In the May 5 Barrhead Leader’s editorial we took the position that voting is a responsibility and not a right.
In Lethbridge, one city councillor would like to pass on that responsibility and give teenagers as young as 16 years-old the opportunity to vote in municipal elections.
Jeff Coffman plans to present this resolution at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention later this year. Coffman is hoping by giving young people a stake in the voting process earlier on in their lives they will catch the voting bug and continue to be engaged in the political process their entire lives.
Looking at the latest provincial election, allowing 16 year-olds to vote might be worth taking a serious look at. According to Elections Alberta, in the May 5 provincial election, more than half of Albertans cast a vote, with 1,481,477 out of 2,543,127 eligible voters making their way to the polls. That equals 58.25 per cent of the population. And that is the highest percentage of voters to cast their ballots in 22 years in an Alberta provincial election. Obviously something has to be done to try to reengage the electorate and perhaps this is part of the solution.
Opponents of the idea say teenagers are not mature enough to understand the importance of their vote or strong enough not to be influenced by the adults in their lives. For example, parents might pressure or force them to vote for the candidate of their choice. They also argue that teenagers brains are not fully developed.
A fact Dave Mackenzie, a safety consultant with the Alberta Office of Traffic Safety, reiterated during a Grade 9 P.A.R.T.Y. program presentation about the dangers of impaired and distracted driving. He told students that the part of their brains that helps regulate risky behaviour doesn’t fully develop until their early 20s. He said this is why young people, even though they know that driving while distracted or impaired is wrong and know the risks involved, are still prone to engage is risky behaviour. Despite this, society chooses to license young drivers.
Nor are young people the only group susceptible to having their vote swayed by undue influence. How many time has a husband or wife changed their vote because they didn’t want to void their spouses vote. Or perhaps voted for a particular candidate because their church or another group told them to do so. Yet we allow married people, churchgoers and members of service groups, to exercise their right to vote.
The truth is, that if as a society, we are going to trust young people to drive, hold a job and pay taxes, they should also have the opportunity to choose the candidate who they think will best represent their concerns.
