Should 16 Year Olds Vote?

685 Words3 Pages
At the tender age of sixteen, young people are very willing to try just about anything and everything so why not politics, where the decisions of the people who run the country affect the day to day life of sixteen year olds. They may be willing to, but should they be able to have the right to vote; a franchise? Will this power be abused? In some ways, young people are already involved in politics where they participate in political activities such as joining pressure groups, where they have the ability to influence public policy of a particular case or even having political discussions amongst their peers or families. The fact that they are able to be mature enough to take part in these activities surely means that they are mature and responsible enough to vote; they are willing to vote but are unable to do so. Additionally, they many feel frustration as they are unable to have a say in what they are concerned about. James Evans, Member of the Youth Parliament for Wokingham, asks, "Do young people want a say in the decisions that affect their everyday lives?" In this case, yes they do. However, in one way not all young people do. Some young teenagers have political apathy where they are uninterested in the political world. A survey taken by two teenagers for the BBC News shows that most of the young people they talked to didn't want to vote or wanted anything to do with politics. Additionally, young people may actually abuse this right to vote as they may not be aware of what each political party offers or which they truly want to vote for, and therefore would be uneducated and so, uninformed. The fact that they may not appreciate the right means that it would be possible for young people to affect the way the country is run where this could be negative, especially if they are ignorant. On the other hand, young people already have rights and responsibilities
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