 that this is a partisan idea). Almost half of states already allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they’ll turn 18 before the general election.
The results of lowering the voting age could be monumental: If high schoolers were able to vote, might politicians be more inclined to make sure schools are fairly-funded?
Critics of the idea are skeptical that 16-year-olds can make informed decisions in the voting booth. (Because, well, 16-year olds make poor decisions about a lot of things.) And it’s true that adolescent brains have not fully matured. But what goes on behind anyone’s curtain? Do we really think turning 18 makes a person suddenly civically mature? In the United States, we trust 16-year-olds behind the wheel of a car, decide that 18-year-olds are mature enough to go to war, and think that it is only at 21 that a human being can handle a beer. These are arbitrary designations based not on actual human ability, but on a community standard—in Europe, for example, the drinking age is 16 in some places and 18 most everywhere else. And studies from Austria and elsewhere have found that the quality of teenager’s voting choices were equal to that of older citizens.
“I really think that given the right to vote, youth will be more accountable for their actions,” says Abigail Koerner, an 11th grader in Washington, D.C., working to secure the vote for her peers. “Teenagers have babies and take care of them and raise them to adulthood. Teenagers work and save money. Teenagers have responsibilities and are involved in society. Teenagers spend months applying to colleges and making educated decisions about where to go. Critics should see that youth will take this seriously the same way youth consider other responsibilities.”
In Philadelphia, unlike in Maryland, a change to the voting age for municipal elections may require a change in the state election code, allowing Philadelphia to create its own age restrictions. It is a fight that would be worth it, if only for one reason: We are desperate to jump start voting. Last November, in the election to determine who will likely lead this city for the next eight years, just 25 percent of eligible voters came out to the polls in Philadelphia. The highest percentage of those voters were 50-64; 18 to 29 year olds made the poorest showing. Nationally in November, a record low 36 percent of eligible voters came out to the polls, according to Generation Citizen, a youth civics education program that works with Vote16USA. Among 18 to 29 year olds, only 19.9 percent voted, the lowest turnout ever.
With civics education on a decades-long decline, that number is not going to change on its own. That’s why organizations like Generation Citizen and the Rendell Center for Civics Education are working to bring civics learning back in to schools and communities. Klugman says lowering the voting age is one way to boost civics education: If high school juniors are expected to vote, then their schools will need to teach them about how their vote works. And the results could be monumental: If high schoolers were able to vote, might politicians be more inclined to make sure schools are fairly-funded?
Voting is direct action, and has been shown to create more civic involvement. Civic education goes deeper; it teaches students how to get involved beyond election —from writing letters to representatives in Congress, to volunteering on campaigns, to educating peers and even parent about the importance of issues like education. This, research has shown, is not only how you create a nation of civic-minded citizens. It’s how you create a Democracy.
Header Photo: Flick/Phil Roeder