Lower The Voting Age to 16 to Save America From Itself

A new generation of progressive activism is here to stay. Its leaders are too young to vote, but they may be America’s last, best hope.

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Sometime this week, Joe Biden will claim victory. In states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and perhaps Georgia, this was only possible due to organizing by young people of color.

This year, one in ten eligible voters in the US were part of Gen Z, according to PEW. Gen Z is more progressive than any generation before it, even Millennials. They are far more likely to acknowledge this country’s tradition of racial injustice, the need for action on climate change, and to view the government’s role as a problem solver for the people.

Given this lurch to the left, one might be surprised that Gen Z turned out for Joe Biden. On social media, which has all but replaced television and newspapers for young people, enthusiasm definitely favored the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. Yet still, young people who could vote by and large rejected Trump. It’s an odd couple: a generation that embraces this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and the candidate who responded that police should “aim for the legs.” But in this action, Gen Z shows their readiness to play the game of politics, even if that means taking a gamble on pushing Biden to the left.

In total, about 160 million Americans voted in the 2020 presidential election, a voter turnout rate of about 66.3% according to the Washington Post. There’s numerous reasons why a third of the population did not vote in such a consequential election. To say that the need for political engagement is understood by all Americans is untrue. So is thinking that anyone who doesn't vote is somehow stupid. Many people just don’t have the day off work.

If we want to increase voter turnout, one of the best things we could do is lower the voting age to 16. It would keep future generations voting, election after election. Studies have shown that voting is a habit, and that the later you start, the less likely you are to vote regularly. Part of maintaining our democracy is ensuring that there will always be people who care to continue it, and capturing the attention of high schoolers is a great way to do this.

This is all without mentioning that 16 and 17 year-olds are already paying taxes. According to the National Youth Rights Association, Americans under the age of 18 paid over $370 million purely in income tax in 2011. Nothing could adhere more to American tradition than a simple reminder of “no taxation without representation.”

Before the Vietnam war, the voting age was 21. It was lowered due to a campaign of “old enough to serve, old enough to vote.” We granted young people self-determination because their lives were so directly tied to issues at hand. The same is true today.

March for Our Lives chapters have led walkouts from schools across the country in the years following Parkland. I’ve been to many of these protests, and one thing that’s always palpable is a certain duality. A hope and a determination to bring about change, as well as a concentrated fear that nothing will come of it, that no matter how many people vote, shootings will continue.

Anyone who says that teenagers don’t understand how the world works has made a fundamental error. In 2018, more students died in school shootings than soldiers in combat zones. It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t understand how the world works. It’s just that we don’t want to be shot. Anyone who might die due to Washington’s uncaring gaze has the right to a voice. If politicians could be kicked out of office by those they trade for money from the NRA, they’d recalculate.

The same argument can be made for climate change. The average age of a US senator is 61.8 years old. The median net worth of a Senator? $511,000. These are not people who will be immediately affected by climate change. It is my generation, Gen Z that will inherit these issues, and yet we have no say in the matter.

Democracy only works if the population maintains it. Right now, we’re on a collision course with self-inflicted wounds that have been left to fester within our American skin. Those in the power are content with it, but my generation is not. In a little over a year, if I wanted, I could enlist in the military to serve in Afghanistan. That war has been raging since before I was born.

I do not want to die in a war, from climate change, or in the hallways of my school. If those in power will not grant that wish, then the system has to change. We change that by lowering the voting age. We change that by letting Gen Z save America from itself.