18 is because regardless of your age everyone's voice and opinion should be heard and everyone deserves an opportunity to be able to vote. Also if the voting age were to be increased to 21, the participation rate for voting would decrease significantly. Everybody says how important it is to vote so why should 18,19 and 20-year-olds not be included? If the voting age was raised, it would make things worse, and it wouldn't be right for them to not take part in voting for our political future. Many people may underestimate the younger age groups and may not see them as mature enough to take part in voting.

The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1971, giving eight-teen year olds the right to vote. Forty four years later the voting age still remains set at eight-teen but is it time for a change?

“Even a small amount could make a difference” ( Miller). Thus saying that those 90 preadolescents alone could incidentally cause either miss-representation or unjust voting; thus, these kids will not be able to politically identify themselves based on their beliefs since most will be heavily influenced by both their parents’ and their peers’ desires and beliefs. Although an increase in voting is needed, lowering the age range is not the answer. Politicians could try other methods such as “having an issue on the ballot, and having the resident decide,” says Schultz. Simply lowering the voting age to say, “ we were the first” will not justify the consequences. So overall, no, sixteen and seventeen year olds should not be allowed to

Why vote? This is a major question among many young Americans today. America's youth, does not take the time to read articles, observe the news, or pay attention to presidential debates and campaigns due to their busy schedules. This creates two problems. First, young voters have little knowledge of current issues in the election. Also as a result, they are unaware of the importance of voting. Each presidential election stirs up an old controversy of whether to vote or not to vote. There are many young people who think that voting is not important; I believe that it is. By voting you are exercising your right as an American to voice your opinion, and young Americans need to become aware of this.