From within one year of being in highschool, I have learnt that young adults rush for almost everything. From rushing through their homework to rushing to the DMV as soon as they turn 16.As soon as 20 year olds turn 21 they cram into their nearest bar, to legally party all night.However there is one exception. You rarely see young adults rushing to register to vote when they turn 18. Infact, only 21% of US citizens aged from 18 to 24 voted in the 2010 midterm election.Based on this,one can guess how many 17 year olds were eagerly looking forward to their next birthday,so they could register to vote.That means around 1 in every 5 young adults would have voted, so about 6 million votes from the 18 to 24 year old population were cast.Although …show more content…
Potential youth leaders also don’t run for positions,because they know that many youth voters will not vote and participate in the election.This causes an unfair and extremely high representation of the older age groups.Also a democracy cannot continue running this way,if the low voter turnout does not go up.Democracies are threatened by low voter turnout rates,because the loss of votes from a certain demographic groups marks a difference in the outcome of a democratic representative election.Each group that was under-represented would influence election results and might ultimately influence government choices or public policies.Without the “low voter turnout” voters, a democracy is only representative of political enthusiasts,who tend to prefer one status quo or
In Margaret Adsett’s article on young voters in Canada, she discusses the growing problem of low youth involvement in politics. In the paper, she tries to explain why the number of young voters has gone down from 70 per cent to 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000.
Allowing teens that are sixteen and seventeen vote is a good idea because many kids have a dream of their own. Ben miller, who is one of the first sixteen years olds to vote stated “it's a valuable privilege”, Which in all ways he's correct not many countries allow their younger generations to vote. After the “26 amendment gave 18-year-olds the right to vote” (shin) the rate of voter registration want up. The younger teenagers are considered more likely to vote than the elders. This showed a small difference in the outturn making it a better chance for whatever candidate to be chosen. Although, Miller did not have a driver's license yet he was still able to vote because of his “pre-register” which allowed him to vote “through the Motor vehicle administration”(shin). Even though his mother was a”writer and whose father does international relief and development work”(shin), he was
In chapter one, Wattenberg discusses the declining trends of Americans who regularly read newspapers between the 1960’s and present day. This can be attributed the aging patterns among generations who frequently read newspapers as well as with the use of technology rising. Reading the newspaper is a habit that either is or is not developed by the time one reaches voting age. With this, newspapers have become an older generation’s primary source of information, however, are still the best source for political matters. Younger generations tend to be more computer literate and have grown up with television and media more accessible to them than the previous generation. These trends not only reflect in American culture, but in other countries
Proponents of a lowered voting age were quick to point out the irony that these young people were old enough to go to war but not old enough to elect the people drafting them. Congress proposed the 26th Amendment in response to immense pressure from angry, anti-war protesters. And, according to the National Constitution Center, the 26th Amendment was ratified in less than four months in what was and continues to be “the shortest ratification period of any constitutional amendment” (n.d.). Now, one would think that the record-breaking ratification of an expansion of voting rights would inspire young people to flock to the polls. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.
Now why does this kind of age discrimination affect voter turnout among young people? In the first place, it is clear that a sense of disenfranchisement with the political system develops when citizens cannot identify with their representatives. Part of the reason why white people over 45 vote more often is that most candidates for political office are white and over 45. Idealistic political philosophy often maintains that any citizen ought to be able to
Why vote? This is a major question among many young Americans today. America's youth, does not take the time to read articles, observe the news, or pay attention to presidential debates and campaigns due to their busy schedules. This creates two problems. First, young voters have little knowledge of current issues in the election. Also as a result, they are unaware of the importance of voting. Each presidential election stirs up an old controversy of whether to vote or not to vote. There are many young people who think that voting is not important; I believe that it is. By voting you are exercising your right as an American to voice your opinion, and young Americans need to become aware of this.
I belive that before se set out to make major changes to the voter laws, such as changing the voter age requirment, new programes should be rolled out in an attempt to increase younger voter turnout fist. For example, use of social media to target younger voters. More political ingagment with a younger age group would help build on itself as polititions engage and take up issues that matter to yonger voters, thus incressing young voter turnout, and thus raising the value of younger voters to polititions seeking ideas and votes to be elected or re-elected. a prime example is how effective it was for Bill Clintons campaign during the 90's when he appealed to young voters by going on "MTV."
Although all Americans have the right over the age of 18, not all citizens vote because of four common, yet relevant reasons. One’s educational level, age, level of income, and prestige of occupation determine if they will vote or not.
The idea that 16 year-olds should vote has been discussed and freshly taken back into consideration. It is not the initial time it has been recommended the United States should modify its guidelines concerning the age one can vote, drink alcohol or join the military. Until 1920, only white men were given the right to vote. There were decades of fighting for the right to vote to be given to African Americans and women. So clearly, the right to vote for all hasn’t always been an established human right in America. Teen drivers have historically been the most reckless drivers. If we can’t confidently trust a 16 year old to drive a vehicle, how is it a good idea to give them the right to vote on the highest political positions in the country? It
The brains are still developing in a young adults mind. If the age of voting went down anymore it will only be changing the legal age, but most sixteen year olds aren’t having their minds set on politics. It’s better to keep the legal voting age to eighteen so it’s fully developed adults that have grown from graduating from high school can vote properly. Politicians need to remember that eighteen is suppose to be the age someone turns into a real adult in this world. It’s better to keep the legal age of eighteen for real adults that can make real choices like
a topic one day only to have their interest fizzle out the next; clearly , that causes problems
Most of the 16 and 17 year olds have felonys because of something they did and that eliminates them from vosting until the age of 18. Most contries have lowered there voting age and turned out great. Knowing that Austria is the country with the highest voter participation even with people 16 and older are voting to. People 16 and 17 years old would like to vote as well as others knowing the know the parting their in and the ideas their givng out. America ranks at
Younger people ages 18 – 24 have been less likely to vote in the past due to lack of interest, money, or time to go. Also, they just had a lack of information so they just didn’t care to have
The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate.
1. Only 21 percent of the voting eligible population in 2014 were young adults ages 18-29 (“why student voters matter”, 2016).