Don’t Just Give 16-Year-Olds the Vote — Give Them Something to Vote For
Austria’s experience with 16-year-old voters shows that expanding the franchise does little to restore trust when elections amount to a choice between managed decline and the far right.
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of only five German states where the local voting age remains 18. Some politicians, like SPD member Michael Ebling, pictured here at a 2023 demonstration, have advocated lowering it to 16, as is the case elsewhere in the German-speaking world. (Sebastian Gollnow /Getty Images)
In rapidly graying Europe, policymakers think they’ve stumbled upon a way to inject new life into their democracies. Last July, the UK government announced plans to lower the voting age from eighteen to sixteen. According to the official press release, this reform will not only “boost democratic engagement in a changing world” but also “help […]
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