Tories could back voting rights for 16-year-olds

[Daedius]

Seeing how high the age is for the average person before they move out these days, we'd need to let people vote at like 25.

Also, we're talking about 16 year olds, thinking that they'll do what you tell them to is naive at best

Teenagers got sheep behaviour, if it's not influenced by their parents it'd be amongst their stupid peers, or a teacher, or whatever.

i.e. Teens are stupid in the sense they are easily influenced, no matter how ill-informed it may be they'd treat it like Gospel.

[ranzino]

That's too young, and can be easily abused with coercion... a lot of teens have zero interests in politics. Ought to be raised to 21 where they are, hopefully, independent then.

you cannot raise it to 21, when 18 is already set as adult age.

[Breccia]

I say the US actually has this one right: if you can be drafted, you can vote.

I think that's seventeen. But I'm an American and have been indoctrinated to be poor at other countries, so my bad if that's wrong.

[Kronik85]

If the Gov think your old enough to fuck and start a family at 16 then you're old enough to vote.

[Deleted]

Teenagers got sheep behaviour, if it's not influenced by their parents it'd be amongst their stupid peers, or a teacher, or whatever.

i.e. Teens are stupid in the sense they are easily influenced, no matter how ill-informed it may be.

As opposed to us adult, who vote purely from isolated self critical thoughts?

Also, I will note that if you actually engaged them in voting, in their school years, you'd actually have a possibility of explaining all these negatives and influences, instead of waiting for two years to go by and hope that they remembered all those things.

[Shadowmelded]

If you give kids the opportunity you'd be surprised at how eager they are to rise to the occasion and feel like they have some semblance of power. It gives them a reason to actually care about politics rather than be apathetic towards it. During the IndyRef 16 year olds were allowed to vote and they took the responsibility pretty seriously. Engaged well, informed themselves. There was a debate on the BBC which showcased it but I can't find a non-bbc link so...

[Afrospinach]

Pretty much this.

If your to young to be a reasonable parent, guardian or teacher, then you shouldn't yet be allowed to make important decisions on the political direction of the country

That is pretty well put, Trassk.

I am not sure why Conservatives would ever support this. Younger voters usually swing to the left.

[Deleted]

you cannot raise it to 21, when 18 is already set as adult age.

You can. Just make a law like the one trying to get it put at 16 but instead write 21 or 25 instead.

[Techno-Druid]

You can. Just make a law like the one trying to get it put at 16 but instead write 21 or 25 instead.

Why would you want to though? If I was in the military, willing to die to defend my country, I would sure as hell like to be given the ability to determine how it runs.

[Drutt]

16 is old enough to enlist, consent and get married in the UK.

Denying the right to vote while also saying you have the right to start a family is farcical.

[Zafire]

Children shouldn't be allowed to vote.

"Children" can drive legally without supervision at the age of 16, I don't really see a problem with voting. They have the same access to information we do.

[AeneasBK]

By 18 plenty of "children" are independant; denying a vote to them until this point but expecting them somehow to feel they have a stake in society is a bit backwards, no?

At least by voting at 16 you can tell them "Now you're vested in the future, go make something of it".

I'm not saying that "this means it's a good idea" just that not sides to it are bad (and fuck the idea of paying taxes and not getting to vote until you're 21). I personally didn't get to vote until I was 21 years old, the previous general election falling some few months before my 18th. Raising it to 21 means some people won't get to vote until they are almost 25. Even by lowering it to 16, it won't affect half the population (they'd have been over 18 in time for a general election anyway).

[Deleted]

99% of 16 year olds are NOT knowledgeable/mature enough to vote, waste of time and money to make this go through, should stay 18

99% of people in general are too ignorant to make well-informed choices.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

[minteK917]

Teenagers got sheep behaviour, if it's not influenced by their parents it'd be amongst their stupid peers, or a teacher, or whatever.

i.e. Teens are stupid in the sense they are easily influenced, no matter how ill-informed it may be they'd treat it like Gospel.

Replace teenagers with humans, pretty sure its always applicable.

[Mormolyce]

Shrug.

Honestly they're unlikely to be less informed than the average voter. It's hard to beat that record.

Children shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Only become President :P

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99% of 16 year olds are NOT knowledgeable/mature enough to vote, waste of time and money to make this go through, should stay 18

What percentage of 17 year olds are?

[Ghostpanther]

Yeah, I bet the conservatives would love more uninformed voters.

Actually this conservative thinks we should increase the min age to vote to 21.

[Deleted]

Why would you want to though? If I was in the military, willing to die to defend my country, I would sure as hell like to be given the ability to determine how it runs.

16 is old enough to enlist, consent and get married in the UK.

Denying the right to vote while also saying you have the right to start a family is farcical.

It's consistent with what we have already with scattered age restrictions.

[Techno-Druid]

It's consistent with what we have already with scattered age restrictions.

Scattered age restrictions aren't a good thing.

[Gestopft]

I would be fully in favor of teens getting voting rights early via some kind of test. There are plenty of teens that can make more informed decisions than many adults, so I don't see why not.

[Spectral]

I really can't imagine looking at the current political scene in the United States or United Kingdom and arriving at the conclusion that one of the problems is that the present group of voters is just too experienced and knowledgeable.