%0 Journal Article
%T Why the voting age should be lowered to 16
%A Tommy Peto
%J Politics, Philosophy & Economics
%@ 1741-3060
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1470594X17705651
%X This article examines whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. The dominant view in the literature is that 16-year-olds in the United Kingdom are not politically mature enough to vote since they lack political knowledge, political interest and stable political preferences (Chan and Clayton, 2006). I reject this conclusion and instead argue that the voting age should be lowered to 16. First, I look at Chan and ClaytonĄ¯s empirical claims and show that these features of 16- and 17-year-olds are in fact created by exclusionary social practices and therefore that these features cannot be used to justify their exclusion from the vote. Second, I evaluate preliminary evidence from Austria which suggests that 16- and 17-year-olds, when actually given the vote, are politically mature. Third, I show that, on a balance of harms, considering that some 16- and 17-year-olds are mature, we still should lower the voting age even if some 16- and 17-year-olds are not politically mature. I conclude that the voting age should be lowered to (at least) 16
%K suffrage
%K voting age
%K youth enfranchisement
%K votes at 16
%K lowering the voting age
%K voting rights
%K childrenĄ¯s rights
%K youth politics
%K youth political engagement
%K children in democracy
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1470594X17705651