World Legal Voting Age

13 Dec World Legal Voting Age

While the countries listed above may all be similar, since voting is mandatory, they are not all exactly the same. What distinguishes countries from each other are the different age groups for which voting is compulsory. In Brazil and Peru, for example, all citizens between the ages of 18 and 70 must vote. In Luxembourg and Paraguay, citizens between the ages of 18 and 75 must vote. Ecuador has the youngest age when voting ceases to be compulsory at 65. In many states, 16-year-olds can drive and find jobs. They have to pay taxes on their income. But what is the one thing that most of them are not allowed to do? Choose. That`s because the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution sets the voting age at 18.

(Before the amendment was ratified in 1971, most Americans had to be at least 21 to vote.) The Welsh Assembly Committee, the corporate body, introduced a bill on 12 February 2019 to lower the voting age to 16 and change the name to Senedd. [63] Most countries have a minimum voting age of 18; However, since the turn of the century, there have been ongoing debates in several countries about lowering the voting age to 17 or 16, and several jurisdictions have passed laws lowering the voting age. See Appendix: List of courts and their voting age. In some countries where their citizens have to vote, voting is optional for illiterate people. These countries include Brazil and Ecuador. However, literacy rates in Brazil and Ecuador of over 92 per cent and over 94 per cent, respectively, do not mean that this is a major problem. 1975The Voting Rights Act is expanded to help U.S. citizens who do not speak English.

Cities with large non-English speaking populations must provide ballots and voting instructions in other languages. There has been criticism for not lowering the voting age to 16 for the 2016 referendum on EU membership. [56] [57] The main arguments of opponents of lowering the voting age to 16 or any other age below 18 are that young people are not mature enough to deal with complex political processes and are most likely influenced by the positions of their parents or other adults. The relationship between age, maturity and intelligence is complex and controversial. Developmental assumptions about what young people can understand and what motivates their behaviour can influence public debate. The assumption that young people do not have enough life experience or maturity to make important decisions (such as elections) and that they are also easily manipulated is hotly debated. Israelis had to vote four times between April 2019 and March 2021 before lawmakers could agree on a governing coalition; Voter turnout rose from 74.6 percent in the first election to 77.9 percent in the third election, before falling to 73.7 percent in the March 2021 vote. But the coalition formed nearly three months after that election failed barely a year later, and Israel is holding another election today, Nov. 1. Does your country`s voting age match that of 86% of other countries at 18, or does your country share a voting age with less than 1% of the world`s population with an electoral age of 19 or 25? Regardless of your country`s minimum voting age, you can create your own map like the one above at batchgeo.com today.

Even if projections of higher-than-usual voter turnout come true, it is likely that the U.S. will still lag behind many of its peers in advanced markets in voter turnout. Comparing the voter turnout of the 2020 presidential election with recent national elections in 49 other countries, the United States ranks 31st, between Colombia (62.5%) and Greece (63.5%). Just because young people participate in protests doesn`t mean they`re ready to vote, critics of lowering the voting age say. “Protesting is not the same as voting, which requires a high level of civic responsibility and knowledge,” says David Davenport, a researcher at Stanford University`s Hoover Institution in California. Government decisions affect the lives of adolescents. So more teens deserve a voice in how their city is run, some people say. Moreover, voting is a habit, others say. People who start voting at age 16 may be more likely to vote than adults. Voting may be optional for people between the ages of 16 and 18 in Argentina, but once you turn 19, voting becomes compulsory.

Argentina is not the only country where voting is compulsory, which means that eligible citizens are required by law to participate in national and/or local elections. The following countries also require their citizens to vote: Another complicating factor for cross-country turnout comparisons: According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), 27 countries (and one Swiss canton or member state of the Swiss Confederation) have laws requiring voting, including 12 of the 50 countries studied here. In total, 14 of these 27 countries actively enforce their laws, with sanctions such as fines, lack of access to certain public services, and even prison sentences. In Luxembourg, voting is compulsory from the age of 18. A government proposal to introduce optional voting for people aged 16 and 17 was rejected by 81% of voters in a referendum in June 2015. 1971Thousands of young Americans die in the Vietnam War, and many Americans argue that if 18-year-olds are old enough to serve in the military, they are old enough to vote. Their efforts culminated in the ratification of the 26th Amendment in 1971, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. In addition, research has shown that young people`s brains are fully developing at a later age than scientists once thought. This has led many states to increase the age at which young people can engage in certain activities. For example, most states have raised the age at which teens can drive without restrictions to 18.

If teens` brains aren`t developed enough to handle these other responsibilities, they`re not willing to choose either, critics say.