The country is currently debating lowering the legal voting age from eighteen to sixteen. The world is in shambles, and teenagers are experiencing every blow without a chance to stand up for themselves. The ongoing climate crisis threatens the future of every child on the planet while school shootings are becoming an everyday happenstance that we as a society have become accustomed to. Times are changing, and teenagers deserve to have their voices heard.
This isn’t the first time that the voting age has been reconsidered. In 1971, the 26th Amendment was ratified, changing the legal voting age from 21 to 18. The debate over the legal voting age began in World War II but escalated during the Vietnam War when young men who were denied the right to vote were being drafted to fight for their country. The law was widely supported and holds the record for the quickest ratification of a constitutional Amendment with the process lasting just three months and eight days.
Though many argue that people under the age of eighteen aren’t educated or prepared to vote, a study in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science found that “On measures of civic knowledge, political skills, political efficacy, and tolerance, 16-year-olds, on average, are obtaining scores similar to those of adults… Adolescents in this age range are developmentally ready to vote.” The cold cognition skills that are used to make informed, thoughtful decisions about voting are already well established in adolescents by the time they reach the age of sixteen.
Adolescents in this age range are developmentally ready to vote
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Lowering the age at which an individual has the right to vote is also proven to increase voter turnout, both short and long term. A person who votes once has a 13% greater probability of voting again in a future election. Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are more likely to vote because they are most likely enrolled in government or social science classes with teachers and parents who can guide them through the registration and voting process. Thus, lowering the voting age will statistically raise voter turnout at future elections.
Just like in 1971, the country has reached a point where several major issues involving teens are being voted on, without the input of those under the age of eighteen. For example, climate change is considered one of the greatest threats humanity has ever faced and directly influences the near future of the human race. If teens are unable to vote for laws that would counteract the damage already done to the planet, they will have no choice but to grow up in a world that they weren’t able to defend.
Similarly, in 2019, 417 mass shootings occurred in the United States, at least 45 of which took place on high school or college campuses. Without having a voice on an issue that could very easily cost teens their lives, American teenagers will continue to be subjected to traumatic events stemming from conversations that they were never able to participate in.
At the age of 16, American citizens deserve the right to vote for their future. The world looks extraordinarily different than it did in the ’70s. Unless we as a country can empower and allow our young people to vote and create change, our future is doomed. Those that oppose lowering the voting age fail to recognize that there is no such thing as a ‘wrong’ vote. In a democracy, everyone gets to have a say. End of discussion.
This November, as adults head to the polls, consider the voices of those who are not allowed to speak, and fight for a more representative system.
Sources: