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Let's lower the voting age

The general membership of the BC NDP agrees with me, the voting age should be lowered to 16.
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The general membership of the BC NDP agrees with me, the voting age should be lowered to 16. Lowering the voting age might seem strange to some but I and many others think that it could be one of the easiest ways to increase our dismal voter turnout rates.

It might even save a few people from experiencing the emotional trauma of being told "OK BOOMER". This tagline is often used when a young person and a Baby Boomer are having a disagreement and the Gen Z or Millenial does not feel like they are being heard. The common feeling is that Baby Boomers "just don't get it". I do agree that there are large differences between our generations but I think we need to be doing everything possible to learn from our elders and get to the root cause of why we don't feel heard.

Our young people are worried about the future. They are starting to see the effects of climate change with their own eyes and this has made them uneasy. People like Greta Thunberg are inspiring younger and younger people to get involved in advocating for their futures and they should have a voice when it comes to electing the politicians that are dictating their future. I spent a lot of time in classrooms during the last election and I can tell you from experience that some of the toughest questions came from these visits. It makes sense that the kids are so informed as they study the political platforms as part of their education. The common response from those not in support of lowering the voting age is that 16-year-olds don't know enough about politics to make an educated vote but I disagree.

If politics and civics are taught well and voting stations are put in high schools, the barriers to voting for the first time will be removed and Gen Z will begin to feel empowered and participate. They are informed, they want to have a say in their futures and if we get them to vote once, studies show that they are far more likely to do it again. Another surprising consequence of lowering the voting age is that it also encourages parents to practise their democratic right as well.

I directly witnessed the positive impacts of engaging youth in the last election. I can't tell you how many conversations I had that started with a parent coming up to me and saying "your presentation inspired some really interesting conversations at our dinner table."

The average age in Parliament is 52, contrasted against the average age of Canadians at 40. If we want a truly representative democracy, we should be aiming to close the gap between these numbers. I believe we will see a domino effect if we lower the voting age. It will lead to an increase in younger candidates, and hopefully, that will mean more young people elected, closing this age gap. Not only will this help young people feel more represented in government and decrease intergenerational tensions, but it will also help with knowledge transfer when it comes to passing knowledge from one generation of parliamentarians to another.

So is this just a crazy idea or have countries actually successfully lowered the voting age?

It has been successful in Austria, Scotland, Argentina, and Brazil to name a few. If we trust 16-year-olds enough to drive and work, why do we not trust them with the ability to be informed enough about politics to vote?

A mistake in either of those activities has far more potential to do damage than casting a ballot. Our society has a habit of just voting for the same party they have always voted for regardless of the candidate or leader. It's less likely that voters will inform themselves on the platforms of every party because there are barriers to accessing this information. Who has the time to read through 4, 80-page policy documents? 16-year-olds do, especially if it's assigned as homework. Including more young people in our political process is not going to erode our democracy, it will strengthen it.