What Would Be The Global Impacts Of Reducing The Voting

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 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.

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

Keith Ellsion, an American politician, states, “Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender” (www.brainyquote.com). Voting is an important part of our life because it gives citizens their voice with state and national governmental actions. If citizens do not vote in an election, then they are knowingly allowing other people to choose or even alter their future. Voting is part of our civic duty and is our chance to benefit the society and voice our opinion on the candidates.

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

It seems as though the younger population of voters have all grown up in a world where they have been influenced to believe that their one vote will not make a difference, and therefore they do not bother to take the time out of their busy schedules to cast their meaningless vote. In the last presidential election, only one out of four citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four casted their vote (“Is the System broken?”). The opinion that one vote will not make a difference appears to be directly respondent to the younger generation of voters. This generation needs to be educated on the difference that one vote can make.

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?

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 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 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.

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 voting age has been 18 for several centuries. Some people think lowering to 16 would be a great opportunity for young teens, but there are obvious reasons why they still haven’t lowered it. Some of the reasons are 16 year olds can easily be influenced by their parent’s choices, teens under 18 are less experienced, society sees them as kids not as adults, and parents wouldn’t allow their kids to go to war. Many 16 year olds don’t even care about politics even as they get closer to the voting age. The percentage of young adults voting is low enough that even if 16 year olds could vote the percentage wouldn’t increases that much. The article “Younger Voters” writes, “Not many younger teens understand government well enough to vote.” The reader

The almost similar interest in politics also shows that 16-year-olds should be able to vote if they have the same amount of interest as 18-year-olds. Bergh explains her study, “When looking at political interest, there is no apparent effect of the trial. The difference in political interest between the age-groups is not evened out when the voting age is lowered to 16. The differences are statistically significant (p .05)” (95). This shows that if they wont become more interested, it is because they are already just as interested in politics as 18-year-olds who vote. Ian McAllister in his article, “The politics of lowering the voting age in Australia: Evaluating the evidence” comments on the political involvements of youths, “the alternative view is that youth engagement is traditional forms of political participation is undoubtedly declining, but involvement in non-electoral forms of participation is undoubtedly declining, but involvement in non-electoral forms of participation such as protest, social media and online petitions is increasing (Martin 2012b; Vromen 2003” (McAllister,

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.