The voting age is to be lowered to 16. All the naysayers are trotting out exactly the same arguments that, a century ago, were deployed against giving women the vote. The same arguments that were deployed against giving black South Africans the vote.
People say that 16 year olds do not have the maturity or the intellectual sophistication to make an informed choice when they vote. People fear that they will be influenced by what their families will tell them to do. Or by cheap electoral bribes.
Well guess what folks: this is not the Civil Service Fast Track. This is not the Bar. There is no competency test by which people become eligible to vote. The franchise is ours by right and there is no minimum standard before a voter is allowed to make a choice. They are permitted to vote base on vibes or feels, or on a single issue, or astrology, or a toss of a coin, or ‘tribally’ based on how people they identify with have voted. It’s all permitted.
If people vote in their self interest, then I would posit that younger voters are more likely to consider the Long Term in their voting behaviour. That is a good thing and lending political support to long term political thinking is a good thing.
It is amusing and infuriating in equal measure that just the kind of people who said democracy was sacrosanct following the Brexit referendum may now be found decrying the extension of the franchise: it is not a good look and such arguments will not age well.
I do have one criticism of the policy, however: it does not go far enough. The correct voting age is 10 years old, the same as the age of criminal responsibility. If you are old enough to know right from wrong then I say you are old enough to vote. No further intellectual capacity is required under the current system and no further intellectual competence should be required of children before they participate in democracy, which is the same as participating in society.
In the meantime, votes for 16 year olds is a good start. Let us co-opt more citizens into our democratic system, and instil in them earlier the habit of voting. It will strengthen our politics and engage young people.
