Lower Voting Age Proposal Should the voting age in the United States be lowered from 18 to 16?

POV: More than 80% of American teens, aged 16-18, have jobs and pay taxes. In the new information age, this group is far more informed and worldly than ever. This demographic group has a vested interest in improving their community, as well as a needed voice in their elected representatives that make laws directly affecting them. Lowering the voting age will have a key, and positive, effect on the sense of responsibility, character, and societal expectations of teens. Restriction of voting rights actually sends the message that teens are unable to adequately have input into the legislative process, but are still responsible...

At the beginning of the 20th century, the global average voting age was 24, it is now 17. More than a dozen nations have lowered local, state or national voting age to 16, and Australia, the U.K. And the United States are considering such measures. Age can no longer be used as a qualifier for voting competence; a certain level of cognitive ability, reading acumen, and understanding of the basic Constitutional process is required, and is taught from 3th grade on. The last major piece of voting legislation, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, was quickly passed…