[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

You're not considered an adult till you're 18 so no I don't think you should be able to vote till then either tbqh

But you can have a job and start a family at 16. It is a grey area though.

I'm starting to wonder actually (and I might be alone here ) whether there should be no age limit at all on voting. Now before anyone starts with how ridiculous that is and babies voting etc lol, here me out. Most of the reasoning behind 16 year olds not being allowed the vote, seems to be that they aren't knowledgeable enough and don't understand politics well enough. But this can be applied to so many adults that it doesn't seem to fit as a reasonable argument to me. Of course the ratios are going to be different in those age groups, but if political knowledge is a factor in determining who gets a vote then maybe there's another solution. What if at the polls, in addition to casting a vote, you have to also fill out some sort of short quiz, that would demonstrate your knowledge of the parties policies etc?
Really I'm just thinking out load here and it might seem like a silly idea because it's so different to how we currently do things, but would it not ensure that all people who are knowledgeable of politics would cast a valid vote, and those who aren't, wouldn't? Solving the whole issue of 'well they shouldn't vote because they don't know anything about it'?