Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote?
Q. Will you weigh in on a debate we had at school? My social studies teacher posed the question – “16-year-olds should be allowed to vote.” We were assigned sides, and the conversation was intense. Although some of us were given the negative, and defended it, pretty much all of our classmates were in favor of lowering the voting age. You’ve spent a lot of time with teens. What do you think? Are 16-year-olds mature enough to vote? – 16-year-old
Mary Jo’s Response: What a thought-provoking question! Thanks for reaching out. Let me first give you a history lesson. I could not vote until I was 21. You may know why. Vietnam was a conflict where 18-year-olds were drafted to fight but did not have the right to vote. Popular opinions pushed for an amendment to make voting at 18 a right. On March 10, 1971, the U.S. Senate voted 94-0 in favor of the proposed 26th Amendment. On March 23, 1971, the House of Representatives passed the amendment by a vote of 401-19, and the 26th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification the same day. Just a little more than two months later, on July 1, 1971, the necessary three-fourths (38) of state legislatures had ratified the 26th Amendment. On July 5, 1971, President Nixon signed the 26th Amendment into law.
The complete text of the 26th Amendment states:
Section 1. 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.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
I vividly recall the debate surrounding the 26th Amendment; some of the arguments against it involved the same concept as those opposed to lowering the voting age to 16. Some claimed 18-year-olds were not mature or informed enough to cast a vote. The draft nullified a lot of those arguments – many said, if someone was old enough to fight for our country, they should be old enough to vote in elections. I turned 21 in March of 1971, so the debate was personal to me.
Finally, as to my opinion, I must say up front that I am biased. I do spend a lot of time with teens, and I respect them. I know some amazingly mature 16-year-olds, and I know some ill-informed adults. Age is not the only criteria for wise decision making. At 16, a person already has some “adult” responsibilities: a 16-year-old may drive a car, apply for a passport, take out a credit card, sue for emancipation from parents, sit in the exit row on an airplane, and, if employed, pay taxes. If educated in our government and taught how to fact-check information, I believe most 16-year-olds are mature enough to vote and vote well. I suggest schools return civics classes to their curriculum and make attendance a requirement for 16 and 17-year-olds voting.
Interestingly, our Teen Outreach peer educators created a game called Debate without Hate in 2016. One of the topics was lowering the voting age to 16. A major argument in favor argued that teens are very well-informed due to social media and that many teens are community minded at 16. As in your social studies class, our teens did not prefer to be given the con side of the debate.
Change is happening. Britain recently joined Argentina and Brazil in giving 16-year-olds the vote. It would be interesting to see how today’s American 16-year-olds would respond to this question.
Have a question? Send it to Dr. Mary Jo Podgurski’s email podmj@healthyteens.com.