# Perhaps we should raise the voting age, uh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 14, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550 "2020-11-14T03:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Forever77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/74df32/32.png) [@Forever77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forever77)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/1 "2020-11-14T03:04:27Z")
I think we should raise the voting age to 41 and then we could have more confidence in the wiser population doing the voting or even have two sections of the population vote. Under 41 first and then over 41 next to counter the younger generation vote ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/2 "2020-11-14T03:07:37Z")
Like you said, uh. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/3 "2020-11-14T03:10:11Z")
I think it’s a dumb idea. I’d love to cap the voting age at 75, but I know that’s a dumb idea as well. Make seniors wait in 2 hour lines and then rejecting them for insufficient ID could be a good tactic, however ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/4 "2020-11-14T03:21:31Z")
1. As the minimum age to be president is 35, this would mean that a legitimate candidate for the office could not, in fact, vote for himself or herself. 2. Based on what I see, I hypothesize that the correlation between age and wisdom is significantly less than 1.0 ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/5 "2020-11-14T05:18:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As the minimum age to be president is 35, this would mean that a legitimate candidate for the office could not, in fact, vote for himself or herself. That’s already possible in states that don’t allow felons to vote. I mean being unable to vote for oneself as a “legitimate” candidate (the official qualifications not setting an especially high bar). ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/6 "2020-11-14T05:40:20Z")
I has hanging out with the youth in the neighborhood when someone popped up out of nowhere and said to them: > See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. While he looked like what I imagined to be the love-child of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, I’m pretty sure that he was God and that he was telling them to remove all power from the old people, including the right to vote. I also sort of got the impression that he was telling them to knock over confederate statues, completely rewrite the constitution, and to grow more marijuana. I hope this helps you see the light, @Forever77. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/7 "2020-11-14T06:13:12Z")
> [@Forever77](#): > > I think we should raise the voting age to 41 and then we could have more confidence > in the wiser population doing the voting or even have two sections of the population vote. I think prospective voters should be asked what their main source of current events info is, and if they say “Fox News”, their vote only counts as half a vote. Seriously, though, I can’t fathom a good reason for raising (or lowering) the voting age - if someone is old enough to go to war and pay taxes, they ought to have a say in their government. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/8 "2020-11-14T06:23:44Z")
Oooh, let’s alternate! One presidential election year only those 15-45 can vote, and on the next only those 46+ can vote. On midterms everybody gets to vote. Why the fuck not, can’t possibly be any stupider than what we keep ending up with. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/9 "2020-11-14T06:26:51Z")
I have thought about this too and I sorta like not having old people be able to fuck with the future they do not have to live in. Then I think disenfranchising any group never turns out well for that group (no surprise there). Remember, unless you die young via some accident or disease you will be old one day too. This is something you will face. Are you really ok with that? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/10 "2020-11-14T08:56:21Z")
Pretty much the opposite has happened. If you compare the voting turnout rate for those over 65 versus those under 25, it’s almost like the minimum voting age is about 25 or 30! Thankfully, that seems to finally be changing , and voters age 18-25 are showing up to vote. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/11 "2020-11-14T09:46:05Z")
I’m well over 41 and I certainly wouldn’t consider myself to be any wiser than younger people, wisdom does not necessarily come with age, there’s absolutely no reason to think older people would vote any more intelligently than younger people ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/12 "2020-11-14T10:47:20Z")
Maybe people 41 and over get a full vote, and each citizen aged 18 to 40 gets 3/5 of a vote. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/13 "2020-11-14T12:40:58Z")
Some psychiatrists claim that the human brain is not fully developed until the mid-20s, and that people younger than 25 are significantly more likely to make decisions on impulse, without considering the long-term consequences. The popularity of binge-drinking on college campuses is consistent with this hypothesis. If the voting age were raised, the age for enlisting in the armed forces (or registering for the draft) should also be raised. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/14 "2020-11-14T12:56:13Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’d love to cap the voting age at 75, That was my immediate reaction as well. The young have a hell of a lot more time to live w/ the results. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/15 "2020-11-14T14:12:19Z")
Looks like someone is afraid of Millennials and Zoomers. They should be. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/16 "2020-11-14T14:36:05Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I think prospective voters should be asked what their main source of current events info is, and if they say “Fox News”, their vote only counts as half a vote. Three-fifths. Sauce for the gander. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/17 "2020-11-14T14:49:47Z")
> [@Forever77](#): > > then we could have more confidence in the wiser population doing the voting What evidence has led you to the belief that the “over 41s” are wiser? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/18 "2020-11-14T14:57:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Are you really ok with that? Yup. I would be ok with dropping the maximum voting age to 70 so you don’t get to vote the last ~30 years of your life. Hopefully you took care of the younger generations and they want to care for you. That gives me another 8 presidential elections and if I haven’t accomplished what I want in that time I’ll had over the reigns. On the other side I’d like to see a single age of majority across this country and I’d pick 16. At that point you can drive, drink, smoke, fuck, vote, join the military, buy guns, go to prison, and be president. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/19 "2020-11-14T15:31:00Z")
No, it should be lowered to 16. When the Net Neutrality decision came down in 2017, there was a palpable negative reaction among the student body as the notifications and texts and snaps poured into their phones. Among the elderly in my life, they had zero idea that it had happened and didn’t care when explained. The idea that the age should be raised to 41 is fundamentally at odds with the world today. The kids are damned-near immeasurably… especially when comparing like age to like age… better informed than their elders. A 16yo Boomer in 1963, even adjusting for socio-economic opportunity, is nowhere near as informed about their world than a similar 16yo in 2020. There’s just no competition. However, a 76 year old in 1963 probably was wiser than his counterpart in 2020 given the aging Boomer is now being confused by technologies they invented but never mastered. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550/20 "2020-11-14T16:15:07Z")
Maybe they should float the idea to raise the age, on the pretext that, ‘Hey, they pretty clearly aren’t that interested, based on numbers who don’t bother, so…maybe change it!’, see if that doesn’t wake them up a bit, and get them to go vote! HaHaHa! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-we-should-raise-the-voting-age-uh/925550.md?page=2)