Why can't teenagers have the right to vote?

I guess because we dont make the best decisions sometimes.

Even many adults can’t really vote intelligently. Most of the time the real issues are not taken into account or have as much weight for many voters and they end up voting for the better talker or who is better looking or dresses better or who more than likely their friends will vote for.

Relict of former times, I’ll call it.

When democracy was young, some places had rules that said only tax payers or property owners could vote. Some places even had rules that said someone who paid a lot of taxes could vote twice or more often per election. There were democracies that had one vote per household, so women were not allowed to vote, nor adult males who lived in a relatives house or who were servants in another mans house.

There were different systems in the many European states - if they were democratic at all. And the US wasn’t all fair in the beginning either. For example in 1790 only white male adult property-owners had the right to vote. There were several laws in US history that made literacy prerequisite to voting. Some of these laws were to discriminate against Irish-Catholic immigrants, later they were discriminating against black Americans that way. And besides it was only 1924 when native Americans were officially made US citizens and thus allowed to vote.

I found this source on the history of U.S. Voting Rights http://funadvice.com/r/157h8hm9009

So as a teenager, you are basically your parents liability. And they have to decide what’s good for you. Was the same with women until 1920. Before that, the ladies had to rely on their husbands voting to their benefit.

Neither do adults. :(

in scotland you can’t vote till you are 18 and i think it’s a good idea, im going to be completely honest and admit that this year when i went along and soon as i saw the name “The Pirate Party” they got my vote purely based on their name and i had to go home and google them so i think that goes to show one of the reasons most teens probably shouldn’t vote

When I was a kid the drinking age where I lived was 18 but you had to be 21 to vote; kinda’ reverse of how it is now. Anyway, the Vietnam war was in full swing and many 18-20 year olds thought it was wrong that they were considered adult enough to be drafted into the military and forced to risk their lives but not adult enough to vote. A lot of older people agreed. Naturally lots of younger people are well versed on issues while lots of older voters don’t have a clue but we have to draw the line somewhere. 18 where in America you become fully responsible for your own actions seems to be a logical age to choose.

Most teenagers are not educated enough to vote properly. The large majority would vote based on what their parents put: the rebellious voting opposite and the mommas boy/daddys girl voting with them. There would be too small of a benefit to overcome this obstacle.

P.S. I’m 19 and still don’t see myself educated enough to vote.

Since education requirements used to be used as discrimination, what would you say to an IQ requirement for voting? The test can, of course, be taken multiple times and is open to all. What is your opinion?

Sorry to interject, but GAF (global assessment of functioning) can be different for all different IQs. IQ is just a test. It does not assess the person’s functioning.

It’s a good idea to be honest

Because we dont want Justin beiber for President.