Canada should follow U.K.'s initiative to lower voting age to 16, says senator
-
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.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/296974/us-population-share-by-generation/
I mean, apart from millenials outnumbering boomers, and the fact that Gen X + millenials would outnumber them more than 2:1, uhhh, sure?
-
This post did not contain any content.
No. And I’ll explain by way of a quick example.
Every lunch hour, high-schoolers from the local comp cut across my work’s parking lot on their way to 7-11. A group of them, the same boys for the most part, laugh and sig heil each other while using their fingers to make fake hitler moustaches.
Does this make them nazi’s? No. It makes them teenagers who do something idiotic because it’s “edgy” and their peers are doing it. 16 year olds have zero concept of the real world implication of their actions. Their brains are neither fully formed enough or emotionally mature enough to vote responsibly rather than just decide to be a dick bag because it’ll make their friends laugh.
At best you’re going to end up with a lot of spoiled votes writing in Eric Cartman. And at worst, they’ll actively vote in the asshole that makes honest voters made because that’s the “edgelord” thing to do.
-
I could defintely see 16 year olds voting against their best interests, such as lower drinking ages, less school years, easier school circulums. Ending school at grade 10 might sound like a great idea to a 16 year old and the mp pitching it could convince older canadians it would save a lot of taxes as well, all well significantly impacting that new generations education potential.
When have those things ever been on a ballot?
-
This post did not contain any content.
I would rather limit voting to between the ages of 20 and 60.
-
no. most 16-year-olds don’t know anything. yeah yeah most people don’t know anything in the first place, but teenagers know even less.
all this is going to do is boost whatever vote their family has
18 is correct because it aligns with graduating highschool; which we’ve defined societally as the benchmark for being able to contribute to society.
The majority of contemporary civic education is in highschool not middle school as well. If we’re going to lower the voting age we need to revamp our entire school system first.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Every ballot should have a random set of 10 questions on it at the top that needs to be answered correctly for the vote to count. Anyone who is too young or old or uneducated to answer properly is not able to vote.
-
Every ballot should have a random set of 10 questions on it at the top that needs to be answered correctly for the vote to count. Anyone who is too young or old or uneducated to answer properly is not able to vote.
Im sure a literacy test would never ever be abused.
-
This post did not contain any content.
How about a compromise? Make the voting ages 24-74 Anyone 14-24 Can vote for a “Minister of Youth” who is a cabinet minister and anyone over 74 can vote for a “senior’s minister”?
Everyone gets representation and no one is subjected to the ideology of the immature or anyone who has given up on life.
-
No. And I’ll explain by way of a quick example.
Every lunch hour, high-schoolers from the local comp cut across my work’s parking lot on their way to 7-11. A group of them, the same boys for the most part, laugh and sig heil each other while using their fingers to make fake hitler moustaches.
Does this make them nazi’s? No. It makes them teenagers who do something idiotic because it’s “edgy” and their peers are doing it. 16 year olds have zero concept of the real world implication of their actions. Their brains are neither fully formed enough or emotionally mature enough to vote responsibly rather than just decide to be a dick bag because it’ll make their friends laugh.
At best you’re going to end up with a lot of spoiled votes writing in Eric Cartman. And at worst, they’ll actively vote in the asshole that makes honest voters made because that’s the “edgelord” thing to do.
A lot of those same students would vote responsibly, if given the chance.
As a former high school teacher, I was very impressed with the political engagement of Gen Z. They are aware of issues and largely feel hopeless and ignored. If students could vote, schools would be an excellent place to teach students how to make an informed vote, and then take a field trip to voting centres to show them how easy it is to vote, too.
As it is, you’re partly correct that 16 y.o.s largely don’t pay close attention to party platforms, despite generally good awareness about local and global issues, but it’s because it seems useless to them since they can’t vote.
There’s also research supporting that people who vote when they are first eligible to vote are likely to become lifelong voters, and those who don’t will likely not. One of the biggest issues in Canadian politics is the demographic mismatch between voters, so “old people issues” are grossly over represented on party platforms—and fair enough that they are! They’re the only ones who consistently vote.
Lowering the voting age to 16 would be a statistical artifact on most election results, in how few ridings would actually change hands, but the knock-on effect of building civic engagement for life would be an amazing change for Canadian politics. You would be surprised with how mature 16 year olds can be when it matters.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Based on the kind of person I was at 16, no thanks.
