Should The Voting Age Be Lowered To 13?

by zohanoconnor (student)

Zoe O’Connor

Should The Voting Age Be Lowered to 13?

If the voting age was to be lowered to thirteen, today's youth may act differently. Holding the right to vote might instil responsibility and purpose into teens. The voting age should be lowered to 13, so that way, teens who want to submit their choice of candidate have the freedom to do so. Teens should be able to voice their opinions in regard to political issues and be treated the same as adults. A large percentage of teenagers are highly intelligent and should therefore be allowed to vote.

At 18, most people would have the necessary knowledge, mental maturity as well as experience to make an informed voting decision. Many would argue that thirteen is far too young an age to be able to vote.

However, students should be educated about politics, economics and international affairs and prove they are knowledgeable before being granted the privilege to vote. In some places, the capital provides a mock election allowing the participating students to vote for their favourite candidate. This process helps teens to truly think about who they would pick and is therefore a good experience. They should know what their reasons are for voting for the particular candidate he or she has chosen. Many teens are quite intelligent, there are teens I have heard of that have taken and passed college level tests at the ages of 13 and 14.

The minimum voting age, in some ways, would act as a ceiling for other age limits. In the UK, the age for sexual consent and criminal responsibility would vary from area to area, but at the moment they are never above 18. The minimum drinking age is 18, but it took a national law to accomplish this exception. Therefore, if the voting age is lowered to even 16, many areas will push down their age for criminal responsibility and consent to conform to the voting age ceiling.

It is, though, important to be a responsible voter; teenagers need ...

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It is, though, important to be a responsible voter; teenagers need to show responsibility in order to have the right to vote in area elections. These days, more and more teens are starting their , which means they are having to deal with customers and make sure the client has a good experience. At home, teens are more often expected to help around the house, this is a good way to learn responsibility, as is owning and caring for a pet.

I don't think it is a question of lack of knowledge, but more an issue of not being swayed by outside opinion, though by my own narrow view of things, I don't view most 18 year olds as being prepared for that responsibility. People may have been onto something when they made the claim that most students leave school or college as secular. Personally, I think it has to do with these young adults being able to make their own decisions on political or religious issues that they followed previously under the influence of the heads of their households.

The teen's future is directly impacted by the choices made by the prime minister. If someone voted at the age of 13, by end of the four year term of the prime minister, that person would be 17 and only one year away from entering the so-called "adult world". The decisions made in that amount of time could prove helpful or harmful to the voting teen's future, therefore the teen should be concerned with who is chosen to be the leader of the country and have a say in the matter.

People feel that until teenagers reach the age that they are on their own and accountable for themselves, they do not have enough real life experience to make a sound judgement to base their vote on. The voting age used to be 21 but if people are old enough to serve in the military at 18, then they should be able to vote. Also, it is said that most teenagers under 18 would not be very interested in government anyway, meaning that lowering the voting age would be a lost cause.

There's no denying that some people think teenagers are too immature and inexperienced to vote. People with these thoughts are , there are just as many inexperienced, uninformed adults as there are teenagers. With proper education, students can exceed these low expectations. The teens who can prove themselves to be good role models could have a positive influence on their friends and companions and cause them to rise to a level of competence in order to vote for themselves. I feel that allowing teens to vote would be beneficial to society in general.