Seriously it really grinds my gears that the Canadian government thinks that 16 years olds are mature and intelligent enough to drive a car, work a full-time job, pay taxes, apply for a passport, and are able to live independently on their own without a parent or guardian if they want to and get married with parent consent.
But when it comes to voting the Canadian thinks 16 year olds are not mature and intelligent enough to vote. Its completely ridiculous in my opinion.
I’ll take that risk, having seen how most of the “wizened” people with life experience vote.
Adults already fall prey to team politics, so it’s a bit of a weak argument—I know.
I think it would still be interesting to get an official youth vote, even if it did not count, to quantify the issues as they see it.
This could be really good, they could have 2-4 years of actually showing up at the polling location, and even better for politicians, they would be able to see the data related to what the next voters are worried about, allowing them to change how they campaign… I’m starting to like this decision less.