Everyone should be allowed to vote, as they get affected by the laws. Anyone who can comprehend how to vote, should. The only unfortunate things is that prepubescent children are likely to vote exactly with whatever their parents vote for.

I think it could be good. I don’t think it’s a popular position, though. Everyone and their mom is ready with a personal anecdote about how they used to be lazy and ignorant in high school (they’re dedicated and informed now, though, of course) and, as we all know, all teens are the same, so none of them deserve the right to vote.

I think there’s something to be said for allowing kids to participate in the political system while we still have them in school to teach them about it. Maybe it would help voter turnout rates.

No objection.

You know why seniors’ issues tend to be addressed? Because they vote like their lives depend on it and put the rest of us to shame.

Hell, the older I get the more I think the voting age should be raised. And after talking politics with some of the youngins (20s) on my various teams, I propose somewhere in the 30s.

I’m joking but…

I would rather increase it to 25.

90 year olds shouldn’t be voting on things that are going to affect 2 year olds for the rest of their lives without 2 year olds having a voice. That argument is kinda vague and baseless.

And likewise, why does a 16 year old get to decide how an 80 year old that can’t get to the polls should live their final days? How much OAS they get, or which healthcare they get, etc.

Those old people will die soon and the rest of that 16 year olds life they can vote for whatever selfish things they want to have too. It’s annoying to arbitrarily assume old people are just trying to fuck over the younger generation without a care when that would be wildly unpopular with basically all other age groups.

Honestly I do not think 16 year olds should get to vote. They’ve barely had a chance to have a job (legally 1 year at most) and they haven’t even applied to university or college yet. They broadly don’t know what responsibility is, they don’t know what work is, and they’re not fully mentally mature.

18 sure, life is starting to hit you then. 16 is simply too young and too inexperienced at life to put in a place to decide how we all live.

Your telling me the left is gonna have to start taking young men’s issues seriously? The west has fallen

Adulthood is being ignored by your government and watching items you like disappear from the grocery store. Perhaps now teenagers will finally be tolerable and integrate well with society as their dreams die and the light in their eyes fade.

Nah brah they legit just have nothing better to do but vote. It’s why seniors have such a strangle hold on democracies. Compulsory voting is a must have. The whole reason why the voting age is being lowered in the UK is because the voter demographics are so skewed to the elderly.

90 year olds aren’t going to vote for education, childcare, etc. They have a few years left to live. 16 year old have their entire lives to live. Look at what happened in Britain. Old people voted to withdraw from the EU which disproportionately harmed young, mobile professionals.

I think you meant to respond to someone else, none of that seemed like a response to what I wrote.

A lot of 80/90 year olds have family they love.

I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think letting 16 year olds vote is the right move.

There’s absolutely no argument denying youth the right to vote that wasn’t equally invalid when it was used against other groups. There are uncaring, naive, uninformed, and stupid people in every group, but denying the whole group is wrong. It’s also going to be inconsequential -teenagers make up a tiny fraction of the population. The main reason to do it is that voting young predicts lifetime engagement in the voting process - so limiting it is a bad idea for that reason alone.

I’ll go even further and say that anyone with the mental capacity to be able to follow the rules and instructions, maintain decorum in a polling station, and properly fill out a valid ballot should be allowed a voice in elections. That’s the same criteria we use for legal adults.

They’re a tiny percentage and then how many of them will even vote, too? I agree. Let the few who care have a vote.

All 16 year olds pay into the programs that support the few 90 year olds. They’re a pyramid scheme that takes from the young and gives to the old. 16 year olds are old enough to pay taxes and they are old enough to vote.

No vote, no taxes.

Canada’s OAS and CPP are not a pyramid scheme, they’re based on what you actually put in and guaranteed.

They don’t have the solvency issues that US Social Security has.

This idea that old people care only about themselves is wrong, and very much a young person’s view. As you get older it’s not uncommon to care less about getting things for yourself (what are you going to do with it?) and more about the people and world you’re going to leave behind. An old person who appreciates the value of education or healthcare doesn’t stop wanting that for the country just because they’re soon going to be gone.

No. Because the boomer generation was so massive that their voting power surpassed any other generation. Even if they don’t even all go vote, they still buried the X and millennials combined.