Persuasive Essay On The Voting Age

Since 1972, youth voter turnout has been on the decline. According to the Child Trends Databank, 50 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 participated in the 1972 presidential election (2015). Nearly three decades later, the percentage of young adults aged 18 to 24 who voted in the 2000 presidential election had dropped eighteen

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.

For most teenagers turning 16 means an opportunity to drive without supervision and starting college. A new campaign is hoping to give these teenagers the ability to vote in local elections. The Vote16USA aims to reduce the age of voting from the current age of 18 to 16. The objective of this campaign is to promote the participation of youth in politics. The campaign has ignited debate over issues such as the competency of their decision making and whether allowing people as young as 16 is the best way to engage the youth.

Voting is possibly one of the greatest civic duties that individuals can do for their government; by going out and intellectually voting for a candidate that represents themselves and those like-minded. However, it has become tradition in the United States for the American youth to vote in far less numbers compared to the rest of the eligible voters. According to a study done by Harvard University, young adults have not only have lower voter participation compared to the older population, but their participation had been gradually falling overall from 1968 to 2004. Consequently, this long standing practice has led to issues with underrepresentation of America’s youth and in my opinion has aided in the gradual fall of voter participation overall now and will lead to an even increased fall in the future.

In the Persuasive argument, “16:The Right Voting Age”, the National Youth Rights Association they claim that 16 years old can vote. The National Youth Rights Association states “Teens are already treated like adults for example, 16-year-old can drive legally in many states.Also, young people can be tried for serious crimes as adults”(451). The National Youth Rights Association are insisting that teenagers can drive car and if did something wrong they will get a punishment. My claim is similar to The National Youth Rights Association; however, it differs in that teens are treated like adults, adolescents do not have the same responsibility that adults have. In addition, According to The National Youth Rights Association,

US society is made up of dozens of rules for kids and teens, providing age limits for a long list of activities, including drinking alcohol and driving a car. The voting age is one of these age limits, and has been a topic of debate for many years. The anonymous author(s) from The Economist believe that lowering the voting age to 16 would be beneficial in increasing the low percentage of under-25 voters, as well as boosting political activity throughout their lives. They attempt to convince the readers of The Economist that the voting age should be lowered, using elevated diction, a rhetorical question, and facts to back up their claims, creating an overall scholarly tone.

“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

Giving suffrage to people 16 and older would have a net negative effect; the age of suffrage should stay at 18. Not only would it lower voter percentages, given that, as stated in paragraph 3 of "Keep the Voting Age at 18," "only 38% of voters in the 18 - 24 age group voted in 2012," and the younger the person, the less interest they have in politics, but it also would skew the results unfairly. The news media and even some teachers have a tendency to project their personal views, whether implicitly or not, left or right, onto their viewers and students, instead of reporting the facts and both sides of the argument and letting their viewers and students decide for themselves. I've seen examples of this in my schools, where teachers will give a student a failing grade for

For example, Ben Miller, 16 year old Takoma Park City resident, believes that this opportunity to vote is in fact a “valuable privilege” bust as well admitted that “he has no burning issue motivating him”. If Miller, were to vote at an appropriate age, he would be able to experience the real world and view the outside issues that occur. Takoma Park officials had as well been dealing with low voter turnout, which eventually led to council member Tim Male questioning “How to get more voter turnout?”, which led to lowering the voting age. What official failed to notice, is that as long as there is no virtual punishment for not casting a vote, citizens will continue to neglect

In the article “ Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16,” Laurence Steinberg asserts that teenagers deserve “ more than just a voice to make a change” but a right to vote (Steinberg). He elaborates on how teenagers are qualified to vote because their minds are fully developed enough to make good choices. Steinberg believes that teenagers have the responsibility to vote because currently the teens right now are having a “ thoughtful, eloquent protest.”

Some may argue that the result of the voting is representing the product of free opinion, and the result might be ruined if teenagers get involved. They believe that the free opinion may be impacted by the young people’s lack of competence for the vote. Hence they may be swayed to vote for a candidate in an undemocratic way. This has led to the opponents in the Western Democratic States to transform the voting rights of the youths from a human rights concern to a social policy concern. I disagree with this view, because the young people have a constitutional right to go to the ballot and cast their votes regardless of their political knowledge or competence, as recent research by Gadda, (2008) has declared, an individual having sixteen years and above is rational, responsible, adequately mature, civically ready to practice free, independent, and informed vote.

The idea that 16 year-olds should vote has been discussed and freshly taken back into consideration. It is not the initial time it has been recommended the United States should modify its guidelines concerning the age one can vote, drink alcohol or join the military. Until 1920, only white men were given the right to vote. There were decades of fighting for the right to vote to be given to African Americans and women. So clearly, the right to vote for all hasn’t always been an established human right in America. Teen drivers have historically been the most reckless drivers. If we can’t confidently trust a 16 year old to drive a vehicle, how is it a good idea to give them the right to vote on the highest political positions in the country? It

The relationship between young people and voting has become an increasingly complex matter. Most younger people, if living on their own, simply do not have the time to vote; while older persons may get to live off their 401k plans in relative comfort, when you're working a 60+ hour week, things like voting can slip one's mind. Opening up voting to 16 year olds- old enough to form an opinion, young enough to freely act on it- would help to resolve this issue. Despite the implications of the "Keep the Voting Age at 18" article, young people do not, in fact, live under rocks. In fact, we're often the ones most vulnerable to suffering under the capricious whims of the U.S. Government. This has, as they say, screwed us over. Those who choose to go to college get crushed by student loans, and those who don't often miss out on career opportunities. As we grew up,

Lack of knowledge would control a portion of the lower aged voters. Most teens pay little to no attention to what is going on with politics. The promises made by the canidates, or most importantly the future our nation holds from the different choices between each canidate. It can be granteed that a teenager

Just like most ideas, there are reasonable doubts along with valid points. In this case, one article is pushing towards keeping the voting age at 18, while the other is focused on lowering the voting age. It looks to me that the over-all objective is to increase voter participation. Which makes sense on both sides, the more people who vote, the greater the chance of chosing the right potential canidate. But, everything must have some sort of structure and rules. Therefore there is reason and importance to the specific rule that states you must be 18 or older to vote.