Should you be able to vote the YEAR you turn 18 opposed to the day?

[HEyHEY]

Seems to me that if you're born November 5th, it's kind of bullshit you didn't get to vote when you were 17. Ya know?

[ddeclue]

1. It took the Vietnam War and a huge effort to get it changed from 21 to 18.

I don't see it changing further for a while.

[votetastic]

2. Voting age should be 16..

16 year olds have more time to become informed voters than the average adult..

[Catch22Dem]

7. No way (n/t)

[PeaceNikki]

8. I think that would be interesting.

It would certainly cause high schoolers to be more engaged in government/civics classes.

[grasswire]

3. no

The seventeen-year-old in my household knows so little about American politics that he thought Newt Gingrich was a woman until last Thursday.

[PeaceNikki]

5. And the 17 year-old in my house is more politically involved and educated than most 40 y/o's.

So mine offsets yours. :P

[beyurslf]

9. Bu t 17 yo's who are engaged often know more than the adults they

live with. Many 18 yo's don't know anything about politics but can vote. There is no test, so why limit the age at 18? 16yo's pay taxes if they work....

[SheilaT]

11. Many years ago,

long before Newt Gingrich was a household name, someone I knew did a funny bit about how that sounded like some bizarre and possibly painful skin disease ("Oh, look, honey, my newt gingrich is flaring up again." Said while poking at his arm.)

[stillcool]

13. My vote this year has nothing to do..

with who Newt Gingrich is or who Tip O'Neill is either.

[Odin2005]

15. Most Americans know even less, so that's a BS argument.

Ageist BS = FAIL.

[Egalitariat]

4. You've got to draw the arbitrary line somewhere. Doesn't really matter where***

nm

[wuushew]

6. Driving age, drinking age and voting age should all be harmonized at 18

n/t

[halobeam]

10. I mostly agree with: ... age should be harmonized....

but I'd like to see it all be 21, including age for draft.

Limited driving to work or school until 21.

Mass transit, car pooling with ppl you work with..etc.. would be encouraged this way, so it helps the environment. Less accidents. Less time to pay outrageous premiums to the insurance companies (HAH)!

Drinking at 18 imo, is too young. Let's keep it at 21. Of course it doesn't stop it, but it lessens it.

Voting should require passing a course or series of courses in high school.



Perfect example for needing to change from the ground up. Start with the kids.

[stillcool]

16. We could go back to 1855

When the Constitution was written, only white male property owners (about 10 to 16 percent of the nation's population) had the vote. Over the past two centuries, though, the term "government by the people" has become a reality. During the early 1800s, states gradually dropped property requirements for voting. Later, groups that had been excluded previously gained the right to vote. Other reforms made the process fairer and easier.
1790 Only white male adult property-owners have the right to vote.
and adopt literacy tests.
1810 Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated.
1850 Property ownership and tax requirements eliminated by 1850. Almost all adult white males could vote.
1855 Connecticut adopts the nation's first literacy test for voting. Massachusetts follows suit in The tests were implemented to discriminate against Irish-Catholic immigrants.

1870 The 15th Amendment is passed. It gives former slaves the right to vote and protects the voting rights of adult male citizens of any race.

1889 Florida adopts a poll tax. Ten other southern states will implement poll taxes.
1890 Mississippi adopts a literacy test to keep African Americans from voting. Numerous other states—not just in the south—also establish literacy tests. However, the tests also exclude many whites from voting. To get around this, states add grandfather clauses that allow those who could vote before 1870, or their descendants, to vote regardless of literacy or tax qualifications.

1913 The 17th Amendment calls for members of the U.S. Senate to be elected directly by the people instead of State Legislatures.
1915 Oklahoma was the last state to append a grandfather clause to its literacy requirement (1910). In Guinn v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the clause is in conflict with the 15th Amendment, thereby outlawing literacy tests for federal elections.
1920
1920 The 19th Amendment guarantees women's suffrage.
1924 Indian Citizenship Act grants all Native Americans the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote in federal elections.

1944 The Supreme Court outlaws "white primaries" in Smith v. Allwright (Texas). In Texas, and other states, primaries were conducted by private associations, which, by definion, could exclude whomever they chose. The Court declares the nomination process to be a public process bound by the terms of 15th Amendment.
1950
1957 The first law to implement the 15th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, is passed. The Act set up the Civil Rights Commission—among its duties is to investigate voter discrimination.
1960
1960 In Gomillion v. Lightfoot (Alabama) the Court outlaws "gerrymandering."
1961 The 23rd Amendment allows voters of the District of Columbia to participate in presidential elections.
1964 The 24th Amendment bans the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections.
1965 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mounts a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama, to draw national attention to African-American voting rights.
1965 The Voting Rights Act protects the rights of minority voters and eliminates voting barriers such as the literacy test. The Act is expanded and renewed in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
1966 The Supreme Court, in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, eliminates the poll tax as a qualification for voting in any election. A poll tax was still in use in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia.
1966 The Court upholds the Voting Rights Act in South Carolina v. Katzenbach.

1970 Literacy requirements are banned for five years by the 1970 renewal of the Voting Rights Act. At the time, eighteen states still have a literacy requirement in place. In Oregon v. Mitchell, the Court upholds the ban on literacy tests, which is made permanent in 1975. Judge Hugo Black, writing the court's opinion, cited the "long history of the discriminatory use of literacy tests to disenfranchise voters on account of their race" as the reason for their decision.
1971 The 26th amendment sets the minimum voting age at 18.
1972 In Dunn v. Blumstein, the Supreme Court declares that lengthy residence requirements for voting in state and local elections is unconstitutional and suggests that 30 days is an ample period.

1995 The Federal "Motor Voter Law" takes effect, making it easier to register to vote.
2003 Federal Voting Standards and Procedures Act requires states to streamline registration, voting, and other election procedures.

[Hangingon]

12. No

[Canuckistanian]

14. Short and sweet.

Any further thoughts?