Sixteen year olds pay taxes, drive, and are allowed to drop out of school, so why can’t they vote also? Voting age in the United States is currently eighteen years old, although teenagers younger than that are still required to do many things that are controlled by how people vote on the ballots. I believe that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen years of age. If the voting age were lowered, it would allow schools to encourage voting, and even educate students about the process before they go to the polls. Associate Dean for research at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service strongly supports this idea. “I just want to get kids to vote the first time while they’re still in school”, he says.
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Teens that do not care about politics will, most likely, do something that they actually care about. For example, my cousin, Maddie, hates politics and would much rather be out with her friends, so, on voting day, she went to go see a movie. In contrast, my cousin, Delia, has been interested in politics all her life and feels very strongly about a certain candidate, so she went to the polls and voted. Some adults who are well over voting age do not vote, simply because they do not want to. According to an article on The Cincinnati Enquirer, studies have shown that voting is a habit to begin early. It was found that if people don’t start out as voters when they are young, they are less likely to ever vote. One of these studies included a Yale University study in which it was discovered that students shown how to operate a voting machine were more than twice as likely to vote as students who weren’t shown. Lowering the voting age would both increase voter turnout and further educate citizens about the voting process, in turn causing them to vote more responsibly than some young adults today. It is for these reasons that I strongly believe that the voting age in the United States should be lowered to sixteen years of age. So talk to your local representative today, and start the revolution to lower the voting
Teens that do not care about politics will, most likely, do something that they actually care about. For example, my cousin, Maddie, hates politics and would much rather be out with her friends, so, on voting day, she went to go see a movie. In contrast, my cousin, Delia, has been interested in politics all her life and feels very strongly about a certain candidate, so she went to the polls and voted. Some adults who are well over voting age do not vote, simply because they do not want to. According to an article on The Cincinnati Enquirer, studies have shown that voting is a habit to begin early. It was found that if people don’t start out as voters when they are young, they are less likely to ever vote. One of these studies included a Yale University study in which it was discovered that students shown how to operate a voting machine were more than twice as likely to vote as students who weren’t shown. Lowering the voting age would both increase voter turnout and further educate citizens about the voting process, in turn causing them to vote more responsibly than some young adults today. It is for these reasons that I strongly believe that the voting age in the United States should be lowered to sixteen years of age. So talk to your local representative today, and start the revolution to lower the voting