This article is about a woman's efforts to give young citizens in
Washington D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections from the age
of 16. The activist's name is Michelle Blackwell, and
She is
also known as a popular go-go singer, a type of music that started in
Washington DC in the late '60s. She first became interested in this
cause when she attended a community meeting after a deadly shooting and
there were teenagers participating in the discussions at the meeting,
but their ideas were not taken very seriously by many of the adults. Ms.
Blackwell thinks young people should be allowed to have a voice and to
be involved in politics and community issues. The article explains that
in the 2014 elections the voter turnout was very low for people under
30. Blackwell believes many 16 year olds, or others under the current
voting age of 18, would be excited about having this adult right, and
they would be likely to develop a habit of voting and becoming aware of
important political issues. In addition to her belief that lowering the
voting age is likely to encourage higher rates of voting in adult life.
Some critics say that 16 or 17 year olds are just not ready for the
responsibility of voting, and they point out that you can't even buy a
lottery ticket or join the military until you are 18. Other critics are
concerned. It's 16 year olds are allowed to vote, they might be more
likely to be tried as adults in criminal courts. However, supporters of
the idea think that that is unlikely and think it is still important to
give younger people some representation in politics. In Takoma Park
Maryland, very close to Washington D.C., 16 year old can already vote in
the local elections, and they've recently voted at much higher rate
than most adults in their town.
Ms. Blackwell worked with
Washington DC council member Charles Allen, who has proposed a bill to
allow the 16 year olds to vote. He said that the 26th amendment of the
Constitution says that states cannot deny anyone over the age of 18 from
voting, but he also points out that it does not stop states from
allowing people to vote at even younger ages. Their bill was introduced
in November, and they are still waiting for it to come up for a vote.This relates to the Constitution's 26th Amendment (mentioned in the summary). It's also pretty cool that this is an artist/singer who is also an activating to give teens a voice in politics.
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/18/
Would be excited for this, if not for the fact that we will all probably be 18 and 19 if not older by the time this is put into use, if passed. Seriously, though, a president's term is 4 years, and that means that if you're 16, you will have a president over you for two years making decisions, that you did not vote for. - Kera Mickus
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm super interested in politics, and I have a lot to say about it, a lot of opinions, but it's so frustrating because there is no way for me to actually affect a change because I can't vote. I feel like at this age we have just as much to say as any adult, but it's frustrating because most of them don't take us seriously. I'm going to miss being 18 at this next election by like 3 months...
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of giving young people more of a voice in their country, but until they experience it independently, their political influences come mostly from parents and people they live with. I think that we should wait to vote until we have firsthand understanding of the economy so that we are able to develop our own independent political opinions.
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