Voting requires rational thinking
A few weeks ago, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Beecroft proposed having a rational discussion about quite a radical move: lowering the voting age two years to 16.
Many people see such a move as the answer to connecting with the younger generation of millennials especially, who simply do not get out and vote.
But it’s more than just not taking the trouble to cast a vote at a polling place, it’s really the fact that they are not interested in politics. Nor do they understand it or understand the important significance with everyday life in New Zealand.
And the statistics speak for themselves. In the 2014 General Election, 37 per cent of the 18 to 24-year-olds who enrolled to vote didn’t bother to exercise their right at the ballot box on Election Day. So around two thirds didn’t bother and the percentage of 18-year-olds who did manage to get to a polling place hardly reaches double figures.
One of the most enjoyable parts of my four terms in Parliament has been hosting local school groups who come here with parents and teachers, along with the 100,000 visitors who have a look through the place every year.
It’s always good fun because they arrive here wide-eyed and forthright with their questions ‘Do you live in this building? How much is the pay? Who don’t you like in this place?’ But after all these visits over 12 years, from littlies right through to Year 13s I struggle to recall any questions (even with Crunchie bars on offer) that show any grasp of the real business of politics or the process of Government.
So this is where the argument about connecting early before apathy sets in starts to go awry. It’s not apathy that is the barrier, it’s actually a lack of understanding because before you start work, buy a house, enter a relationship or have children etc, you are only starting to grasp the relevance of politics in your life.
Making a choice at the ballot box requires some reasoning and rational thinking amid a huge amount of decisions that our young people have to make, many of which they won’t in fact get a second shot at: leaving school, leaving home, joining the forces or starting a career. Just because our laws allow people under 16 to do a lot of important things, it doesn’t follow that they should be allowed to vote.
I agree that younger people need to have some interest in politics and there’s a strong case to make politics a serious NCEA subject. However to give them the vote before they are educated and experienced in life enough to make truly informed decisions would be a disaster.
Children of this young age are hardly likely to have found their ideological positioning or anything like it but I feel that allowing under 18-year-olds to vote will not result in them taking a sudden interest in political parties or election issues.
WRITE TO US
We welcome letters to the editor, 250 words or less preferred. Published at the sole discretion of the editor and they may be edited. Include your address and phone number (not for publication). Send to Taranaki Star, 96 Collins St, 4610 or PO Box 428, Hawera or email to star@dailynews.co.nz. Deadline: Fridays 4pm.