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Lower The Voting Age To 16?

I believe with the recent brexit shenanigans, which will ultimately effect the younger generation, the voting age should be lowered to 16. As a nearly 16 year old myself who always keeps up-to-date with politics, I would love to be able to voice my opinion, after all, decisions like brexit (which unfortunately has already been decided) will mainly effect people my age. I strongly believe schools should educate students during PSHE about politics and current affairs so that young people can vote at sixteen.
I was wondering what others thought about this?

Reply 1

jameswhughes

19

Original post by SillyPig123

I believe with the recent brexit shenanigans, which will ultimately effect the younger generation, the voting age should be lowered to 16. As a nearly 16 year old myself who always keeps up-to-date with politics, I would love to be able to voice my opinion, after all, decisions like brexit (which unfortunately has already been decided) will mainly effect people my age. I strongly believe schools should educate students during PSHE about politics and current affairs so that young people can vote at sixteen.
I was wondering what others thought about this?

Why 16? You could make the same argument for 14 or 12 year olds.

Reply 2

SillyPig123

OP

16

Original post by jameswhughes

Why 16? You could make the same argument for 14 or 12 year olds.

The age of consent is 16. If you're old enough to have sex you should be old enough to vote

Reply 3

Notoriety

22

**** no. Raise it to 42, and require eligible voters to have at least 200 acres of land and a PhD.

I am sick of these have-a-gos who know nothing about real life telling the technocrats how to think.

Reply 4

DarthRoar

20

Original post by SillyPig123

The age of consent is 16. If you're old enough to have sex you should be old enough to vote

Nonsense. The only reason the age is 16 is because if it was 18, then about 70-80% of people would have technically statutorily raped or been statutorily raped. Hell, half of people already do it before 16. The law states that consenting 13 year olds wouldn't be prosecuted for having sex despite their being under 16, should they vote too? Of course not/

Reply 5

jameswhughes

19

Original post by SillyPig123

The age of consent is 16. If you're old enough to have sex you should be old enough to vote

That's a silly comparison, like DarthRoar has explained.

Do you think laws on the minimum age for gambling, alcohol, driving, tobacco, buying knives or fireworks should be changed too?

Reply 6

SillyPig123

OP

16

Original post by jameswhughes

That's a silly comparison, like DarthRoar has explained.

Do you think laws on the minimum age for gambling, alcohol, driving, tobacco, buying knives or fireworks should be changed too?

No, (I think there should be stricter policies on some of those things but that's another issue) but I still think the voting age should be lowered to 16. Why do you not agree with me out of curiousity?

Reply 7

AzureCeleste

20

Not all 16 year old's are knowledgable. When I was 16 I could vote (cause Scottish, not for bexit though just local elections) and I literally was voting based off party names, my politics knowledge was very limited.
Not many will be knowledgable or vote seriously, many will probably think they're vote won't count thus will probably choose something stupid for a laugh and before you know it people are voting us into the worst possible scenario

Reply 8

Tootles

21

Original post by SillyPig123

I believe with the recent brexit shenanigans, which will ultimately effect the younger generation, the voting age should be lowered to 16. As a nearly 16 year old myself who always keeps up-to-date with politics, I would love to be able to voice my opinion, after all, decisions like brexit (which unfortunately has already been decided) will mainly effect people my age. I strongly believe schools should educate students during PSHE about politics and current affairs so that young people can vote at sixteen.
I was wondering what others thought about this?

No. This discussion has been done to death. Ultimately, lowing the voting age means lowering the age of majority. This makes about as much sense as proposing to lower the age of consent.

Reply 9

jameswhughes

19

Original post by SillyPig123

No, (I think there should be stricter policies on some of those things but that's another issue) but I still think the voting age should be lowered to 16. Why do you not agree with me out of curiousity?

That's interesting. Why do you think there should be restrictions on those things? Do you think 16 year olds aren't mature enough to go out drinking? If not, why are they mature enough to make decisions to vote?

Reply 10

the bear

20

8 year olds have a whole lot longer to be affected by Government decisions than 16 year olds.... they should be allowed a voice.

Reply 11

SillyPig123

OP

16

Original post by jameswhughes

That's interesting. Why do you think there should be restrictions on those things? Do you think 16 year olds aren't mature enough to go out drinking? If not, why are they mature enough to make decisions to vote?

I think there should be stricter policies on fireworks and knives. I think nobody should be allowed to carry a knife (I realise that is impossible to enforce) and I believe only licensed venues should be allowed to purchase fireworks.

Reply 12

hellohellothere

18

ive never met a 16 year old who didnt want the vote

Reply 13

jameswhughes

19

Original post by SillyPig123

I think there should be stricter policies on fireworks and knives. I think nobody should be allowed to carry a knife (I realise that is impossible to enforce) and I believe only licensed venues should be allowed to purchase fireworks.