At 18 you become an adult citizen, no longer a dependant of your parents, your views are your own and you are capable of entering a legal contract without supervision of a guardian, as the voting ballot is an official document and can be as a legal contract between you and your government, in that by accepting your vote your government is required by law to count it as an individual opinion among all the others and to do justice to the ultimate result.

At 16 you are incapable of forming your own true opinion without being influenced by fashion, trends, social circles and general peer pressure it is therefore irresponsible to count their opinion in matters regarding state. At 16 years you cannot be taxed and therefore have no invested interest in how tax money is spent and therefore have no right to have voice in deciding which of the policies of the electoral candidates is better.

Saying that a sixteen year old is incapable of forming their own opinion is riduiculous! Every person is influenced by fashion, trends and peers, this is tue of all people. At sixteen you are involed in a school system where you are required to form arguments and reasoned opinions all the time in order to advance through the system if anything a sixteen year old who is always needing to educate themselves and form opinions is more qualified to do so about the matters of their state than someone who has not needed to do so for years after leaving school. Also a sixteen year old can enter employment as as such (at least in New Zealand) can be taxed accordingly.

Voting age in different countries is different.It varies from 16 to 25.
In my opinion the ideal age is 18.Voter of 18 years is capable of making free choice.He/She attains considerable education at 18 which helps them to think and decide as to who can be a good choice for parliament.

It is better that 16 year olds concentrate on their academic pursuits and equip themselves well before turning their attention to voting and politics.It is precisely because they are more into their academics that voting % in the age group 18+ are low.It is therefore a wasted vote and may even lead to , where identification documents are amenable to fudging, fraudulent voting.

Elections are not a joke! En effet, il ne s'agit pas d'un jeu d'enfant et il n'est pas prouvé, même scientifiquement, que la construction mentale d'un mineur de seize qui, même au plan de la legislation sur la famille n'est pas encore susceptible d'émancipation, peut lui permettre d'avoir une conscience politique. Je pense qu'il y a lieu de laisser cette catégorie d'enfant se construire progressivement, sans précipitation, pour devenir un citoyen averti et un leader clairvoyant. Quand vous êtes père et que vous observez l'évolution spirituelle de vos enfants de cet âge là, vous ne pouvez pas militer en faveur du vote des mineurs de seize ans. A l'allure où de nouvelles exigences se cristallisent en faveur de la réduction qualitative de l'âge pour être électeur,on risque d'aboutir à l'exigence d'un gouvernement pour les enfants, d'un parlement pour les enfants ou d'une armée pour les enfants (et les "enfants soldats" dans tout ça?)

Voting age in different countries is different.It varies from 16 to 25 years in different countries.In my opinion the ideal age is 18.At 18 one gets mature to decide as to who can be a good choice for parliament.Also at 18 one attains considerable education to know about democracy,political process and franchising.
Free and thoughtful choice of voter can put strength to democracy,which evolves
through education and sense of maturity.At 18 a voter normally covers both.

In my opinion voting age should be 18 years, because at that age, a human being is able to decide rationally what is good and what is wrong. Furthermore, 18 is for many countries the age at which an individual can legally be prosecuted as an adult for criminal offences. Thus, if 18 is the legal age for determining the maturity of a person to stand criminal trials in a court of law, the same age should be considered appropriate for legally allowing the same individual to make voting choices for deciding the fate of the constituency and the country in general.

Keeping in view the prevailing circumstances throughout the world ,it is my considered opinion that the age for voting should be 18-- 21 years depending on the socio-infrastructure of the Country.

I will support the idea of lowering the age for voting to 16. It will suit countries faced with the growing menace of the youth bulge encouraging the youth to partake in political processes in addition to fulfill other civic responsibilities. As pointed out by John generally all our major decisions are influenced by existing circumstances, fads etc. Youth is no exception but at 16 one is quite capable of making informed choices.

"Ideal" voting age varies from one person to the next which can be influenced by how they view their own circumstances. What I consider ideal is the level of maturity that plays a major role in decision-making and in this regard, I believe there is something magical about 18 year olds....it ushers adulthood which brings with it a sense of responsibility, legal implication for actions taken and great expectations that young adults tend to be conscious of. This is the age at which there is a sense of pride in assuming roles that could only be dreamed of at a younger age. The privileges kind of signal 'approval' albeit 'entitlement' to a certain degree and access to full citizenry participation in a range of areas.

  One can make a very good case for not having a limit on the voting age, but replace it with a test of the person's understanding of the issues.
  We saw this in the referendums on voting reform in Canada. When surveys were done they showed that voters had a dismal, if any, knowledge of different electoral systems and what they were voting on.
  I admit to being uncomfortable with this, and suspect that putting it into practice in a way that would not permit cheating would be difficult.
  It would have eliminated my father voting at an age of 90+ who voted for a party name, even though the name no longer meant what it used to. It would also have permitted my granddaughter to vote when she was younger than the age limit.

I do not mean to be rude, but the idea of applying some kind of test for allowing a citizen to vote reminds me of the literacy rules that were applied in the Southern States from the 1890's to the 1960's reforms. They might work in a society like Canada, but they are a rather dangerous instrument.

I have done in the past some work in Guatemala with Edelberto Torres-Rivas on the determinants of vote (published as ¿Porque no votan los guatemaltecos? (why Guatemalans do not vote). Many people are not clear about the stakes, but they look for advice, from their friends, their priests, their drinking buddies and, why not, from political parties which are almost a second citizenship in some parts of Central America.

By suggesting 18 yeas as a good age bracket for eligibility it does not mean immaturity. There are several factors that make 18 years more realistic. One of them being it is a time when majority are coming out of school age to join colleges especially in developing world. Secondly it has to do with constitutions of different countries as it shows citizens ideas as to when they want to get involved in their democratic right of choise of leaders. With other conditions considered, there is no doubt the age can be reduced.

In term of financial, when the voting age reduced that is mean an extra budget need for running election, and particularly in some poor countries which the budge one oft main obstacles to running regular election . In another hand, even at the Middle East country still EMBs are not in that position to manage large number of voter, lack of data sources lack in experience

Lowering the voter age implies changes to several other laws in a given country including the constitution and Penal Codes. There are electoral offenses punishable by imprisonment of financial fine.

Many countries still describe anyone below 18 Years as a child, what happens if that 16 year old child commits an electoral office, will go to prison? when the Penal code says otherwise? Will he be able to pay the fine?

Secondly, many persons below 18 years are still in high school under the care of their parents, guardians or school administration. They may be absent from their usual places of residence. Amendments will be expensive since they are likely to be in different places for further education.

Thirdly, elections are usually high stakes to the future of a nation and lives of its citizens. In schools, students look up to their teachers and parents and if a candidate is friends to the headteachers, he can disproportionately gain support from school children if he/she worked well with the teachers. A candidate can also manipulate the school administration to register under age children especially in the developing world where vital registration systems are either absent on dysfunctional.

I recommend that the children below 18 years are empowered with broad democratic principles, by adding civic/voter education to the school curriculum.

I recommend the retention of 18 years as minimum voting age where it applies.

In my opinion, the “ideal” voting age should be 18 years. This is because at 18, he or she, is already a youth, matured enough to determine what is good or bad, active and fully focused to know what is happening in his/her country and beyond, also has the capacity and ability to contribute to national development and most importantly the ability to make informed choices.