Actually, I'm not sure why this is a bad idea. Any 14-year-old who cares enough to register and vote would probably do so at least as responsibly as many adult voters. The fact that voters have to register will result in self-selection.
Sure, but voter registration drives and voting booths set up at the local Junior High (as I imagine happening) will probably result in higher percentages of young voters.
Also, I'm not sure that the main qualification for voting being the ability to stumble or drag yourself into a voting booth has ever been a great selector at any age - I just admit I can't think of a better system. But I would like to think there might be at least a tiny minimum of life experience behind the excercise of the franchise. Getting through, or almost getting through, with High School seems as good an arbitrary cut-off as any, and better than some.
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Actually, I'm not sure why this is a bad idea. Any 14-year-old who cares enough to register and vote would probably do so at least as responsibly as many adult voters. The fact that voters have to register will result in self-selection.
Sure, but voter registration drives and voting booths set up at the local Junior High (as I imagine happening) will probably result in higher percentages of young voters.
Also, I'm not sure that the main qualification for voting being the ability to stumble or drag yourself into a voting booth has ever been a great selector at any age - I just admit I can't think of a better system. But I would like to think there might be at least a tiny minimum of life experience behind the excercise of the franchise. Getting through, or almost getting through, with High School seems as good an arbitrary cut-off as any, and better than some.