General Chat

Re young voters - well I can recall a 20yr old going to vote for the first time and her head came out of the box 'Mum what do I do now'? All I could say is 'I can't help you'. The staff were in fits of laughter.

This was in spite of her 17yr old brother writing down the instructions for her.

Mind you I had a 65yr old neighbour who had never voted in her life and I was horrified.

Call me an old sceptic if you like but I feel the trend to get young people vote is because they have not experienced the lying and dirty tricks politicians get up to when I was young we thought it could all be changed, the heady days of Bob Dylan,
Hair and peace and love could save the world.

Now we know better.

In Scotland, they receive a far better education.

Their grammar and maths far exceed most of those of the same age in England. Smaller class sizes and stricter teachers.

I'm not really sure that it is a good idea. There are exceptions, with people like Guinivere and Glasgowlass mention showing genuine interest and awareness, but on the whole I don't think that many 16 year olds have the knowledge and experience to have good judgement by the age of 16, not when you look at the whole population of that age. Not many are even contributing to the economy and paying taxes and those things can influence voting and bring more awareness of how things work.

If politicians were looking to win over the larger numbers of young voters there would then be, policies could be skewed to their interests and less to the grey vote's needs. I feel older people have had enough taken away from them with all kinds of cuts in recent years.

I think that Modern Studies taught in school has a lot to do with it.

My eldest went to Uni at 17yrs old and studied Politics because she enjoyed Modern Studies.

I agree with you. I was in a Youth Parliament when I was 16 and it taught me a lot about politics and political parties.

The 16 year olds I work with are very politically aware on a lot of things.

Having watched several debates involving "The Youth Parliament" which I have to say impressed me, and having not only seen the affect young voters had on the turnout in the Scottish Referendum - but also listened to many of their views, I wonder if we under-estimate the ability of young people to absorb information and act responsibly on that information.

At 16 and 17 young people can already do things - like getting married, have children, join the armed forces, pay taxes, change their name by deed poll, and make many other important decisions.

Why should they not be allowed to vote before they reach 18 years of age, after all, a 16 year old voting in a UK General Election would be voting for a government that will make decisions that affect there future.

Personally I think the voting age should be be lowered - do you and if not why not?