By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
sc94597 on 16 May 2013
Edit Thread
spurgeonryan said:
sc94597 said:
I don't see why not. Age restrictions on voting mean very little today among the highly uneducated masses. Furthermore, seventeen year olds can work and pay taxes just like adults. I think the age requirement for voting should be the same as the age at which somebody can drop out of high school. Thus we have a baseline for the lowest-common-denominator of voting persons.


So 17 year olds can vote, but when it comes to actually being an adult, they are not? What about in a murder case? Or what about freedoms like Smoking and whatever else that happens at 18? I guess if kids can join the military at 17, then they can vote at 17.

Most 17 year olds will be tried as an adult in a murder case anyway. As for smoking age, seventeen year olds should be restricted from purchasing cigarettes because they tend to still be in school and can provide them to other, much younger and developing students. Meanwhile many 18 year olds are out of school. It's the same logic as having an alcohol drinking age of 21, despite 18 being the age of majority. Nevertheless I wouldn't mind a repealment of smoking laws, determined by the different states of course. The age of voting should be the same as the age of income taxation. If minors can work at sixteen and are taxed, then they should be able to vote. For federal voting it would be determined by the upper limit of state working ages. Which I do believe is sixteen, if I recall correctly.