In the United Kingdom, the number 16 just got sweeter. The European nation is
considering lowering its voting age to 16. It is now the time for this Village to take a step into the future and consider pursuing the “Vote 16 NYACK” initiative.
High schoolers today are living in a world beset with challenges unseen by many earlier generations, and the current political climate seems to suggest there will be more. We have seen that the very act of attending school has become a roulette wheel of survival as mass shootings, using weapons of war, are such a constant threat that students must regularly engage in shooter drills to give them some hope of surviving such incidents. Climate change barrels along at an unsustainable pace with its most devastating impacts destined to affect high schoolers as they try to advance into a vibrant life. It appears that there will be an onslaught of constitutional crises in weeks if not days. A number of school and municipal policies, including book banning and curfew laws, are proposed with virtually no input from
the very citizens who are directly impacted.
“Vote 16 Nyack” is simply a recognition that a country built upon the principle of
representation in a government by the people, of the people and for the people should not arbitrarily prohibit a key and interested element of the citizenry from having full voting rights. This concept of extending the franchise is not new or novel. The UK may soon join Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Austria to name a few countries that have granted 16-year olds the right to vote in all elections. People without real property, African Americans, women and tribal people all at one point had the US government affirmatively grant them the right to vote
The discussion on Facebook has been interesting, with some saying Nyack 16 and 17 year olds don’t have a high school diploma, job or life experience and therefore should not be allowed to vote in Village elections. One could say the same about a number of people who currently can vote, so that opposition does not seem sound. Another objection to having the voting age start at 16 is that unlike the Nyack teens, those in the UK;are more mature, have a much better education and are significantly more worldly.“ Without agreeing with the characterization, if that is a standard for voting, the Nyack voting rolls would be infinitely smaller overnight.
As to maturity, Amsterdam and other towns have imposed bans on British youth because of hooliganism and other immature acts. Some have objected that giving 16-year olds the vote will expand the number of people not paying anything into the system that can vote for free stuff. If we wanted to prevent folks not paying anything from voting, there are people far older and wealthier than teens to target first.
Moreover, at 16, these potential voters work, collect salaries, pay taxes, drive on our roads, manage the care of younger children as babysitters and camp counselors, and actually are closer to the education of how democracies function than many others currently with the vote.
Another reason to deny voting rights some say is the belief that their parents will tell them what to vote for or that they’re easily swayed and manipulated by politicians playing on their emotions, while selling them half-truths; To be clear, many gave that same reasoning as a rationale for denying women the vote, and some will say today’s current electorate is easily manipulated. In addition, having raised a teenager, a sure way to get them to vote opposite a parent is to dictate to them how to vote.
I find it hard to understand how we put trust in these young citizens for many things but make a blanket statement that we won’t trust them to vote. I think the various objections to lowering the voting age hides the true reason for denying 16- year olds the vote. You want to deny them the vote because they will vote. They will vote at 16 and 17. They will vote 2 years later. They will vote in their 20s. Starting political engagement early likely means that they may be reliable, engaged voters for the next 60 years or more. Folks my age hope they will have another 15-20 years, with full faculties, to vote.
While this movement will have a long way to go in this country at the federal level, Nyack can be a proud leader in creating this overdue change for all Nyack elections. Act now and help make this change. Arm our young people now so they learn early the importance of informed and engaged political action. Their activism may be needed sooner than we think.
