Voting age to be lowered to 16 in UK by next general election

Honestly no, I was a twat at sixteen. But I acknowledge that I'm speaking for myself.

In most of the west you can legally drop out ~15 years old. I kinda wish I did tbh. Most of my education came after school.

"I oppose democracy unless it aligns with me"

— this chudd

Like Brexit? Damn all those 16 and 17 voters.

Oh wait, they weren't part of that.

If you pay (edit: income) tax, you should have the right to vote. I'm not convinced by all of the catastrophizing about it. Turning 16 unlocks a lot of rights and privileges in the UK and I have faith that teenagers won't be the reason that quality of life worsens.

Maybe but electoral outcomes can take decades to work out the consequences they have to live with, so it makes some sense.to allow them to have a voice.

When i voted my first time at 18 i wasn't engaged in either the process or the candidates, it took another couple years, so maybe by the time they're 18-20 they will take it seriously and be more engaged rather then by the time i was 22-24.

As a 60 yr old, lefty, I don't think an 80 yr old should have the vote. They had their chance for many, many decades.

Babies and toddlers don't know shit, plus parents have an extreme amount of coercion over their children until they're teenagers.

Like I said we don't make this a prequisite for adults. There are plenty of disabled or old people fully dependent on others.

Also allowing children to vote will result in more political propaganda targeted at children.

That is an interesting point definitely worth debating. Propaganda would definitely be an issue, but this is the case not just in children, but adults alike. On the other hand with children becoming a voting block it might shift the focus slightly on topics benefiting them.

They deserve to enjoy childhood without worrying about the clusterfuck.

True, although I think children pick up a lot regardless. And importantly obliviousness of issues doesn't change how it affects them. Climate change and unfair pension systems for example will affect them regardless, this way they'd at least have a voice.

I think "teenager" is probably as low as you want to go for the foreseeable future.

I can for sure see how opinions can differ on the topic and I'd totally be ok with compromises and accepting some degree of hypocrisy. But nonetheless it's imo worth looking at the issue from the extreme.

As far as compromises go I think another way to go about it would be to have staggered voting with lower limits in more local votes. I could see how it might be more acceptable there for some.

Edit: also regarding babies and toddlers i'd think that they would need to express a desire to vote in some form, which would probably make it so you don't have literal 1 year olds voting (unless they are like an extreme genius, at which point they might aswell and it would only be a single vote of millions). Maybe one compromise would be to require some more active component below a certain age threshold, like having to vote in person for the first time or at least having to register somewhere (which if not done prior would happen automatically at a certain age).

Yes, but we are not filtering for maturity and capability in adults. So if this is the argument then imo it is flawed, since we'd filter for something just to stop filtering for it after a certain age.

If one wants to filter for these things then it should be applied across the board. However we are not doing so for good reasons (I can provide some if needed).

Some people become president of the world's most heavily armed nation without one

the age limit is not about closing people out entirely, but limit it while they are more gullible. sure there's lots of fools beyond 18, but the concept is that hopefully most people as they ahe, become less so, and much of that process happens around age 18 and somewhat beyond.
now add that kids today are not only exposed to shit spreading on facebook but now tiktok too, and they don't know when they are being deceived. source: I didn't know with facebook when I was in that age.

look, there were not too many elections yet on which I could have voted. but I think even 18 might be too early. I remember that I just missed an election by a few months, and today I'm ashamed of what would have been my choice. I almost voted for a party that looked ashamed of its corrupt past, just because they acknowledged it and promised it wouldn't happen again.

this is not a step forward.

Those are good questions

I do think that our voting public needs more education and we needed to have age appropriate, and yes , at times medical consitions may have to be looked at.

I feel that the last part I can speak to a bit( I am not a doctor or anything) as I grew up with a mother who was left with extreme tbi after an accident but could still function in society.

But she didn't vote. She didn't have any grasp of what was happening politically. She was never told not to, but I think somehow she knew.

Honestly there are ways to disseminate the voting information enough that those who can grasp the vote should.

I have no easy answers though. It's not an easy question

I will say this. As well. I have a 17 year old extremely intelligent son. He works. He ain't ready to vote. He'll be the first to say it as well.