Should the voting age be 16?

They have adult responsibilities, but can't vote

Question: Should the voting age be 16?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, the age should be lowered
Argument1 of 4›: They have adult responsibilities, but can't vote

Once rights involving freedom are given, teenagers should be able to vote.

The argument

Voting is a huge responsibility. Likewise, so are many duties entrusted upon sixteen-year-olds, and the argument turns on that comparison rather than on any claim about political sophistication. At sixteen a person can drive, work, and volunteer. They can contribute financially to their household. Each of those is a responsibility the law already treats as serious: driving carries the power to injure, employment carries obligations to an employer and, where income is taxed, to the state, and contributing financially to a household makes a sixteen-year-old a participant in the economy rather than a dependant within it. If society already judges someone competent to carry duties of that weight, it seems like the right to vote should come with that, as many sixteen-year-olds are already highly active members of society. The second strand of the argument is about coherence rather than capacity. The argument that all rights should be given at one age is a common voice across many countries, and the objection it raises is that the present arrangement rests on no single principle. The right to drive is a starting point: if the state has already fixed an age at which a young person may be trusted with that, why not use that as the legal age for most things, particularly voting? It makes no sense to scatter these rights around like checkpoints — one at sixteen, another at seventeen, another at eighteen — because doing so implies that maturity arrives in instalments tied to particular activities rather than as a general status a person either has or does not. Put together, the two strands make a single demand: that the franchise track the responsibilities a society is already willing to hand over. Where the duties of adulthood begin at sixteen, on this argument, the vote should begin there too.

Context

In 2019, 56.2% of people aged 16-24 in America were employed. 50.4% were employed in the United Kingdom. 57.5% were employed in Canada. Adult responsibilities are entrusted upon this age group, so it's odd that 16 and 17-year olds do not have the privilege of voting.

Premises

[P1]Sixteen-year-olds are already entrusted with significant adult responsibilities such as driving, working, and contributing financially to their households. [P2] The right to vote should accompany the assumption of such serious civic and economic responsibilities. [P3] Scattering rights across different ages is incoherent, so the age at which major responsibilities begin should also be the voting age. [C] Therefore, the voting age should be lowered to 16.

Counter-arguments

Just because a teen is entrusted with adult-like responsibilities does not mean they are ready to vote. Not all teens are employed or responsible, and mixing irresponsible teenagers in with the responsible could be more detrimental to the voting system than beneficial. It's not worth the risk.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] 16-year-olds are not entrusted with ALL responsibilities. [Rejecting P2] Voting is an adult responsibility and should be left to adults.