Should voting rights match a person’s legal responsibilities?

I think we should keep the voting age at 18 because not all 16-year-olds are developed or educated enough to have a say in who should be running the country. This could partly be because schools don’t teach that much about politics (unless you take citizenship), but it is a thing that everyone needs to know about in order to use their right to vote. For example, most neuroscientists say that the brain isn’t fully developed until at least 25, if not older. By 25, you can drive, buy alcohol, fireworks, cigarettes, vapes and anything 18+. However, by 16, you can see 15+ films and have criminal responsibility. And that’s it. So surely they can’t have the maturity or knowledge to decide who runs the country.

In addition to this, 16-year-olds probably wouldn’t want to vote. When you are 16, you have many other things to worry about, like GCSEs and colleges, so having to educate yourself and make a choice about who will be prime minister is a lot of pressure and work for a child to do.

16-year-olds, like most children, are very influenced by their parents and teachers, a lot of whom don’t vote, as is shown by the most recent statistics show. For example, in 2024, there was an average of 62% of people that voted, one of thew lowest statistics in UK history. That means that even if 16-year-olds had time to vote, they still might not, as at 16, most people are still living with their parents and letting their parents tell them what’s right and what’s wrong. This means they might not vote because their parents don’t, meaning it wouldn’t make that much of a difference.

On the other hand, 16-year-olds are sometimes just beginning to realise that they can make decisions for themselves, and some might even be interested in politics. Also, younger people often see the world without prejudice that has been brought up in them, so they might be able to make decisions based on values instead of biases. This could mean that elections could yield more equal results.

In conclusion, I think the voting age should stay at 18 as they are then a legal adult and have time to educate themselves about politics. Although some 16-year-olds might know a bit about politics, it is constantly changing and an 18-year-old might be able to keep up to date where 16-year-olds can’t.