The Reasons Why The Voting Age Should Not Be Lowered to 16

Introduction

Some people want to make 16-year-olds be able to vote, I don’t think is a good idea. Because they are not mature don’t have the knowledge and they know nothing about voting. In this essay, I will be discussing the reasons why the voting age should not be lowered to 16 and the potential consequences of this policy.

Maturity As the Reason Why Voting Age Shouldn't Be Lowered to 16

I think 16-year-olds should not be able to vote. One of the reasons why they should not is they are not mature enough.

Most are in high school and are not ready for the real world. Another Big reason is. The last time the voting age was changed nationally was in 1971, with the adoption of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution. With 18-year-olds fighting in Vietnam, it seemed wrong to say they couldn’t vote for their national leaders until they were 21. In other words, there was some serious and logical reason to make the change.

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Lack of Knowledge About Voting Among 16 Year Olds

16-year-olds don't have enough knowledge of history and politics and they do not have much experience. So we shouldn't treat them like adults also last time we changed is cause 18-year-olds were helping by serving with the army 16-year-old are not so they should not change it. “However, the military (age 18, or 17 with parental consent”.(David Davenport). they could change it to 17 cause some 17-year-olds are seniors and they are mature and some serve in the army.

One of the reasons why I think 16-year-olds don't know anything about voting is that they don't have past voting experiences. They never know the sides or if the president is going to lie. Or actually do what they promised. Some of them only say stuff they are going to do and they never do them.16 year olds also don’t have any background information to base who they are voting for or have any idea of the impacts it could have in the world.

Low Voter Turnout Among Young Adults

The 18-29 age group has extremely low voter turnout numbers, suggesting that people aren't ready to vote until later in life. David Davenport said 'My concern is if 16-year-olds were allowed to vote on any kind of broad scale, what we'd actually be doing is bringing the least politically informed, the least politically experienced, the least mature in terms of making long-term judgments and trade-offs, directly into and potentially affecting our voter turnout and results.'(David Davenport).

Conclusion

The vast majority of Americans of all ages and political views agree that 16-year-olds should not be given the right to vote. A different survey found 8% support for lowering the voting age to 16; 45% want to keep it at 18; and 46% would like to raise it back to age 21. One of the main reasons is that they are not mature. Another cause they have no experience and if you think about it, there really is no reason to change the voting age. The opposition thinks that 16-year-olds are just as knowledgeable about civics and have the same ability to make good voting choices as older voters. So they learn from their mistakes so they are good voters when they grow up and be more constant voters.