Our results prove the critics wrong. Firstly, we do not find that citizens under the age of 18 cannot or do not want to participate effectively in political life. Second, although voter turnout is relatively low in this group, we find no evidence that this is due to a lack of ability or motivation to participate. Instead, 18- to 21-year-olds tend to be the most problematic group. Finally, we do not find that the voting decisions of citizens under the age of 18 reflect their preferences less well than those of older voters. In summary, lowering the voting age does not appear to have a negative impact on the legitimacy of submission and the quality of democratic decision-making. This means that the possible positive consequences of this reform deserve particular attention and should also be the subject of empirical investigation. In this paper, however, we do not address voter turnout itself. On the one hand, the study of changing voting habits requires a longer-term perspective, which can only be achieved two years after the voting age has been lowered. Moreover, the exclusive examination of voter turnout should not be the only way to ascertain whether the decline in voter turnout is a concern. As mentioned above, it is particularly worrying when decisions not to vote are an expression of disillusionment, indifference or lack of competence (Chan and Clayton, 2006).5 The National Assembly for Wales passed the Senedd and Election (Wales) Act on 27 November 2019.
[64] A vote in favour of abolishing this right was rejected by 41 votes to 11. Our main comparison concerns the congruence between voters and parties in the left-right dimension. This dimension can be seen as an abbreviation or heuristic that voters use to facilitate ideological competition. The left-right dimension has proven to be an appropriate measure of citizens` general ideological orientations (Fuchs and Klingemann, 1990; Huber, 1989) and on the influence of voting decisions, also in Austria (Hellwig, 2008). Therefore, we use the left-right link to test our hypothesis. Given that the survey was carried out in the context of the European Parliament elections, voters at the time may have been more concerned about the congruence with the dimension of European integration than the general left-right dimension. We present these results in the two lower graphs in Fig. 4. Since the survey does not contain assessments of the parties` positions on this topic, we again use Hooghe et al. (2010) Scores that asked experts to rate parties according to their “overall orientation towards European integration” on a scale of 1 to 7, which we resized to a range of 0 to 10. We make two comparisons.
First, we compare voters` positions on European unification with the values of the resized parties (bottom left chart). Second, we divide voters into two groups – skeptical and non-skeptical about integration – and compare them to the dichotomized measure of party positions by Hooghe et al. (bottom right chart).20 Both measurement approaches show that there are no significant differences between age groups. To the extent that there are differences – although not statistically distinguishable – it is young voters whose voting decisions are more in line with the parties` positions on European integration. This indicates that voters under the age of 18 are focusing on the issues at stake in the election, in this case the European elections. Expatriates living abroad can vote if they have been registered in the last 15 years. Qualified Commonwealth citizens of the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies may also vote. Extending the right to vote to youth under the age of 18 may have an impact on voter turnout. On the one hand, some researchers argue that voter turnout may improve in the long term, as youth under the age of 18 are more easily and sustainably mobilized to vote due to socialization effects (e.g., Franklin, 2004). On the other hand, critics argue that it may also be that youth under the age of 18 simply reflect low voter turnout among 18- to 21-year-olds (e.g., Electoral Commission, 2004). Voters in Northern Ireland can vote in three elections.
These are: During the debates of the Youth Parliament in the House of Commons on October 30, 2009, voting at age 16 was debated, and youth in this age group voted overwhelmingly in favour. In April 2015, the Labour Party announced that it would support this policy if it won an absolute majority in the 2015 general election,[55] which it did not do. If you live outside the UK, you may be able to register to vote in the following countries: Lowering the voting age to 16 in the United Kingdom was first seriously considered on December 15, 1999, when the House of Commons in committee considered an amendment proposed by Simon Hughes to the Representation of the People Bill. [46] This was the first time that lowering the voting age to less than 18 had been voted in the House of Commons. [47] The government rejected the amendment by a vote of 434 to 36. [47] In June 2015, the Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to lower the voting age to 16 for Scottish Parliament and local elections. [44] The Representation of the People Act 1969 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 from 1970 and remained in force until the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013, which allowed 16-year-olds to vote for the first time, but only in Scotland and only in that particular referendum. The Scottish Parliament lowered the voting age to 16 for its own local elections and those of the Scots in 2015. [44] Brazil lowered the voting age in the 1988 constitution from 18 to 16. The 1989 presidential election was the first with the voting age lower. Persons between the ages of 18 and 70 have the right to vote.
In this article, we test whether these reviews are right. Are young people under the age of 18 less able and motivated to participate effectively in political life? And do these factors influence whether and how they exercise their right to vote? If the answer to these questions is yes, lowering the voting age could indeed have negative consequences for the health of democracy. If the answer is no, then critics probably have fewer arguments as to why we should be against lowering the voting age. Instead, we could consider the possible positive consequences of reform, such as linking young people to the democratic process, encouraging the development of voting habits and ensuring that their interests are represented. If you are a citizen of an EU country other than the Republic of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, you do not have the right to vote in British general elections, but you do have the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament, Local Council and Mayor, the London Assembly and the Mayor of London. Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds can vote in Scottish general and local elections. They could also vote in the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. 17Political interest can be a problematic variable in voter turnout patterns. The decision to vote may increase interest and reverse the causality that the model assumes, and interest and intention of voter turnout may be closely related concepts in each case (Rubenson et al., 2004; Denny and Doyle, 2008). The strong effect of interest rate variables underscores this possibility. Our non-political results show that the interpretation of the age difference does not depend on this variable alone. This means that the register of local governments will include 16- and 17-year-olds as full voters, 16- and 17-year-olds will have the right to vote in Senedd1 elections as well as municipal elections on or after 5 May 2022.2 The proposal is criticised in particular by claiming that young people are too much under the influence of parents, teachers and peers to make an independent and informed decision.
[10] On the other hand, one of the main arguments in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 is that at this age, in most countries, a person has reached the legal working age for most jobs and is taxable and therefore does not have to pay taxes without the right to political representation. [11] Many argue that 16- and 17-year-olds should also be able to vote in all local and parliamentary elections in the UK. Below is a chronological list of the dates on which countries lowered the voting age to 18. Unless otherwise stated, the reduction of 21.