Voting

Should The Voting Age Be Lowered To 16?

There has been a lot of debate upon the matter of lowering the voting age to 16. Some people have said no to it and some have said yes. Voting is a very serious issue and should be dealt with seriousness. 

I personally think no, because some 16 year olds are not matured yet. Their viewpoints will be important but it will be overpowered by the parties who do come in power if it is different. 16 year olds won’t have a say. So it’s not useful.

Yes, a 16 year old teenager might have an idea of how the government works but this still doesn’t have anything to do him/her. They tend not to care because politics is just a subject to them rather than an important process. Voting is an important part  of society and giving the decision to youngsters might be a good one but once they mature to an age of 18 where they do understand a bit more of the process will be better I assume. At 18, is when you start paying taxes and you can have ownership of about anything. So it’s better to keep the voting age to 18. That's what I think but other's think otherwise. 

People who are with the idea of the voting age being lowered to 16 argue that 16-17 year olds are now more responsible and mature compared to previous years. They say that there is no significant difference between an 18 year old and a 16 year old. Even though 16 to 17 year olds may be responsible and mature, 18 year old voters are mostly out of school and this helps them to possibly make careful decisions because at this stage some of the 18 year olds know that what they decide will be what they will stick with. There is little support for them like when they were under their parents. 18 year olds tend to be more independent and parents allow that so they learn from their mistakes and experiences.

Supporters of lowering the voting age to 16 say that voter turnouts will increase if the 16-17 year olds were allowed to vote. 

According to Dr. Therese Arseneau a lecturer lecturing in the School of Social and Political Science, the number of non-voting teenagers are quite low. She goes on to say that in 1935 around 92% of New Zealanders turned up to vote. By the year 1972 it went to 80% and 2002 to 72%. And a large amount of these young voters were young people.

So judging by the statistics, if young people from the age of 18 to 24 don’t bother voting, why would we think that 16 to 17 year olds will vote? How can we be sure that voting numbers will suddenly boost up because the voting age is lowered to 16? It’s absurd.

1 in 4 young people can lose their rights to have their say in the general elections. And nearly 180,000 young people from the age of 18-26 have not signed up to vote. 

“Whatever they choose to vote they’re making the decision for New Zealand and for themselves, rather than leaving it to other people to vote for them.” Says Murray Wicks Electoral Enrolment CentreNational Manager

Murray Wicks, Electoral Enrolment Centre National Manager (27^th September 2011), Voting important for youth-EEC
http://www.3news.co.nz/Voting-important-for-youth---EEC/tabid/419/articleID/227419/Default.aspx

Supporters who believe that voting age should be lowered say that voting should start at an earlier stage while 16 year olds have a stable living conditions for example living with their parents might grow some good voting habits and raise the possibility that young voters will be a regular voter as adults. However according to the 1935 elections, voter turnouts generally was 92%, but as the year progressed it went lower to about 72%. If adults cannot turn up to vote because they can’t be bothered then how does this give us assurance that young people will improve their habit if they live in a stable condition? This will actually discourage youngsters from voting. They will react to their parents voting habits and political preferences.

“Declining youth voting is the trend in New Zealand and internationally as well. Figure 1 (below) shows that in New Zealand elections since 1987, 25 – 40% of eligible voters under the age of 25 did not vote. It also shows the sizeable gap between voters under and over the age of 25: voters over the age of 25 are much more likely to vote.”

Dr. Therese Arseneau lecturer in New Zealand Politics and a Senior Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Canterbury (March 2012), Voting: an important habit.
http://thepulse.org.nz/Me/My-Rights/Political/Voting-Habit/

Some supporters who are for lowering the voting age say that if you’re allowed to die for your county at the age of 17 then 16 year olds should get the right to vote. I think not because you cannot join the army without the consent of your parents. So this goes to say that your parents are the one who make that decision for you if you can join the army or not but you don’t go on to active service until you are 18. So technically you don’t die for your country until you reach 18.