Most countries have a minimum voting
age of 18 years; however, since the turn of this century, several countries
have had ongoing debates about reducing the voting age to 17 or 16, and several
jurisdictions have legislated to lower the voting age. See Annex: List of
Jurisdictions and their Voting Age.
The following countries have
different minimum voting ages:[i]
- 16
years: Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany (only in some local
elections), Malta, Nicaragua, Scotland
- 17
years: Indonesia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Timor-Leste
- 19 years:
Republic of Korea
- 20
years: Bahrain, Cameroon, Nauru
- 21
years: Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Samoa,
Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tonga
- 25 years: United Arab Emirates
The arguments for lowering the voting
generally revolve around comparisons with non-electoral rights and
responsibilities, international comparisons, level of political awareness and
interest among the young, and the issue of maturity.
In general, those in favor are
convinced that lowering the voting age to 16 – in combination with stronger
civic and voter education programs in schools – could increase the political
participation of youth. The advocates for a lower voting age seek to strengthen
their case by noting that 16-year-olds participate in political debates on
social media and events, work, pay taxes, rent houses, and join the armed
forces in some countries. Consequently, given their contributions to society,
they should have the right to vote and hold representatives accountable for
decisions that are affecting their daily lives. Research shows that 16-17-year-olds
are more likely to vote than 18-20-year-olds—so giving them the vote when
slightly younger enables them to vote when it is most convenient for them.
The main arguments raised by opponents
of lowering voting ages to 16 or another age younger than 18 are that younger
people lack the maturity to grapple with complex political processes and that
they would most likely be influenced by the positions of their parents or other
adults. The relationship between age, maturity, and intelligence is complex and
contentious. Developmental assumptions about what young people are capable of
understanding and what motivates their behavior can influence public debate.
The assumption that young people do not have enough life experience or maturity
on which to base important decisions (such as voting), and also that they are
easily manipulated, is hotly debated.
See Annex: Arguments For and
Against Lowering the Voting Age.
There is a school of thought that
believes there should be no fixed minimum age; that it should instead be for
the individual to decide the age at which he or she is ready to vote; the
suggestion being that if you are interested enough, you are mature enough.[ii]
But most supporters of change accept that there should be some fixed age at
which voting is permitted, usually 16 or 17.[iii]
This debate intersects with the
discourse on the rights of children and adolescents and specifically on the
issue of legal minimum age legislation, which can be contentious, contextual,
and contradictory. In setting age limits, states have to balance protection
with empowerment and rights. Human rights law says that there can be
restrictions on who can vote in an election, as long as those restrictions are
based on objective and reasonable criteria. All states have limited eligibility
to vote based on age, no country allows people under 16 to vote in national
elections, and only a minority allow young people aged between 16 and 18 the
right to vote in national or municipal elections, some with conditions such as
being employed or married.[iv]
Countries that have lowered the voting age
Several of the countries that have
lowered the voting age have opted for an incremental approach, introducing the
new legislation in one local district, for example, as a test-case before
expanding to other districts. This approach was adopted in various
jurisdictions in Austria, Germany, Norway, and the United States, but only
Austria has expanded the legislation to all elections.
Since the 2010s, several
jurisdictions have attempted to lower the voting age to 16 or 17 years of age –
some have been successful while other attempts have been short-lived. Most
attempts have been in jurisdictions in developed countries, and most have been
unsuccessful; these include: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Council of
Europe, the United Kingdom (the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland
Assembly want to give their 16-year-olds the vote but need UK government
approval[v])
and the United States (including California, Florida, Alaska, and two districts
in Washington DC). Norway experimented
with a lowered voting age in 2011 in selected municipalities as a pilot.
Despite the growing momentum in many of these countries, there is also
considerable resistance to lowering the voting age among the public and
politicians.
There has been limited data (at least
that is available in English) in relation to the experience of those jurisdictions
that have lowered the voting age. And even with the more recent experiences,
there have only been one or two election cycles in which to assess the impact
of the legislation on patterns relating to voter turnout, voting behavior, and
other potential consequences of the legislation. Future research is needed to
examine the short-term and long-term impacts of such electoral reform.
The early data is, however, fairly
consistent: “Studies from a municipal
election in the United States, as well as national elections in Denmark
and Austria,
have shown that 16- and 17-year-olds are avid political participants and that
voting at 16 and 17 is habit-forming. Socialized into a culture of
participation early on, 16- and 17-year-old voters may age into more
politically active older people than those who do not vote for the first time
until they are 18 or 19.”[vi]
For more on the topic of lowering the
voting age, see ACE Spotlight on Voting Age.
[ii]
The Electoral Commission: Consultation summary, How old is old enough? The
minimum age of voting and candidacy in UK elections, 2003.
A variation on this concept is that
“everybody would be given the vote at birth, but children and young peoples’
votes would be exercised for them by their parents or guardians until age 14,
when individuals would be entitled to vote in their own right”.
[iii]
The Electoral Commission: Consultation summary, How old is old enough? The
minimum age of voting and candidacy in UK elections, 2003.
[vi] https://www.fairvote.org/brazilian-election-2014.
Note: Austria has lowered the voting age to 16 years, but Denmark has not
lowered their voting age; the Denmark study relates to the habits of first-time
voters. See Yosef Bhatti & Kasper M. Hansen (2012) Leaving the
Nest and the Social Act of Voting: Turnout among First-Time Voters, Journal
of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 22:4, 380-406, DOI: 10.1080/17457289.2012.721375
