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3 Pros and Cons to Lowering the Voting Age

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3 Pros and Cons to Lowering the Voting Age

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From the 1990s to the present, elected officials in several U.S. states have made unsuccessful attempts to lower the voting age to 16, and sometimes even younger.

Student activism in the wake of the Feb. 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, brought new life to the debate about letting younger people vote in elections.

Internationally, about a dozen countries allow citizens to vote at age 16, sometimes with conditions such as being employed or married, including Argentina, Austria, Brazil and Ecuador.

A constitutional amendment to lower the U.S. voting age to 16 would require approval from two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures (38 states). Alternatively, state legislatures could pass laws allowing younger people to vote in their states.

Until the 1970s, the voting age in America was 21. A debate over lowering it to 18 began during World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt decreased the military draft age to 18. President Eisenhower called for citizens ages 18 to 21 to be included in the political process in his 1954 State of the Union address. But lawmakers didn't take action until marches and demonstrations drew attention to the fact that young people who were being drafted to fight in Vietnam did not have the ability to vote in most states.

Congress proposed the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1971, which stated, "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age." The ratification process, which required approval from 38 states, was completed in about three months, the shortest amount of time of any amendment in U.S. history.

While the push to lower voting age for state and federal elections is still an uphill battle, some smaller jurisdictions are lowering the voting age. A handful of cities in California, Maryland, and Vermont allow 16- and 17- year olds to vote in local elections, including school board elections as of Sep. 2023.

Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16?

Pro 1

16-year-olds are just as knowledgeable about civics and have the same ability to make good voting choices as older voters.

A study in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science found, "on measures of civic knowledge, political skills, political efficacy, and tolerance, 16-year-olds, on average, are obtaining scores similar to those of adults... Adolescents in this age range are developmentally ready to vote."

Scientists believe that "cold cognition" skills, those used to make the kind of informed, well-thought out choices needed in voting, are solidly established in 16-year-olds.

Austria lowered the voting age to 16 in 2007. According to Markus Wagner, Social Sciences Professor at the University of Vienna, and his coauthors, studies of elections after the Austrian voting age was lowered show "the quality of these [younger] citizens' choices is similar to that of older voters, so they do cast votes in ways that enable their interests to be represented equally well."
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Pro 2

Lowering the voting age to 16 increases voter turnout and develops lifelong voting habits.

The United States has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among developed countries. A person who votes in one election has a 13% greater probability of voting in a future election. Researchers say that people who participate in elections when they first reach voting age are likely to develop the habit of voting, and those who don't are more likely to remain nonvoters.

16-year-olds are learning about government and civics in high school, and the structured environment would lead to higher turnout among 16- and 17-year-olds as teachers and parents help them overcome typical obstacles for first-time voters, such as the registration process and finding their polling places.

By contrast, many 18-year-olds are in a time of transition, making them less likely to participate in elections.

Involving young people in voting can have a "trickle up" effect that mobilizes their parents and other adults in their households to vote, increasing the overall voter turnout rate. Turnout among 16- and 17-year-olds in Takoma Park, Maryland, the first U.S. municipality to lower the voting age for local elections, was double that of eligible voters 18 and older.
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Pro 3

At age 16, people should have a voice in the laws that affect their lives and a stake in the future of their country.

A U.S. Senate report cited student activism and protests as reasons for lowering the voting age to 18 in the 1970s during the Vietnam War: "We must channel these energies into our political system and give young people the real opportunity to influence our society in a peaceful and constructive manner."

Students today live under threats to their futures such as school shootings and climate change, and they deserve to have influence over their elected officials beyond the protests they've organized.

Sofie Whitney, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, says, "If 16-year-old students are old enough to be affected by the laws, and realize that there is a problem, then they should have the power to help change it."

The age of 16 is when people's relationship with the law changes as they often start driving, working, and paying taxes. Further, in most states, 16-year-olds can be emancipated from their parents and live independently.
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Con 1

Kids under the age of 18 aren't mature enough to participate in elections.

Experts say that 16- and 17-year-olds demonstrate lower interest in politics, have less political knowledge, and lack the experience needed to participate in elections.

Social scientists Tak Wing Chan and Matthew Clayton say that 16- and 17-year-olds wouldn't be competent voters because "research in neuroscience suggests that the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex, is still undergoing major reconstruction and development during the teenage years." They add that the prefrontal cortex is what "enables us to weigh dilemmas, balance trade-offs and, in short, make reasonable decisions in politics."

People under 18 are subject to different labor, contract, and criminal responsibility laws, and aren't allowed to join the military without parental consent or serve on a jury.

Most 16- and 17-year-olds are still living at home and would be influenced by the voting choices of their parents.
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Con 2

The 18-29 age group has extremely low voter turnout numbers, suggesting that people aren't ready to vote until later in life.

Only 12.5% of 18-year-olds participated in the 2014 midterm election, compared to 42% of the general population.

According to the United States Elections Project's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, just 16% of eligible voters ages 18-29 voted in the 2014 election, compared to 30% for ages 30-44, 43% for 45-59, and 55% for age 60 and up. Over the last 30 years, voter turnout for 18- to 29-year-olds has never exceeded 21% in a midterm election.

Only 23% of students scored at or above the "proficient" level on the last National Assessment of Educational Progress test of civics knowledge and skills.

David Davenport, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, says, "My concern is if 16-year-olds were allowed to vote on any kind of broad scale, what we'd actually be doing is bringing the least politically informed, the least politically experienced, the least mature in terms of making long-term judgments and trade-offs, directly into and potentially affecting our voter turnout and results."
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Con 3

The vast majority of Americans of all ages and political views agree that 16-year-olds should not be given the right to vote.

A 2019 Hill-HarrisX poll found that 84% of registered voters opposed lowering the voting age to 16. The poll found every age group was against 16-year-olds voting, with the most support found among those under 35 where still only 39% were in favor.

A different survey found only 8% support for lowering the voting age to 16; 45% want to keep it at 18; and 46% would like to raise it back to age 21.

A Twitter poll by WJLA, the ABC news affiliate in Washington, DC, found just 18% support for a proposed bill to lower the voting age to 16 in the District of Columbia, compared to 77% against. The local NBC news affiliate ran a similar poll online in which 83% of participants were against the bill.
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Discussion Questions
1. Should the voting age be lowered to 16? Why or why not?

2. Would lowering the voting age increase voter turnout? Explain your answer?

3. Would lowering the voting age lead to increase civic knowledge and participation? Why or why not?
Take Action
1. Explore the campaign to lower the voting age with Vote16USA.

2. Learn more about the 26th Amendment at the Constitution Center.

3. Explore " Preregistration for Young Voters " at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

4. Consider David Davenport's con argument, including that other laws (governing activities such as driving, drinking, and smoking) have increased ages instead of lowering them based on the immaturity of teenagers.

5. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the "other side of the issue" now helps you better argue your position.

6. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives.
Sources

47.

The Hill, "
Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Reject Lowering Voting Age to 16," thehill.com, May 3, 2019

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Should the Voting Age be Lowered in the US? Top 3 Pros and Cons

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Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. Opponents say kids aren't mature enough to vote. Explore both sides of the debate.

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In Indonesia and Greece it is 17. In Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Argentina it is 16. These are the minimum voting ages in just some of the countries around the world. In the United States, the minimum voting age, as of 1971, is 18 years old.

For much of the United States' history the minimum voting age was determined solely by individual states. In the early history of the U.S., the states required those voters to be white, male and at least 21 years of age. These requirements changed with the passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment extended voting rights to black males 21 years or older and marked the first federal involvement in voting age requirements. It wasn't until five amendments later, with the 19th Amendment, that voting rights expanded further, affording women, of at least the age of 21, the right to vote.

This 21 year minimum remained unchallenged for a number of decades since the 1910's, but this threshold began to receive pushback as World War 2, and the U.S.'s involvement, heated up. In 1942, federal legislation lowered the military draft age from 21 to 18, opening the door to a new debate about voting age. In light of a growing movement for the minimum voting age to match the draft age, state and federal officials considered the merits of the move, but no federal action was taken, even with President Eisenhower's support and the state of Georgia lowering the age to 18 in 1943.

Decades later the controversy found itself in the national discourse again as drafted soldiers were sent to fight in the Vietnam War. In 1970, the amended Voting Rights Act established a new minimum age to vote of 18. This new legislation was quickly challenged by a handful of states in the courts, and the case ultimately found itself in front of the Supreme Court. Later that year the Supreme Court, in Oregon v. Mitchell, ruled that the federal government had the power to legislate the minimum voting age, but only for federal elections, leaving all other types of elections to be determined by the states. The United States Congress, in light of the ruling, moved quickly to codify 18 years old as the minimum voting age through the passage of an amendment. After passing through both chambers of Congress in March of 1971, the 26th Amendment was officially ratified later that summer, declaring, "The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age".

Since the early 1970's a new debate around voting age has developed, specifically, to lower the voting age once again, this time to 16 years old. Though no state has made that change, some have afforded voting rights to people under 18 years of age. At least 18 states have given residents under the age of 18 the ability to vote in certain elections; typically the right is afforded to 17 year olds in primary elections who will be 18 by the time general elections are to be held. Recently, a U.S. Congresswoman proposed lowering the voting age to 16, but her bill failed to gain any significant support. This debate will no doubt continue, as folks 17, 16 and younger seek the ability to vote for their representatives.

This week's Current Events resources examine the voting age in the United States. The resources shared provide historical context and information regarding the debate around voting age and when and how it has changed. To see additional resources, check out our initial Current Event on the topic.

Looking for more current events resources? Sign up at our We the Teachers Educator Resource Community page, where you can find all of our Current Events, and learn about our other programs!

Essential Questions, Vocabulary & Extend the Resources:

What is the current legal voting age where you reside?

What is the 26th Amendment?

What are the reasons for lowering the voting age?

What are the reasons for not lowering the voting age?

What type of historical precedent is there for lowering the voting age? How did lowering the voting age happen in the past?

What are some current barriers to expanding voting rights to younger Americans?

In your opinion, what should the national voting age be and why?

Click here for a hardcopy of the Essential Questions & Lowering the Voting Age Vocabulary

Click here for a hardcopy of the Extend the Resources handout with suggested lesson activities and extensions

Talking 16 Year Olds and Voting, Talk.. Policy... To Me, May 7, 2020

The Story of the 26th Amendment, We The People, National Constitution Center, August 26, 2021

Why is Our Voting Age 18, Civics 101

Debate: Should 16-year-olds Be Allowed to Vote, Listenwise, NPR, October 16, 2020

Background Resources:

Recent Articles:

'Andrew Yang proposes lowering NYC voting age to 16 and allowing green-card holders to vote in local elections
Crow relic': A short history of the filibuster, Business Insider, May 18, 2021

Young Activist Pushes To Lower Voting Age To 16 As 'The Logical Next Step' For Gen Z, NPR, September 28, 2020

Recent Editorials:

Lesson Plans:

Passage of the 26th Amendment, Center for Youth Political Participation, Rutgers University

Elementary Lesson Plans & Resources:

Media & News Literacy Lesson Plans:

Media Literacy Resources - Newseum

Resource Library - News Literacy Project

News & Media Literacy Lessons - Common Sense

Media Misinformation, Viral Deception, and "Fake News" - University of Wyoming

Evaluating Sources in a 'Post-Truth' World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning About Fake News - New York Times Lessons

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Current Event: Lowering the Voting Age - Civics Learning Project

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This week's Current Event takes a look at the voting age, how it has evolved and the current movement to lower it to 16 years old.

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Lowering the voting age is a new concept for many people, but there are many good reasons that show doing so is a sound and ethical choice.

1. Young people have adult responsibilities, but are denied the same rights. People under 18 are contributing and active members of society. Millions of us are employed and volunteer in our communities. Many people under 18 also have "adult" responsibilities - such as being the primary caregiver for an ailing family member, running a business, and making substantial financial contributions to our households.

We are also capable of incredible intelligence and accomplishment. People under age 18 have the ability to win a Nobel Prize, reach the summit of Mount Everest, conduct cancer research, become published authors, teach a graduate-level course in nuclear physics, run their own schools, work for NASA, and risk their lives to save others. If young people are capable of such a variety of amazing feats, certainly we have the capacity to vote for the candidate that best represents our interests.

2. Young people are expected to follow the law, but have no say in making it. People under 18 are expected to follow adult laws and experience adult consequences if we don't do so. In every state, it is possible for a case to be transferred out of juvenile court into adult criminal court, and in certain states all crimes committed by 16- and 17-year-olds are automatically transferred. Approximately 250,000 people under age 18 are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year across the United States. This means that not only does our society expect young people to know "right from wrong" and the consequences for breaking certain laws, but our society also expects that we are able to navigate the adult legal system and are mature enough to be placed in adult prisons. It is hypocritical to tell us that we are mature, responsible adults when they commit a crime, but ignorant and naive when we want to vote.

We are also expected to follow the law regarding taxes. In 2011, people under 18 paid over $730 million in income tax alone and had no representation on how that money was spent. This "taxation without representation" should be no more tolerable to modern Americans as it was during the American Revolution.

3. Young people are already participating in politics. Despite attempts to exclude us from the political process, we are still making our voices heard. Young people have started ultimately successful campaigns for mayor and state legislature before they were even old enough to vote.

People under 18 have also participated in politics by forming Political Action Committees, managing campaigns, advocating for our rights in front of legislative bodies, and becoming grassroots activists. And even though we are not allowed to vote, young people are able to contribute just as much money to a political campaign as adults are. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that banning people under 18 from this part of the political process actually violates our First Amendment rights.

Whether it is forming political groups at school, organizing protests, or using social media to express our opinion, young people find a way to become involved in politics. And if we want to be involved in the political process this badly, how can politicians deny us the right any longer?

4. Young people make good voters. When the voting age has been lowered to 16, young people have shown our interest in voting. In 2013, when Takoma Park, Maryland, lowered its voting age to 16, registered voters under 18 had a turnout rate four times higher than voters over 18. And again in Hyattsville, Maryland (the second place in the U.S. to lower the voting age to 16), registered 16- and 17-year-old voters had a higher turnout out rate than older voters. Seventeen-year-olds also had a higher turnout rate than people aged 20-50 in the Chicago Primary in 2014.

Similar trends have occurred outside the United States. Voters aged 16 to 17 had a higher turnout rate than older voters under age 30 in Norway's 2011 elections, voters under 35 in Scotland's 2014 referendum election, and voters aged 18-20 in Austria's elections in 2011 and 2014.

Although it can be difficult to determine what constitutes a "good vote" (see below), a group of researchers tried to determine the quality of votes cast by people under 18 by comparing how well their votes aligned with their stated values. Voters aged 16-17 were found to have made choices that were "more congruent with party positions" leaving the researchers to conclude that "lowering the voting age does not appear to have a negative impact on input legitimacy and the quality of democratic decisions."

5. Lowering the voting age will help increase voter turnout. Voting is a habitual act - people who vote in one election are more likely to vote in the next. Lowering the voting age will establish new voters when people are less likely to be moving as a result of attending college or leaving their families. People under 18 tend to have stronger roots in their community, often having lived in the same area for many years and established connections to their school, family and friends, and other community groups. This gives us an awareness and appreciation of local issues. As we are less likely to live away from home, we don't have to deal with unclear residency laws or absentee ballots that can discourage college students or other new voters. Because of the habitual nature of voting, encouraging new voters at a younger age will increase voter turnout as the population gets older. Young people who vote also influence the voter turnout of their parents. In a study of the Kids Voting program (where people under 18 were allowed to cast votes in a mock election), parents who had children participating in the program were more likely to vote in the actual election.

6. Lowering the voting age will improve the lives of youth. Young people have a right to be heard and to have our interests taken seriously. However, by disenfranchising young people society tells us that we do not have anything of value to add to the political conversations in our society. It also gives politicians permission to ignore our interests as people under 18 have no way to hold their representatives accountable.

This is especially concerning since there are certain issues, such as environmental degradation, public education policy, long-term government debt, corporal punishment laws, and poverty that impact young people more than anyone else. Younger people may also be better in tune with modern issues around internet privacy and social media use. But since young people are underrepresented in politics, the issues affecting us are underrepresented as well. Lowering the voting age will also help to increase the civic engagement of young people. The words spoken before the 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 them from systematic political processes and to drive them to a search for 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." (1971 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News at pp. 365-367)

7. Knowledge and experience are not criteria for voting eligibility. Even though young people can be as politically informed as older people, there is no requirement that either group have any political knowledge at all. In fact, whenever tests have been used to register voters, it has always been about preventing certain groups of people from having political power rather than making sure the electorate is as informed as possible. Because of their discriminatory nature, knowledge or literacy tests are not used anywhere in the United States.

In spite of this, Congress has tried to determine the amount of knowledge a potential voter might need and even then concluded in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that a sixth-grade education provided "sufficient literacy, comprehension, and intelligence to vote in any election." Later on, when renewing the Act in 1975, the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed this idea further by stating, "It is difficult to see why citizens who cannot read or write should be prevented from participating in decisions that directly affect their environment." (S. Rep. No. 94-295, 1975: 24)

If you are diagnosed with a developmental delay or experience a brain injury, you do not automatically lose your right to vote and in fact, many states have passed laws that expressly ensure that you retain the right to vote unless it has been removed in a court of law.

8. There are no wrong votes. In a democracy, we don't deny people the vote because we think they might vote badly. It can be easy to feel baffled by the way other people vote, even if we know them very well. Many people believe that there are voters who are completely ignorant of the issues, woefully misguided about the economy, who get their political ideas from biased media, vote for candidates based on their personality, and are completely naive about the world. And yet, disenfranchising people simply because we disagree with them is not considered a serious position, unless that group happens to be disenfranchised already.

No advocate for lowering the voting age believes that young people will always vote intelligently, especially since not everyone can agree on what that means. But the same can be said for adults. Why are young people held up to a higher standard than everyone else?

9. Arguments against lowering the voting age can be used to disenfranchise adults, too. In a democracy, universal suffrage is the right of all citizens and the ability to vote should not be taken away lightly or arbitrarily. If a group is to be disenfranchised, the burden of proof must lie with those who want to remove voting rights, rather than requiring the oppressed group to prove why they deserve the right.

Throughout history, arguments against increasing the franchise have always been dubious and they still are - no matter the group. If you think young people are too naive or uneducated to vote, then ask yourself how would you feel about receiving a test before you could vote. No matter the test, many adults would fail. There are also adults that lack maturity or can be easily manipulated. The argument that certain groups of people lack the knowledge or maturity to vote has been used against increasing voting rights to people who don't own land, servants, and women throughout history.

10. Legislation to lower the voting age has more support than you think. When the United States decided to end age discrimination in voting for everyone 18 and over in all elections, it adopted the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The Amendment's overwhelming and bipartisan support allowed it to make history as the quickest Constitutional Amendment ever to be ratified.

Today, lowering the voting age continues to have wide support. Nearly half of US states have seen legislative attempts to lower the voting age in the last two decades, including four towns in Maryland that have successfully lowered their voting age to 16. Internationally, more than 25 countries have a voting age lower than 18 and many more are looking at following their lead. You can check out our Voting Age Status Report to learn more about the wide-ranging support to lower the voting age.

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Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age - NYRA

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Lowering the voting age is a new concept for many people, but there are many good reasons that show doing so is a sound and ethical choice. 1. Young people have adult responsibilities, but are denied the same rights. People under 18 are contributing and active members of society.