Why 16 Year Olds Should Not Have Right to Vote

There have been numerous discussions about the subject of should the voting age should be lowered to the age of 16. People think this is a good idea for the idea that if these young adults are voting at a younger age, then they are more likely to vote again in the future. Hopefully, this will increase the numbers of people going out to vote. However; I disagree with this idea of allowing 16 year olds to vote. Although the 16 year olds are only 2 years away from the legal voting age, they are still young and naïve to certain issues that the country faces.

A factor that I see that it is not reasonable to allow 16 years olds to vote is that they are not aware of who is exactly running and might be swayed to vote not for themselves, but vote for whoever their parents decides to vote for. 16 year olds might not know exactly where to find the right places of information that will provide them with what issues the candidates are for and against. They might be more likely to vote for somebody that they heard their name repeated over and over again on the internet, newspaper, or television. Their parents might also influence in who they vote for. They might only vote for the candidate that their parents are voting for because they might have the mind set of they know that their parents knows what is best for the country, so they will vote for the same candidate as the parents. The whole point of voting is not to vote what other people are going to vote for, but they should only vote for the candidate that has the best ideas that can help the country. These 16 year olds might not access or have access the right kind of information that will help them vote for the candidate that has the same ideals and belief as the voter.

Another problem presented in allowing 16 year old to vote is the problem that they are not paying taxes and most are dependent. When people vote for a candidate, they take into consideration of what that candidate will do with the tax money that the voters have to give to the United States. 16 year olds do not pay taxes, so they are not knowledgeable enough to truly understand what the government might be doing with the tax money. Not only do they not pay taxes, but they also do not have to deal with insurances, Medicaid, and other places that deal with money that come from the tax payers. 16 year olds are not participating in paying for government programs, so they should not have the right to vote because of that reason. Voters need to be knowledgeable of what programs that their candidate will create or cut. Since the 16 year olds do not pay taxes, then they should not vote.

The argument of allowing 16 year olds has been discuss for awhile, but I think that the legal age of 18 should be left to what it is. Lower the age might increase the voting percentage, but the point of voting is for people knowing and understanding who they are voting for and as a representative democracy, they will vote for the candidate that best support the same ideals and beliefs that they support. Just allowing the voting age to be 16 will only supply more voters who vote blindly for a candidate that might not be for their best interest.