Should the voting age be 16?

We should start incorporating politics as early as possible

Question: Should the voting age be 16?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, the age should be lowered
Argument‹2 of 4›: We should start incorporating politics as early as possible

Lowering the voting age increases voter turnout and instills habits for young voters.

The argument

Voting turnouts are often lacking. A simple solution to this problem is to increase the pool of voters. By allowing teenagers to vote earlier, the turnout will increase and the results will likely become more accurate. On top of this logic, the introduction of the ability to vote early on instills a sense of responsibility within young voters. This may increase the number of active voters in the future, creating a higher percentage of the population participating in elections and other instances involving society as a whole. The increase of turnout PLUS the potential increase for the future is a critical reason to lower the voting age requirement.

Context

The overall turnout of voters is a huge issue for many elections. In America's last presidential election, for instance, only 58.1% of the voting population cast their ballot. By incorporating young people, we can increase voter turnout and instill voting skills that will continue into the rest of their lives.

Premises

[P1]Voter turnout is often low, and letting teenagers vote earlier increases the pool of voters and the accuracy of results. [P2] Voting from a younger age instils a sense of responsibility that can raise future participation too. [C] Therefore, because we should incorporate politics as early as possible to boost turnout now and in the future, the voting age should be lowered to 16.

Counter-arguments

How do we know that these young people would even turn up to vote? The ratio of people who vote may just become smaller, and the number of votes wasted would increase. Additionally, we know that these teens are not as capable of getting to polls as their fellow voters. There is no guarantee.

Rejecting the premises

[P1]Voting turnouts vary from year to year.

[P2]We don't know that young people would even show up.

[P3]This could also increase the lack of voters.