Is 16 old enough to vote?

[chaos]

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/184243993 ... um=twitter

Maryland Suburb Says 16 Is Old Enough To Vote
by ALAN GREENBLATT
May 15, 2013 4:38 PM

If you're old enough to drive, are you old enough to vote?

You soon will be if you live in Takoma Park, Md. The famously progressive suburb of Washington has just extended voting rights in municipal elections to 16- and 17-year-olds.

Takoma Park was the first city in the country to take such a step, but its action is part of a larger trend toward letting people vote earlier.

"We're not the first community to talk about the idea and I doubt we'll be the last to adopt it," says city council member Tim Male, a cosponsor of the measure, which passed on Monday.

The Massachusetts Senate on Wednesday held a hearing on the question of allowing municipalities to extend the franchise to citizens younger than 18, as the Lowell city council has twice attempted to do.

"Our elected officials represent those who can vote," says Alex Koroknay-Palicz, a former executive director of the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) and a recent transplant to Takoma Park. "Those under the voting age have a lot at stake in this country, but have never been represented."

A dozen states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries, as long as they will turn 18 in time for the general election. An additional 14 states allow citizens to register to vote prior to turning 18.

The voting age itself has been lowered to 16 in a number of countries, most recently Argentina last fall. Northern Ireland and Scotland have been debating the question as well.

Male, the Takoma Park city councilman, says research from abroad suggested that teens make good voters, in terms of turnout. The fact that turnout rates among the young are typically low, however, has also been embraced as an argument for lowering the voting age.

"The more opportunity we have to introduce young people to the voting process, the more likely it is that they'll be lifetime voters," says Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, which encourages voting among the young.

Koroknay-Palicz says that 16 may not be the perfect age, but that it makes sense. People who have reached that age are more likely to work, pay taxes and drive than, say, 14-year-olds.

Similar logic led to the adoption of the 26th Amendment in 1971 that set the age 18. If 18 was old enough to fight and die in Vietnam, went the argument, it was old enough to vote.

Currently, there are a number of groups promoting the idea of lowering the voting age, but not so much by way of organized opposition.

Still, when bills pop up in cities, public officials have sometimes been skeptical, questioning the wisdom and common sense of teenagers. Often, they recall their own foolishness at that age.

But while there are always questions about picking the right cut-off for various activities — and the age differs at which you can drive, enlist in the armed services and legally drink alcohol — voting is something younger teenagers should be able to handle, says Laurence Steinberg, an expert in adolescent brain development.

"Adolescents are probably just as good as adults at really taking information and making a logical decision about it," says Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University. "That doesn't mean they'll always do it logically, but neither do adults."

[kv]

no

[Pure Method]

I think if you're old enough to work you should be old enough to vote.

[kv]

so a child with a paper route? no

[ellis]

So against this.

But I'm against a whoooooooooooooooooooooooole lot of different people being able to vote.

[LJF]

No not old enough. In NJ have to be 17 to drive, which I think is good. drinking and voting should be the say age, so is it 18 or 21?

[SR]

When you're young and have a heart, you're liberal; when you're old and have a brain, you're conservative.

-Winston Churchill

[Essence_Smith]

When you're young and have a heart, you're liberal; when you're old and have a brain, you're conservative.

-Winston Churchill

16 = waytoofuckinyouareyoukiddingme

[kv]

18 you can go to war so 18 should stay vote age

[Hype]

Yes, because age has nothing to do with the purpose of voting. But in that case, civics education should be started earlier. Frankly, 16 yr old Canadians are probably more able to vote well, since they've just finished Gr. 10 Civics class.

Tangentially, the American drinking age is idiotic.

[Hype]

When you're young and have a heart, you're liberal; when you're old and have a brain, you're conservative.

-Winston Churchill

Except it's just a generalization. Who gives a shit what the masses think?

[kv]

Yes, because age has nothing to do with the purpose of voting. But in that case, civics education should be started earlier. Frankly, 16 yr old Canadians are probably more able to vote well, since they've just finished Gr. 10 Civics class.

Tangentially, the American drinking age is idiotic.

it's just a safety issue...18 year olds would kill themselves more

[Hype]

Yes, because age has nothing to do with the purpose of voting. But in that case, civics education should be started earlier. Frankly, 16 yr old Canadians are probably more able to vote well, since they've just finished Gr. 10 Civics class.

Tangentially, the American drinking age is idiotic.

it's just a safety issue...18 year olds would kill themselves more

Are teenage suicide rates higher in countries with lower minimum alcohol drinking/purchasing ages?

[kv]

drunk driving

just read more teens died from texting then drunk driving in the last year wow

[creep]

Yes, because age has nothing to do with the purpose of voting. But in that case, civics education should be started earlier. Frankly, 16 yr old Canadians are probably more able to vote well, since they've just finished Gr. 10 Civics class.

Tangentially, the American drinking age is idiotic.

it's just a safety issue...18 year olds would kill themselves more

Are teenage suicide rates higher in countries with lower minimum alcohol drinking/purchasing ages?

i assume he was talking about drinking and driving. as you know us americans don't go anywhere without driving. alcohol + cars + 18yr olds isn't a good mix.

[Hype]

drunk driving

just read more teens died from texting then drunk driving wow

Ah, that's a good point, though I'm not sure it actually prevents drinking and driving, since teens drink anyway. In Canada, as far as I know, the majority of drunk drivers are middle-aged or older.

[kv]

in the US most are 21-24 it trails off big time after you get to 30+

and they have made it a big deal you get pulled over with beer or anything you can lose your license till 21 so it's preventing pretty good right now...but will never stop teen drunk driving completely

[Hype]

in the US most are 21-24 it trails off big time after you get to 30+

and they have made it a big deal you get pulled over with beer or anything you can lose your license till 21 so it's preventing pretty good right now...but will never stop teen drunk driving completely

I think you read the stats wrong, or wherever you heard it reported it wrongly... http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/i ... sheet.html

It's true that the single-largest percentage group are 21-24 year olds, but no, it's not true that that's "most"... it's 34% ( 1/3 ). Another 55% (i.e., "most") are 24-44. And the other 11% are 44+, meaning 66% of drunk drivers are 24 or older.

It may also be a symptom of the late drinking age in the US (combined with binge-drinking idiotic college kids experiencing freedom for the first time and overdoing it) that 1/3rd are within a 3 year period of early adult-hood.

It's also true that:

Nearly half of the alcohol-impaired motorcyclists killed each year are age 40 or older, and motorcyclists ages 40-44 have the highest percentage of deaths with BACs of 0.08% or greater (44%).

These are CDC stats.

Looking at Canada, it appears to be roughly similar. About 1/3rd of alcohol-related driving accidents are caused by 16-25 year-olds. But then, it seems that having a lower drinking age doesn't mean an increase in drinking and driving among youth. Likewise, the later age in the US doesn't seem to have lowered the rate.

Anyway, this is all kinda beside the point that 16-year olds can probably vote as responsibly as older folks. It's true that teens are nuts. But nuts people are also nuts, and they can vote. Zdilla can vote.

[SR]

When you're young and have a heart, you're liberal; when you're old and have a brain, you're conservative.

-Winston Churchill

Except it's just a generalization. Who gives a shit what the masses think?

The candidates. And the quote is just another witty quip from WC. I think there are far more problems with it than being a simple generalization.