Youth suffrage
Youth suffrage is the right of youth to vote and forms part of the broader universal suffrage and youth rights movements. Most democracies have lowered the voting age to between 16 and 18, while some advocates for children's suffrage hope to remove age restrictions entirely.[1]
Proposed minimum voting ages[edit]
16[edit]
Currently the lowest national voting age around the world, there seems to be a consensus in studies of elections that voters at 16 have proven to be substantially the same as voters at 18.[28][29] The majority of campaigns to lower the voting age worldwide (as of January 2023) seek a voting age of 16, with perhaps the most notable example being the European Union's endorsement that its members lower their voting ages to 16.[30] In countries with both compulsory voting and a voting age at 16 (Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador), the penalties for not voting start at 18.
15[edit]
Avi Hein and Ta-Nehisi Coates called for lowering the voting age to 15.[31][32] (note: the United Nations defines "youth" as being from ages 15 to 24.)[33]
6[edit]
Politics professor David Runciman argues for lowering the voting age to 6, given that at that age children tend to be in school and have enough ability to read and fill out a multiple-choice ballot.[34][35]
5[edit]
Youth councils (or children's parliaments) often include children starting at age 5, which John Wall submits as evidence of their readiness for other civic roles such as voting (note: he advocates eliminating age requirements altogether).[30]
4[edit]
Democratic schools practice and support universal suffrage in school, which allows a vote to every member of the school including students and staff. Schools hold that this feature is essential for students to be ready to move into society at large. The Sudbury Valley School, for example, allows all kids ages 4 and up an equal say in its operation.[36][37]
0 (Eliminate age requirements)[edit]
Some advocate for eliminating age as a factor altogether in enfranchisement noting that in practice most very young children won't choose to vote, but that they should have the right to do so when they feel ready,[16] with some supporting a proxy vote to be awarded to their parents until the child wants to vote.[30] Others cite how literacy tests were banned for adults, and therefore should be done away with for young kids too by removing the voting age.[38][39]