THE EDITOR, Sir:I LISTENED to Parliamentarians in Jamaica speaking to the issue of increasing the age of consent to 18. Their arguments are interesting, but young people worldwide in developing and developed countries are calling for the voting age to be reduced from 18 to 16.
They outline 10 reasons for this:
1) Youth suffer under a double standard of having adult responsibilities but not rights.
2) Youth have a unique perspective; they will never have those experiences again.
3) Sixteen is a better age to introduce voting than 18; 16-year-olds are stationary.
4) Lowering the voter age will increase voter turnout.
5) Youth pay taxes and live under laws. They should vote.
6) Politicians will represent their interests if youth can vote.
7) If we let stupid adults vote why not let smart youth vote?
8) Youth will vote well.
9) There are no wrong votes.
10) Lowering the voting age will provide an intrinsic benefit to the lives of youth.
Those who have responsibility for youth leadership and youth political leadership in Jamaica need to consider seriously these 10 points. The debate continues.
I am, etc.,
PETER W. JONES
Executive Director
International Youth Foundation
liontraders@yahoo.com
