Voting At Sweet 16?
The last hundred or so years has witnessed disfranchised groups in various forms demanding the right to vote, whether it be the common man, women or the lowering the age of both sexes to eighteen, but now there is a strong call to lower it again to sixteen.
The pro Votes@16 campaigners seem to have the stronger debate with many facts and figures in comparison to those against lowering the age, who do not seem to have a full argument, which leads me to believe they fear a younger age range having the ability to vote.
Young people can be arrested and deemed old enough to understand the consequences of their actions at the age of ten. At sixteen a young person becomes responsible for and can decide over their own health, whether they wish to leave school and can decide on their route in life regards further and higher education, apprenticeships or full-time employment.
Other things a sixteen-year-old person may legally do include starting a family, join and train in the Army and move out and live alone. Young people are taxed at the age of sixteen, thus one of the pro arguments claim "No Taxation Without Representation" recalling the old American chant regarding the time they wanted representation due to paying taxes to the crown.
There are over 1.5 million sixteen and seventeen-year-olds in the UK. These young people are knowledgeable and passionate about the world in which they live, and are highly capable of engaging in the democratic system as much as any other citizen. Other areas of the UK have already changed the voting age and lowered it to 16; these areas are Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. It seen in various locations across Europe, Asia and South America, and for various different levels of government they can vote for at sixteen, thus it wouldn’t be a huge difference if the UK were to do the same even if it was just the local and regional elections. In their last study, the Electoral commission found that 72% of young people within that age group were in support of the age being lowered.
Youth Organisations across the UK are in support of Votes@16 and have been for many years, which include BYC, UK Youth Parliament, Funky Dragon, Scottish Youth Parliament and a vast number of youth fora/councils up and down the land. Political bodies such as the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Government and a vast number of political parties which include Labour, Plaid and the Liberal Democrats to name but a few are also in favour. Many political parties start their membership from fifteen which enables them to vote in internal ballots, so why are they not capable enough of doing the same for their party in elections? Due to the nature of UK politics, the devolved areas are not responsible for lowering the age to vote within their region, that right/power is still reserved by central Government.
An EDM (Early Day Motion) has been put forward by Stephen Williams and will be heard once sufficient time and support has been acquired for it. The fact that there is a fairly new parliament and many younger members’ means that there could possibility be more support to change the voting age from eighteen to sixteen. A previous EDM brought forward by Julie Morgan, formerly Cardiff North MP had felt that it was an important motion to bring forward and to rectify the injustice and disenfranchisement of potential younger voters.
Those arguing against lowering the voting age argue that it will be costly to attempt to raise young people’s interest and strongly believe that it would be a huge drain and a waste of taxpayers’ money, which could be better used locally or nationally to provide better services for all. Another argument concerning votes for sixteen-year-olds is that young people of that age would only focus around one issue e.g. environmental issues or the on-going conflict in Iraq. At that age they are deemed to lack maturity and experience and there are even moves for the vote to be raised to 21 rather than dropped to 16.
In law, a person may be classed as a full adult at 18, the same age supported by the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) of when a child stops being a child. At this age they may sign their own parental consent forms therefore indicating they having more of an idea about making important decisions for themselves as they are more mature. However a young person may join the British Army but not in frontline situations, or get married (with parental consent) at the age of sixteen. Yet this is contradicted by the fact individuals can have a family of their own if they wish from the age of sixteen. So the law provides a grey area as a sixteen or seventeen-year-old does not have full responsibility for themselves, but retains full responsibility over their own child. The concept of “children should be seen and not heard” unfortunately remains.
Most statistics indicate that a small number of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds actually vote at present, so why on earth should the voting age be lowered to sixteen? This is rebutted by previous consultations in which clear majorities indicate that they would vote, if the age were lowered. While those against would question the consultations and state there would be a definitive difference to those who say they will and those who actually do vote. The following quote is used by them to support their argument - “Actions speak louder than words”.
Most believe that any decrease in the voting age must be accompanied by a better focus on the awareness and educational aspects behind the vote. Education is a key point that must be addressed, as at the current time it is not interesting enough due to the way it is taught. More times than not, citizenship or PSE lessons are “doss” subjects as teachers are not interested or do not understand the system enough to relay such information to their students or utilise books/small questionnaires, as a way to make it easier for them. Politics as a whole is energetic and provides confidence and ambition; it can provide many interesting and enjoyable debates to be had by students. This in turn could act as an eye opener to the real world. Politics is better taught as a practical subject, it can provide great experience to those that run or support a candidate in a political campaign, whether within their school or local area.
The arguments against are not strong enough compared to those in support of lowering the voting age. They are mostly of an older generation, more so those that have not witnessed the many youth elections across the country, with some having a turnout higher than in actual local or national elections. Thus as younger people enter politics, the possibility of better connecting with young people can become the norm, the better a reality it will be to successfully lower the voting age.
Education must be improved in how it is taught to engage and better the citizen overall. The law needs to reconsider the age of responsibility and should be lowered to sixteen when the young people of that age already have responsibility over most of their lives. They should be able to attend and participate in whatever they so wish.
If you would like to sign the petition, please click on the following link and follow the instructions.
If you would also like to publically state you agree for votes at 16 please do via the Votes@16 coalition website.
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Info » World, Europe, UK & Wales » Politics » Youth Politics
Related Article: UK Youth Parliament Proves Voting Age Should Remain
1 Comment – Post a comment
Snow..
Commented 8 months ago - 13th September 2011 - 22:11pm
I couldn't agree more with this article. Once we have covered politics in school, and that wasn't even in PSE, it was part of the Welsh Baccalaurette.
One of the topics we were asked to discuss was whether or not the voting age should be lowered, and I was surprised when after myself and a small group in the class had argued the above points, the majority of the people in my class agreed that the voting age should be lowered (even those who had never shown an interest in school, never mind politics!) and that they would be more than likely to vote.
I'm going to post a link to this article in the hope that more people will sign the petition :)