Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System
If we take into consideration of how voting in another country, that allows people younger than 18 to vote, then we could see how it has impacted their elections when younger voters cast a ballot. I believe that it's not fair that other countries allow younger voters to vote and the U.S doesn't, even though there is statistics to prove that younger voters will vote. In Denmark, they allow voters under 18 to vote and prove that younger voters will most likely cast a ballot than other people who aren't that much older than them. As evidence from, “ Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history making moment at the polls” by Anny Shin when she writes, “ Richie had seen reports from Denmark that suggested younger teenagers are more likely to cast a ballot than their slightly older peers”. The city of Takoma is making a statement by allowing voters under 16 to vote and if it shows some positive effect from their elections, then why can't the rest of the U.S allow voters under 18 to vote.
Who wanted Brexit? Who voted for Brexit? The main support for Brexit came from a coalition party who was less educated, less financially successful and backed by older conservative voters who saw immigrants as a burden and felt left behind by modern life. These left-behind voters who supported Brexit they did not think of economy of their country. However there is not enough evidence that the leave vote was mainly determined by the desire of taking back the nations control from EU or by the voters who blames EU for their financial and social
The legal voting age in the UK is 18 years old. However 16 year olds can get a full time job, pay taxes and can also leave school. So should they be allowed to vote as well?
In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.
A democracy is participation of the people, the citizens. It means that the citizens decide who will govern them, who will represent them. In other words, a democracy is built on the principles of equality and representation. So when women were denied the right to vote, they were being denied the basic and valued principle of a democracy. Not giving women the right to vote meant that they weren’t being recognized as citizens. The right to vote is a symbol that as an individual, you matter in your country. When women were being denied a symbolic right in a democracy and their recognition of a citizen was ignored, women stepped up. Because voting is a form of power. Power to give consent to those who govern you.
In the article “Takoma Park 16-year-old Savors his History-Making Moment at the Polls,” written by Annys Shin, the author focuses on whether or not lowering the voting age from 18 is a good idea towards politics, by looking at the benefits and the disadvantages of both sides. In 2013, the city of Takoma Park was the first to lower the voting age to 16 and change the 26th Amendment in their municipal. Ben Miller and other 16- and 17-year-olds were capable of stepping into a booth and casting their vote at the Takoma Park Community Center. Allowing this age group to cast a vote will lead more teenagers to vote than their older peers, it will get them into the habit of voting for the rest of their lives, and it will also increase their personal
In the early 1800s, it was generally known that in order to vote, a person was required to have a “stake” in society, they either had to pay taxes or own so many acres of land. Voting rights varied throughout the colonies, for example, some colonies added restrictions due to the religious beliefs of the voters. Furthermore, under the United States Constitution the presidential electors were chosen by the state legislatures not by the people, as well, eligibility to vote for members of the House of Representatives was left to the states. Women, Indians and blacks (slave or free) were restricted from voting almost in all regions. In our era, democracy is known as a government “for the people, by the people”, and is
The United States of America is supposed to be a land of freedom where one can exercise the right to have various liberties that are not found in many other countries around the world. Among these liberties is the right to vote in a democratic government. Voting is a privilege in the United States that should not be taken for granted; many countries do not have the luxury of choosing who they want to represent them in government. Or if they do, they have in place a system that is called compulsory voting. Compulsory voting is a system in which voters are obligated to come to their designated polling place on Election Day to place a vote. If
Right now, groups are lobbing for Congressmen to pass a bill extending voting privileges to sixteen year olds. By allowing youth to vote the polls would change forever. For example, candidates running for office target their platforms to voters; who cares about people who don’t vote right? But this leaves out over twenty five percent of the population of the United States. By extending the vote to sixteen year olds the amount of unrepresented persons drops to twenty percent. Additionally by having people vote younger they are exposed to
The right to vote has been established in many countries, with its foundation in the democracy of ancient Greece. The founders of the United States used the ideas of the Greeks and saw their democratic result as “an achievement that has come through determination, hard work, struggle, even bloodshed” (Text 4, Lines 1-2) as seen in the American Revolution. The American Revolution was fought over the fundamental ideas of democracy- the right of the citizens of that country to choose the people who speak for their voices in national government. Two hundred and forty years later, many U.S. citizens aren’t using their right to vote that was fought for them and that they believe that voting is like an opinion and “that not having an opinion is
Before the individual referendums for Scottish independence and EU independence political interest and election turnout amongst young people was statistically low and steadily decreasing. This changed for the referendums but it is doubtful however there will be a high turnout of young people in forthcoming local and national elections. Young people tend to vote on single topics, for single issue parties and in referendums more than elections. If 16 year olds could vote more needs to be done to gain young people’s interest in politics.
Voting. What is voting? Voting means to bring awareness, to bring change, to be the part of the movement, and to be a responsible citizen of the country. Voting is a primary right and a duty of every citizen of the nation to being responsible for the change happening all over the nation and the world. Most citizens in any country are middle working-class families; the problem they are facing should solved by any of the president or government such as equal pay, low wages, job security, employment rights and similar problems.
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
In Democracy, it is left to the citizens to make decisions, instead of a single monarchical leader. Voting in a Democracy is a responsibility, which is why most countries have age restrictions on it. Voting requires education. If someone is running for President of a country, education is knowing and understanding what their general policies are, as well as how they react to stress and criticism. A relatively small portion of the U.S. citizen population is actually qualified to vote. Qualifications for this are merely a moderate grasp on the candidate’s foreign and domestic approach.