The Supreme Court has found the current voting age limit discriminates against young people. But there are other good arguments for lowering the age, including strengthening our democracy.
There are several moves afoot to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. It’s long overdue.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Voting rights in Canada have changed over time to become more inclusive. Challenging age discrimination in Canada’s election system could be the next step in expanding and strengthening our democracy.
For teenagers, blogging about politics in school can help them hone their views – and be more tolerant of others’.
Thousands of high school students across the US walked out of their schools to protest gun violence and to call for changes to gun laws.
EPA/Tannen Maury
Bronwyn E Wood, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Nick Munn, University of Waikato
Lowering the voting age to 16 would bring the age of political responsibility more in line with the age of criminal responsibility and the age of informed consent for medical procedures.
Vietnam War protests led to a lower voting age. The Parkland shooting could push similar reevaluations.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Teens’ brains develop different skills along a predictable timeline. These milestones should influence the legal age boundaries for voting, buying guns and being put to death.
Votes for 16 protest in London, 2016.
Shutterstock
The UK doesn’t have enough evidence to back votes for 16 and 17-year-olds.
As young Australians approach voting age they need simple, clear and practical instructions about the mechanics of how government works and how to vote.
Shutterstock
Results from the latest report into civics and citizenship education show by the time students hit year ten, the majority of them have little knowledge about Australian civics and democracy.
The default position in social and political theory is to disregard children altogether, or to consider them as learner-citizens.
AAP/Lucy Hughes Jones
There is a growing canyon now separating politics as understood and practiced by political authorities from the political practices of everyday people.
Bill Shorten has charged Sam Dastyari to recommend whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 or 17.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Professor of Adolescent Health The University of Melbourne; Director, Royal Children's Hospital Centre for Adolescent Health, The University of Melbourne