I don't copy and paste from a politically biased information source pushing a political agenda. We've gone over this. I use independendant media sources and independantly verified secondary infoprmation.
This issue of 16 year olds voting has been raised before so you should have a look through the thread and you'll see my previous answers on it. There's also other threads on the issue.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=75894&highlight=should+16+votehttp://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=262297&highlight=should 16 vote
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=41195333&highlight=16 should vote
I definitley remember an awful lot of 16 year olds saying that they were uncomfortable doing it. There was also an awful lot of 18 and 19 year olds saying that they realised how incapable of independent though they were at 16.
I'm undecided on the issue of 16 year olds voting. There is a concern that they haven't experienced enough of life to make an informed decision. I know that at 16 I just repeated back what others told me. So at 16 I was a socialist/communist, trade union orientated extreme left winger because that's what my father was. Several years later I've completly changed my mind and consider myself centre as I've been able to make my own decisions from my own experiences and observations. (I'll comment that I'm not against trade unionism now, but at that time it was extreme miltant 1970's style trade unionism and wish are trade Unions would take a
leaf out of the German trade Unionism group.)
As part of a balanced approach though I should say that I've met people in theor 40's who have been unable to process their surroundings and make informed decisions. This may go some way to explain voter apathy resulting in low turnouts for elections in general.
You've mentioned the age of marriage as being 16 in Scotland as if this has some relevance.
Scotland is the only part of Europe that allows 16 year olds to marry without parental consent. Scotland is the only area of the UK that allows 16 year olds to marry without parental or court consent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriageable_age#AfricaThat means that either Scotland is ground breaking in trusting it's youth. Or more likely Scots law has been unable to keep up with the changes in international law and culturally accepted norms and practices.
After all, even the United Nations states that anybody under the age of 18 as a child.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChildI do see the problem though. 16 to 18 year olds are stuck in a twilight zone scenario.
They can work, pay tax, get married etc. But they can't smoke, Drink Alcohol or be sent off to war. Remember as well, you need to be 17 to drive and 21 to do Jury Service.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/01/09133400So as you can see, there are inconsistencies in age limits that Holyrood already has powers to change in many cases.
I would personaly be in favour of normalising the age to 18. And that's not just to vote. With todays modern environment, it's important that people leave school with the required skills and training to better prepare them for the work place. So I'd be happy to raise everything including school leaving to 18.
My other worry is that allowing 16 year olds to vote will result in Political parties to trying to influence people under the age of 16. Politics is no different to marketing or having a bank account. The secret is to get them young, as studies show that people will be less likely to change there habits at a later date. For example, many people are unhappy with their banks, but are unlikely to change as they've banked with them since they were a kid.
I'm just worried about the politicisation of young minds. Young minds need to grow and develop by themselves without external influences. When ever this has been pushed by a political party it's never really for the good of the electorate, but for that party believing that they will have more influence over that age group. That's why smaller parties always seem to push it.
I suppose what I'd ultimatley like to see is everybody having to complete a short course and a test to demonstarte they understand the basics of politics, government, the judicary etc etc. If they did that, I'd have no problems with 16 year olds voting as we'd be able to stop the 30 and 40 year olds who don't understand what they're voting for barred from voting as well. A much farer system you'd agree.