Should 16 Year Olds Get a Vote?

456 Words2 Pages
Those that started secondary school in England in September 2008 and onwards are now legally required to stay in education until 17 years of old, also, there is now a much higher demand for universities so most 16-17 year olds will not be likely to be exposed to the issues concerned and addressed by the government such as taxes, unemployment that means it is hard to survive (and perhaps how illegal immigration affects the ability to get a job) etc. So rather than considering each candidates proposals to address these issues and making an informed decision of which candidate they feel addressed the best the issues of the voter and matches the opinion in the issues concerned by the voter, as they are not exposed to such issues 16-17 year olds may vote for the sake of voting for a random candidate without carefully considering their decision. 16-17 year olds, most still living at home may be greatly influenced by their parents; especially if they are not interested in the idea of voting, parents may take advantage of this and use their child as an additional vote. Although just a portion of the British population, the London riots are likely to have put off many the idea of the voting age being lowered; it can be argued that the youth haven’t proved themselves worthy of a vote. However we cannot make judgements of such as 16-17 year olds not bothering about voting and voting for the sake of voting etc. because they have never had a reason, really, to take an interest in voting, because they have never been allowed to vote! Many people of 16 and 17 are interested about voting and the British government and have formed an opinion on which political party they would support, for example Law and Government & Politics college/ sixth form students, members of the youth parliament which is actually open to 11-18 year olds and there are bound to be many more interested
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