It’s not the young people under the age of 21 who are voting that we should be concerned for, but rather the ones who aren’t. While it’s only fair that the legal age to buy cigarettes was raised to 21 in order to keep 18-year-olds from giving tobacco to minors, the fact that the age of anything is raised produces the question “What’s next?”
It’s important for young adults to learn how to engage in responsible activities like filling out a ballot or learning how to drive before they’re allowed to engage in activities like drinking or smoking. Voter turnout is too low and many young adults are too apathetic or unengaged. These young people are adults-in-training and should have the right to vote. Additionally, raising the voting age to 21 would be a partisan change, as would lowering the voting age to 16. One party would benefit from raising the voting and the other from lowering it.
