Voting at 16 (1 Viewer)

[ajdlinux]

i second that, i know plenty of people under 18 who have much more of an idea about politics than more than a few adults

How much would the parties start paying them?

 

[BackCountrySnow]

i second that, i know plenty of people under 18 who have much more of an idea about politics than more than a few adults

yes, and so do i. But for every one student who is aware of what is happening in the world and is economically informed there is 100 kids who don't.
16 year olds, in general, are so easily persuaded by factors which are totally irrelevent.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

I think perhaps bringing in voluntary voting for people aged 16-18 is an idea, so that those who do have some opinion on politics are given the opportunity to vote if they so want.

hey i have an amazing idea

why not bring in voluntary voting for everyone over 18?

 

[dieburndie]

yes, and so do i. But for every one student who is aware of what is happening in the world and is economically informed there is 100 kids who don't.
16 year olds, in general, are so easily persuaded by factors which are totally irrelevent.

How does this not also apply to the rest of the population?

 

[jcurry]

yes, and so do i. But for every one student who is aware of what is happening in the world and is economically informed there is 100 kids who don't.
16 year olds, in general, are so easily persuaded by factors which are totally irrelevent.

but if its voluntary 99%of those kids who arent informed won't vote and im sure theres more than a few 18-21yr olds who could be just as easily persuaded as a 16yrold and they can vote

 

[sweet_as]

I used to be a member of the Democrats - and from memory they were the only party to advocate voting at 16.

This is out of the Democrats Youth Policy (found on the Young Democrats website)

2. Work to lower the age of enfranchisement to 16, with voluntary enrolment until 18, and compulsory voting once enrolled.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

but if its voluntary 99%of those kids who arent informed won't vote and im sure theres more than a few 18-21yr olds who could be just as easily persuaded as a 16yrold and they can vote

no actually what will happen is uniformed 16 year olds will be used by their parents to vote for the party the parents want

to take it to an extreme if you let 5+ year olds vote then obviously the party whose supporters had the most children on average would win since all children's votes would be used this way

 

[DownInFlames]

I think the idea of a test can be taken even further.

We need to develop a Maturity Quotient test. It would be taken initially at the age of 10, then 15, 20, 25 and 30, then every 10 years then after.

The result of your MQ test would be used to determine your eligibility to vote, get a drivers licence, get married, leave school, and so on. Hopefully it would eliminate donkey voters and crazy P-platers.

Now to write the test...

I second that. I mean, I know someone who voted family first, where the hell did that come from? Evidently not a well-informed decision.




Or labour could introduce a scheme where 16-y.os are allowed to vote but only if they pinky-swear to vote labour.


Plenty of people from 16 and up work, need centrelink, put petrol in their own cars, etc. and so maybe they should be allowed to vote if they want. People who don't give a shit about it just won't enroll to vote until they are 18. Your pseudo-idealists will vote socialist, (I met some on Beaumont Street, who said they "follow Karl Marx" and I thought it was kind of funny that they're trying to cover up their blatant communism with 'socialism') but they won't get enough votes from them to actually make a difference to their epic failing.

 

[DownInFlames]

no actually what will happen is uniformed 16 year olds will be used by their parents to vote for the party the parents want

to take it to an extreme if you let 5+ year olds vote then obviously the party whose supporters had the most children on average would win since all children's votes would be used this way

family first would win because of all the people that don't beleive in contraception.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

family first would win because of all the people that don't beleive in contraception.

It'd probably help Labor the most since that's who poor people tend to vote for

 

[ajdlinux]

I used to be a member of the Democrats - and from memory they were the only party to advocate voting at 16.

This is out of the Democrats Youth Policy (found on the Young Democrats website)

2. Work to lower the age of enfranchisement to 16, with voluntary enrolment until 18, and compulsory voting once enrolled.

Greens too: http://greens.org.au/about/policy/policy.php?policy_id=36

The Australian Greens will:

...

17. support the following electoral reforms:
* all Australian citizens over the age of 16 to be eligible to vote;

 

[russianROULETTE]

i don't like the idea, because there are all these teenagers who will vote for whoever has the best slogan or advertising campaign... very few of the 16-year-olds i know actually care about policies. i.e. a girl in one of my classes was wearing a Kevin '07 t-shirt, so my friend asked whether she liked his policies or just the slogan. it was the slogan. that is NOT the type of person i want allowed to vote. not that it matters because she will be able to at the next federal election anyway... but i suppose there's idiots in every age bracket.

 

[Captain Gh3y]

You guys give the average Australian adult way to much credit when it comes to the reasons for who they vote for.

A slogan isn't really a much better or worse reason than "It's who our family/parents always vote for"

 

[xJennax]

People have suggested that we should be able to vote at 16, or that we shouldn't have to pay tax until we're 18, and able to vote.

 

[ippie]

You guys give the average Australian adult way to much credit when it comes to the reasons for who they vote for.

A slogan isn't really a much better or worse reason than "It's who our family/parents always vote for"

FUCK I HATE THAT SO MUCH. I saw it on that SBS show, where they had a massive audience and this lady asked them questions and shit.

Anyway, all the young people were like "oh im voting for ____ coz my family always has" - like what the fuck, you have your own beliefs and shit! Like, piss off, you don't deserve a vote.

I also hate how people got swayed when johnfuckinghoward said he could decrease interest rates. And a million retards fell for it. LIKE, RETARDS!!!!!!!!! He can't INFLUENCE THE FUCKING INT. RATES COZ HE DOESNT HAVE THE POWER TO

OMFG. I wanted to like slap those people who fell for it.