Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and Empirical Considerations
Abstract
This article is an examination of the issue of whether the age of electoral majority should be lowered to sixteen. We consider and reject several arguments raised by both sides of the voting age debate. The key issue, we claim, is the political maturity of young people. Drawing on empirical data collected in nationally representative surveys, we argue that the weight of such evidence suggests that young people are, to a significant degree, politically less mature than older people, and that the voting age should not be lowered to sixteen.
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“(Chan and Clayton, 2006) and government sponsored consultations (see, e.”
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- Authors
- Chan, T. W., & Clayton, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Chan, Tak Wing
- Clayton, Matthew
- ORCID
- Chan, Tak Wing
- Venue
- Political Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-10
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 533-558
- ISSN
- 0032-3217 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9248
- OpenAlex
- W2099737081
- Cited by
- 154
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Political Studies (publishedVersion)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Youth, Politics, and Society
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- voting age, age of majority, political maturity, youth political participation, electoral eligibility, normative arguments
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