Youth Voting

Proponents of a lowered voting age were quick to point out the irony that these young people were old enough to go to war but not old enough to elect the people drafting them. Congress proposed the 26th Amendment in response to immense pressure from angry, anti-war protesters. And, according to the National Constitution Center, the 26th Amendment was ratified in less than four months in what was and continues to be “the shortest ratification period of any constitutional amendment” (n.d.). Now, one would think that the record-breaking ratification of an expansion of voting rights would inspire young people to flock to the polls. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

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 reason why young people don't vote is so obvious that it can be found in the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers, progressive and tolerant though they were, saw fit to cite age as the only limitation to holding a federal elected office. In a document that rightly stands as a model for modern liberal democracy, neither race nor gender nor religion nor creed were mentioned as being relevant to the qualifications of a representative. This only serves to emphasize the degree to which age discrimination is rooted in the American political system. From the beginning, those under 25 (the minimum age for a member of the House of Representatives) have been treated as less-than-equal citizens, so it is no surprise or coincidence that men

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.

Allowing teens that are sixteen and seventeen vote is a good idea because many kids have a dream of their own. Ben miller, who is one of the first sixteen years olds to vote stated “it's a valuable privilege”, Which in all ways he's correct not many countries allow their younger generations to vote. After the “26 amendment gave 18-year-olds the right to vote” (shin) the rate of voter registration want up. The younger teenagers are considered more likely to vote than the elders. This showed a small difference in the outturn making it a better chance for whatever candidate to be chosen. Although, Miller did not have a driver's license yet he was still able to vote because of his “pre-register” which allowed him to vote “through the Motor vehicle administration”(shin). Even though his mother was a”writer and whose father does international relief and development work”(shin), he was

I belive that before se set out to make major changes to the voter laws, such as changing the voter age requirment, new programes should be rolled out in an attempt to increase younger voter turnout fist. For example, use of social media to target younger voters. More political ingagment with a younger age group would help build on itself as polititions engage and take up issues that matter to yonger voters, thus incressing young voter turnout, and thus raising the value of younger voters to polititions seeking ideas and votes to be elected or re-elected. a prime example is how effective it was for Bill Clintons campaign during the 90's when he appealed to young voters by going on "MTV."

In chapter one, Wattenberg discusses the declining trends of Americans who regularly read newspapers between the 1960’s and present day. This can be attributed the aging patterns among generations who frequently read newspapers as well as with the use of technology rising. Reading the newspaper is a habit that either is or is not developed by the time one reaches voting age. With this, newspapers have become an older generation’s primary source of information, however, are still the best source for political matters. Younger generations tend to be more computer literate and have grown up with television and media more accessible to them than the previous generation. These trends not only reflect in American culture, but in other countries

The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate.

Franklin. The theory proposed in this article is “elections that do not stimulate high turnout among young adults leave a ‘footprint’ of low turnout in the age structure of the electorate” (Franklin, 2004). The methodology involved examine the voting patterns of 22 countries that have held elections continuously since 1945. This number total 356 elections and provides a strong pool of data to draw conclusions from. The results brought forth a number of different variables that impact voter turnout. Such variables are the frequency at which elections are held - the closer together equates to a decrease in turnout, to the impact of lowering the eligible voting age. Interesting any country that lowered the voting age can expect to see a drop of 3.8% in a span of 40 years (Franklin, 2004). Additionally the analysis discovered that the Baby Boomers, which earlier were stated to be 20% more active voters in Canada, are 7% less likely to vote globally than their parenting generation. The conclusion for this article is that there is a reduction in the competitive nature of elections (less likely to bring about policy changes), and a decrease in the age when voters become eligible. Both of these declines generate an environment where the younger

The younger generation are infamously known for having a low voter turnout for each election. Young adults have a loud voice when it comes to supporting their political stance but the majority of them don't vote so their efforts go to waste. We can see the statistics of voting habits from various age groups where the middle and old aged are exercising their civic duties far more than those who have just recieved this responsiblity. We do need to balance out the young and the old voters, but decreasing the minumum required age will not solve anything as 18 year olds hardly ever vote as is. We should not change the minimum voting age from 18 as it won't increase the demand for citizens to vote, instead we should focus on incentives to make it so people will want participate in the voting process.

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.

a topic one day only to have their interest fizzle out the next; clearly , that causes problems

Most of the 16 and 17 year olds have felonys because of something they did and that eliminates them from vosting until the age of 18. Most contries have lowered there voting age and turned out great. Knowing that Austria is the country with the highest voter participation even with people 16 and older are voting to. People 16 and 17 years old would like to vote as well as others knowing the know the parting their in and the ideas their givng out. America ranks at

Old people are the most reliable voters for this country. They have the highest percentage of voters of any age group because they know candidates will focus on Social Security and Medicare. However, young people do not like to vote they think it is a waste of time. They are focused on college, social life, and cars, etc. If a lot of young people show up and vote, the politicians will get the message that young people have a voice just as much as the old people.

Less than 50% of eligible voters will turn out to vote at national elections, and at the local elections there are less than 25%. There is a correlation between voting behavior and the demographic of those voting.