On February 27, 2006, the Power inquiry report called for the lowering of the voting age and the age of eligibility for election to the House of Commons to 16. [51] On the same day, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown indicated in an article in the Guardian that he was in favour of a reduction, provided it was accompanied by effective political education. [52] The government eventually cancelled the Conference of Speakers and proposed 18-vote votes, although it had to impose a three-line whip on ministers and a two-line whip on backbenchers, rather than allow a free vote because it had concerns about the passage of the legislation. Disagreements and disagreements have had a significant impact on the presentation and profile of legislation with lasting consequences. Sir Burke Trend, the Cabinet Secretary, noted that the government was passing the reform relatively quietly as a technical measure, and questioned whether it could be presented as “the last milestone on the long and historic road to full adult suffrage”. something for which a government could legitimately claim considerable political recognition.” His advice, however, went unheeded, and such a confident celebration of these new political rights, which Britain highlighted as a pioneer among democracies, did not materialize. The measure received royal approval on April 17, 1969 with relatively little fanfare, and 18-year-olds voted for the first time in the June 1970 general election, which was unexpectedly won by Edward Heath`s Conservatives. Among those under 35, they were 10% more likely to vote for Labour, even though the Conservatives had an advantage of more than 3% in the general population; However, their participation rate was significantly lower at 74% than among those over 55 (87%). The Conservatives were alarmed by this evidence, then as now: an internal memo from the party`s research department argued in 1976 that if the party continued to ignore young voters, it would never again be able to form a majority government.
In the United States, the debate over lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 began during World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War, when most conscripts were too young to vote, successfully lobbying the image of young men forced to risk their lives in the military without the privilege of voting. lowering the voting age nationally and in many states. By 1968, several states had lowered the voting age below 21: Alaska and Hawaii had the minimum age of 20,[78] while Georgia,[78] and Kentucky were 18. [79] In 1970, in Oregon v. Mitchell, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the right to regulate the minimum voting age in federal elections; However, it decided that it could not regulate it at the local and state level. 1867 The Representation of the People Act (the Second Reform Law) extends the right to vote to urban workers who meet property requirements She is a 16-year-old single mother who struggles to cope with school and pay bills. He is 17 years old and juggling two full-time jobs. She is also 17 years old and was born. The less polarized political context surrounding the 1969 reform illustrates the divisions between the votes of 16 supporters and opponents, providing context for a second lesson. Contrary to popular belief, there is little evidence that the party`s advantage was a major motivation for Harold Wilson`s Labour government to lower the voting age to 18. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives viewed age as a significant electoral division, and there was a consensus (though little real evidence) among politicians and the media that “youth votes” leaned slightly in favour of the Conservatives from the late 1950s onwards. It wasn`t until the 1970s that the Conservatives began to worry about declining support from young voters.
Conservative opposition to the measure, both in Parliament and in the media, was therefore moderate and based on classic conservative concerns about constitutional precedent rather than accusations of electoral “fabrication.” This contrasts with the more partisan environment in which the debate takes place, where age has become the biggest demographic gap in electoral politics. Developments in Scotland and Wales, where 16 supporters of reform have won support from across the political spectrum, underline the importance of working towards a consensual approach. Recent debates in Westminster point to a more confrontational and counterproductive American-style scenario, in which voting at age 16 has become a de facto political battleground for electoral reform. The Representation of the People`s Act of 1969, which reduced Britain`s right to vote to 18, has received remarkably little attention in contemporary debates. Although the UK became the first democracy to lower the voting age to 18 and most of the rest of the world followed, supporters and opponents of Votes at 16 rarely refer to the 1969 Act or discuss its implications and legacy. This oversight is surprising because “Votes at 18” was the last major extension of British electoral law and is therefore an important part of the history of British democracy since the Great Reform Act of 1832. Although new voters showed lip service, none of the major parties did much to change the way they think about young citizens, and they struggled to integrate them into their structures in any meaningful way. Indeed, Cabinet documents show that both the Wilson and Heath governments were concerned about the political implications of concentrating university students in certain fields, and both explored the possibility of restricting students` right to vote in their ridings. Despite some internal voices calling for reform, political parties have not shown an attractive face to young people: they have seen and sounded middle-aged, if not old-aged, and have rarely made consistent efforts to go beyond the politicized minority. The problems of finding the right language were exacerbated by the inability to find convincing ways to negotiate an increasingly powerful youth culture that stayed away from partisan politics and was often despicable.
The 1969 reform was a missed opportunity for democratic renewal, and it is not surprising that the turnout of younger voters remained lower than that of older cohorts. The first lesson, from 1969, emphasizes the importance of integrating voting age into broader debates about civil rights and citizenship status for young people. The 1969 reform of the voting age was an approximation of age rights, lowering the official age of majority to 18. This meant that voice acquisition was shaped as part of a broader discussion about adolescents` transition to adulthood. By contrast, the contemporary debate about voting at 16 is strangely detached from the broader context in which young people become citizens and the role they play in democratic society. Proponents of change often present voting age reform as a policy goal rather than part of a broader approach to making the political system more responsive to the voices and needs of young people. Conversely, most opponents of 16-year-olds tend to present the issue as a binary debate about where “adulthood” should begin, ignoring the more nuanced views that emerge from our research, which shows that most 16- to 17-year-olds want the right to vote on their own terms. and not because they see voting as an “adult” act. The debate around the 1969 law shows that it is possible to go beyond the narrow terms of this debate and adopt a more holistic approach to the citizenship of young people. The advantage of this form of government must be more responsible than a presidential system, since power is not shared. In this type of system, it is easier for voters to see who is responsible for the inaction. The main criticisms, however, are that the head of government cannot be directly elected or elected by the people, as in a presidential system, and that there is a lack of separation of powers.
The Committee was very careful not to comment on the voting age, which was outside its mandate; Although the report argued that it was not necessary to adapt to the age of majority, many people inside and outside Parliament felt that it would be difficult to justify different age qualifications. Calls to lower the voting age to 16 have again been made by school climate strike activists in several countries (including Germany and the UK). [18] [19] The issue of youth rights, then as now, went beyond voting age to include questions about when youth should be able to take on a range of adult tasks.