Lowering the Voting Age By: Lauren Shuber

CLAIM There are many reasons as to why the United States should lower the voting age from eighteen to sixteen.

5 REASONS Double Standards Taxes Youth Representation 16 Is Stationary Stupid Adults, Smart Youth

REASON 1: DOUBLE STANDARDS Adult responsibilities Subject to adult criminal penalties Message: Youth are judged mature, responsible adults when they commit murder but they are brainless kids when they want to vote

REASON 1: DOUBLE STANDARDS 12 years of age 3 states automatically prosecute 16 and 17 year olds 10 states automatically prosecute 17 year olds

REASON 2: TAXES $9.7 billion 80% of high school students have a job Taxes go to state, local, and federal government yet they have no say in how much is taken or what it is used for Taxation without representation  American Revolution

REASON 2: TAXES Paid weekly / $8.75 an hour Receive 8 paychecks YTD 1, with $ out in taxes If government takes out taxes from youth checks, they should have a say in where it goes and who says where it goes, which mean lowering the voting age.

REASON 3: YOUTH REPRESENTATION Politicians represent various constituencies, young people are not one of them Why should politicians care about the needs of wishes of youth when they have no ability to vote for or against them?

REASON 3: YOUTH REPRESENTATION Give politicians real reason to respect desires of youth Feel alienated from politics  include them in the process

REASON 3: YOUTH REPRESENTATION Senate Judiciary Committee supporting lowering the voting age in 1971 are as true then as they are now: “The anachronistic voting age limitation tends to alienate youth…and drive them into a search of an alternative, sometimes violent, means to express their frustrations over the gap between the nation’s deals and actions. Lowering the voting age will provide them with a direct, constructive and democratic channel for making their views felt and for giving them a responsible stake in the future of the nation.

REASON 4: 16 IS STATIONARY 18 – leaving the community Time of voting – new community they are unfamiliar with  absentee voting

REASON 4: 16 IS STATIONARY 16 – roots in a community, appreciation for local issues Comfortable surroundings, school, parents, and friends Increase desire and need to vote

REASON 5: STUPID ADULTS, SMART YOUTH Argument – youth should not vote because they lack the ability to make informed and intelligent decisions “We do not deprive a senile person of this right, now do we deprive any of the millions of alcoholics, neurotics, psychotics and assorted fanatics who live outside hospitals of it. We seldom ever prevent those who are hospitalized for mental illness from voting.”

REASON 5: STUPID ADULTS, SMART YOUTH Adults do not meet unrealistic standards Jay Leno

REASON 5: STUPID ADULTS, SMART YOUTH Intelligence and maturity is not the basis of which the right is granted  mandatory test Youth should not be held to stricter standards than adults

REASON 5: STUPID ADULTS, SMART YOUTH The Voting Rights Act of 1965 – “any person who has been adjudged an incompetent and who has completed the sixth grade…possesses sufficient literacy, comprehension, and intelligence to vote in any election.”

CONCLUSION Although there are many arguments against lowering the voting age, there are solutions and answers to each of these arguments.