The Right And Freedom Of Vote

In Margaret Adsett’s article on young voters in Canada, she discusses the growing problem of low youth involvement in politics. In the paper, she tries to explain why the number of young voters has gone down from 70 per cent to 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000.

When the time finally comes and teens have the power to vote for the first time in 18 years, they do not. The Youth of Canada do not take full advantage of voting or having a say in politics at all. However, who is to blame. Even through social media, the numbers are rapidly decreasing throughout the youth turnout for voting. If old habits die hard, the future generation will not have a say in any political issue, even if it is affecting them. The youth are not involved enough as they should be in politics at school or at home. It will be hard to create that habit of going out of the way to research politicians and taking the time to choose one that will be in the interests of the country. The Canadian youth have a great potential with growing up and developing the idea that their voice makes no

In the United State there are 5.6 million people serving their time behind bars with many of their rights stripped away. Among these rights is the right to vote. Is this a right that the states can remove? This fact brings to light three main questions. First, do American inmates have the right to vote under American laws or the Constitution? Second, how would allowing inmates to vote change the face of elections? Finally, should inmates have the right to vote based on ethical premises? Today, we will attempt to answer these questions.

Though youth voter numbers have fallen over the years, it is no indication that youths are becoming less politically agile. Youths are not voting but increasingly getting involved in non-voting political activities. They are boycotting products, attending demonstrations and signing petitions. This indicates that political thought and concern continues to flare within Canadians who do not queue up at polling booths on election days. General apathy towards political parties and leaders and growing perception that politics does not address their needs is keeping voters away. It is therefore for the government, politicians and parties to take steps to rectify the situation. They need to demonstrate greater understanding of youth issues and concerns to win their confidence.

The right to vote in the United States of America has been an utmost blessing paved through by preceding generations. The ability to vote has provided many Americans the opportunity to channel their political views and elect a representative to best govern a state and/or the country. The Electoral College is a standard used to establish the President and the vice-president elect. Indirect elections are held in each state to obtain a fair representation of the people’s vote. However, for some time in history, individuals of specific races and/or gender did not possess the same privilege to vote. Furthermore, this paper will highlight the history of voting in the United Sates and the specific groups discriminated against.

In my opinion, each citizen has a civic and moral duty to vote. It is also a requirement, a responsibility, an obligation. It’s part of a bigger picture. I may speak passionately about voting rights, that’s only because as a naturalized citizen, I believe that I have been given this privilege. For me, it is certainly an honor to be able to exercise my free will to vote in this country. Conversely, being able to vote reminds me of how privileged I am in comparison to other countries, whose citizens have no freedom and/or a choice. This country certainly has come a long way, paving the way for all its citizens to be able to vote, when not so long ago, that few of America’s inhabitants could not participate in elections: among the excluded were

Since a robust voter turnout is instrumental to the functioning of a healthy democracy, the ongoing decline of youth voter turnout in Canada is highly alarming. According to the Canadian Election Study, the reported voter turnout among Canadians aged 18 to 24 dropped from 83 percent in 1974 to 60 percent in 2000 (Barnes and Virgint, 2010). The aim of this paper is to explain this decline. While it is generally accepted that people’s propensity to vote increases as they age in their “life-cycle”, it does not provide an adequate explanation for the decline of voter turnout among young Canadians. This paper argues that the decline of youth electoral participation in Canada is, by and large, “generational” in nature – it can be attributed by the underlying characteristics of the youth generation. Young Canadians are more apathetic towards the political process, have a lower level of political knowledge, and view voting as less of a moral obligation than older Canadians and young Canadians in past generations.

The right to vote has been fought for many generations both past and present. The woman’s suffrage movement ,which began in 1848, not only give women the right to vote but allowed the struggles of woman be known. During the 1950’s and 1960’s many black activist fought for fair and equal voting rights.Today, all Americans, over the age of 18, have the right to do so. Although this may be true, is it our civic duty to vote? Moreover, should Americans be required to vote? According to text 3, line 1, Some believe that mandatory voting restricts democracy while others believe it expands it. In American history, there has been a period of time when a woman and/or people of color could not vote and consequently people fought for these rights. The

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.

To begin with, teenagers below eighteen are generally not interested in politics comparing to adults. According to the results of the British Household Panel Survey in 1991 and 2001, "16 and 17 – year- olds are especially unlikely to report interest in politics" (2006, P. 543), and ”the 16 and 17-year-olds of 1991 actually became much more interested in politics when they turned 26 and 27, respectively, in 2001" (2006, P. 543). From the empirical data, Chan and Clayton draw the conclusion that adolescents have not yet fully developed political interest until their later years. (2006, P. 544) With the lack of interest in politics, teenagers in Canada will hardly vote in any elections. This makes youth enfranchisement a complete waste of time, effort and money. In addition, as teenagers tend to

A step that our political system could take to motivate young people is to encourage schools to teach them the importance of voting! Our schools spend so much time talking about the specifics and laws, but I was barely taught the importance of voting. It was just something that I was expected to know. Many people, including me, have parents to give encouragement. Others do not. I think it is important for schools to really discuss the current issues and get young kids, in high school, to discuss what they think!

Often in politics, adults have strongly-worded opinions about government and laws due to the fact that it directly affects them. Adults and parents are the ones buying gas, paying insurance, bills, mortgages, and more. Youths are not involved in politics because they aren't being affected by government just yet.

In her book, Angela Davis mentions that there were many people who disagreed with suffrage for Black men and that because they were emancipated, they were equal to white women, however, if they had the right to vote, “the vote would render Black men superior” (1981, p. 65). Although I believe that it was fair that Black men were given the right to vote, I can understand why the women felt that it was unfair, but the racism was not justifiable. Frederick Douglass mentions that “slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.” (Davis, 1981, p. 69), and that it was not to prioritize black men over women. In addition, Douglass argues that without political rights, “black people in the South would be unable to achieve any economic progress

The Democratic system has been long withstanding in many countries, we take pride in having a government that is for, by, and of the people. With a democratic system comes the right to vote; it has a sense of empowerment—the power of voting bears within itself the power of change. With a government representing the views and will of the people, voters possess a significant responsibility that is capable of impacting the nation as a whole; but when misused or mishandled, can result in undesired repercussions. In many countries, youth are granted the ability to vote at the age of 18. However, the question of whether the voting age should be reduced to 16 has been debated nationwide for numerous years. While most individuals under the age of 18 are still in school and live with their families—two factors that encourage turnout and make informed decisions (Wagner, Joahnn, Kritzinger, 2012, 372), the reasoning falls short. This is because many youth are incapable of forming their own decisions and are limited to the consent of a guardian in many aspects. Young people below the age of 18 lack the motivation, knowledge and ambition to participate in the electoral process (Zeglovits, 2013, 250) and will not challenge the government to respond to their needs (Wagner et al. 2012, 373). In addition, various accounts of research has proven to show that the brains of young adults are not fully mature until their mid twenties. Due to this, they may not be able to comprehend the

The generation which sustained democracy through and after the Second World War is dying, and the baby boom that followed is passing into old age (Youniss 99). An older generation can ignore addressing the issues of climate change, social security, and lack of cooperation among elected officials, but today’s children and youth have to deal with the consequences (98). A democratic society should worry because we are not preparing youth to engage in politics and community affairs (Syvertsen et al 593). A new electorate unwilling to act will allow these problems to continue unattended and to worsen.