Rachael Dumigan, Is it desirable to lower the voting age to 16 given the widespread political apathy among the majority of young people in Britain today?
Asked by MarkSkinsley on Oct 31 2007 9:53:09 PM and supported by 27 members
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I think this is a good idea because it has worked in a number of European countries were they have lowered the voting age and seen an increase in turn out and this younger age group group actually votes in proportion to the rest of the population. A fear of allowing young people to vote is that they would have extreme views but in reality they don’t affect the balance, they just increase the balance between parties. Citizenship classes finish at the age of 16 yet you are not allowed to vote until you are 18 which doesn’t really make sense – in effect they are saying “we have taught you all about what is to be a British citizen. Now you have to wait at least 2 years until you can put it into effect.” Allowing 16 year old who are still in school to vote may well increase turnout as they will be encourage to vote by their peers, whereas if you do not allow someone to vote until they are 18, they may well be off doing their own thing and there is no one to encourage to vote.