BC Green Party leader wants voting age lowered to 16

Mar 14 2018, 12:24 am

Is 16-years-old an appropriate voting age?

The leader of the BC Green Party said he can’t think of a good reason why it isn’t.

This week, Andrew Weaver introduced, for the third time, a Private Member’s bill to lower the voting age to 16 in the province.

“Yesterday, Elections BC announced that only 56.24% of 18-24 year olds and 46.35% of 25-35 year olds voted in our last provincial election,” he said.

Weaver noted that the voting age has been lowered to 16 in places like Scotland, Argentina, Austria, and Brazil.

Evidence from those jurisdictions, he said, “shows that enfranchising these young voters has led to substantially higher levels of political participation.”

While it may seem young to some, Weaver said that in BC, 16-year-olds are “old enough to drive, pay taxes, and sign up for the military. They are also the leaders of tomorrow.”

“They should have a say in the direction we are heading, as they will inherit what we leave behind.”

Weaver concluded that it’s time for the province to “take this chance to strengthen our democracy and lower the voting age to 16.”

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