Grown adults are often barely much more functional than that, Gerald.
They’re still in school at that age and often more keen and fired up about politics than adults who are happy to get out of that system and don’t wanna know nothing.
Meanwhile, there’s a total amount of voting years: 18-80, let’s say: 62 years worth of voting.
Two extra voting years. Starting interest in the process earlier can lead to people who care about their participation in the political process for a lifetime.
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Exactly. Most of the 16-to-vote changes are for local elections anyway: Mayor, local boards, stuff that actually affects their day-to-day lives.
But simply having the OPTION to vote, even if they choose not to, gives them a reason to care about their local community a little more.
I mean think about it: By the time you’re 18, you’ve spent 12 years of your life in school. You got no say. The carrot on the stick withered away long ago, unless you’ve got college dreams, and you’re just plodding along ’til graduation.
But to actually start having the ability to have a say in the affairs of your peers and for your own future is a pretty big deal. Even if few avail themselves of it, it takes away one of the complaints: If they don’t like something, vote it out.
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They’re not the first. A number of towns and cities in the USA and Canada have done it already. They’re just one of the first large communities to consider putting it on the ballet.
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I think that’s part of the issue: 16 year olds _do_ pay taxes and yet don’t get the ability to have a say. They can also be tried as adults… there’s a few places where we’re hypocritical in their treatment under the law.
At 16, I cared about local stuff. I knew who was mayor of my town, what they were doing… I had opinions about every-day things happening. A youth vote makes sense for local elections.
Federally? Well, there’s the electorate and the PACS and stuff, so popular vote is just a vague guideline anyway.
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