Opinion: Lower the voting age to 16 for federal elections?
by USA Today Roundup, USA TODAY on 04.17.19
In the 1960s, the country asked itself that if young men can die in Vietnam, then shouldn't they be trusted with the right to vote? Similarly, now, we must ask ourselves that if 16- and 17-year-olds can contribute to society through work, and face the criminal justice system as adults, isn't it only reasonable to allow them the right of self-determination through voting?
In these teen years, many individuals begin to work and pay taxes. This is also when we grant the right to drive a car. On the flip side, about 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults every year across the U.S. When they're contributing to society or being held liable by society in these ways, they should also be able to weigh in on the future of our country and those responsible for the laws that affect them.
That's why it was great to see freshman Representative Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Colorado, lead an effort that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote ahead of their 18th birthday. This policy has already worked in many states: 14 states (and Washington, D.C.) already allow teenagers to preregister to vote at 16, and nine allow it for 17-year-olds.
In California alone, since 2016, more than 200,000 teenagers preregistered before their 18th birthdays.
Congress only has the authority to lower the voting age for federal elections. That's what sparked the 26th Amendment, which in 1971 lowered the voting age in every election to 18.
Freshman Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, proposed lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 for federal elections. The proposal failed with only 126 votes but represented a turning point in the fight for enfranchisement. It had the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has championed such efforts at the local level in California for years.
Because voter turnout is habitual, it seems like a no-brainer to let people start voting at a younger age. If 16- and 17-year-olds can go to the polls with their parents or other adult figures, it could begin a lifetime of such civic engagement.
Lowering the voting age is a worthy endeavor. Let's do it.
_David de la Fuente is a political analyst at Third Way, a center-left think tank._
_The opinions expressed in this text are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsela._
Teens more often rely on the amygdala, the more emotional, primitive part of the brain. It isn't from gratuitous animus that car-rental agencies make it difficult for young drivers to rent a vehicle. Or that the Constitution establishes 25 as the minimum age to be a member of Congress. Of course, another reason that 16-year-olds are subject to so many restrictions that don't apply to grown-ups is that they don't know anything — or in any case, they don't know enough to be trusted to make sound decisions about liquor, firearms, joining the Marines and governing the United States. The ignorance of teens is practically a cliché.
_Jeff Jacoby is a politically conservative columnist for the Boston Globe._
_The opinions expressed in this text are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsela._
Teens Don't Make Bad Choices Any More Than Adults Do
Cold cognitive abilities are those we use when we are in a calm situation, when we are by ourselves and have time to deliberate and when the most important skill is the ability to reason logically with facts. Voting is a good example of this sort of situation. Studies of cold cognition have shown that the skills necessary to make informed decisions are firmly in place by 16. By that age, adolescents can gather and process information, weigh pros and cons, reason logically with facts and take time before making a decision. Teenagers may sometimes make bad choices, but statistically speaking, they do not make them any more often than adults do.
_Laurence Steinberg is a professor of psychology at Temple University and a contributor to The New York Times._
_The opinions expressed in this text are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsela._
Young Voters Can Establish Patterns For A Lifetime
In (America) people start voting at 18. That's the year that they often move off to college. They either have to cast ballots in a community with which they're unfamiliar, or pay attention to elections in a place where they no longer reside. That's a recipe for indifference. It would be much easier to encourage people to vote for the first time, and to establish voting patterns for a lifetime, when they're 16 and in high school. One objection is that young people will just vote like their parents. But researchers have found that people are always influenced by those close to them. People of all ages vote like their parents, or like their spouses or like their neighbors.
_Noah Berlatsky is a writer and editor who writes about gender and culture._
_The opinions expressed in this text are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsela._