# Youth Rights - Suffrage **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youth-rights-suffrage/511053 "2009-09-22T05:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youth-rights-suffrage/511053/141 "2009-10-17T07:07:55Z")
> [@Cesario](#): > > But that still leaves the question of why you don’t feel these same requirements shouldn’t also be applied for adults. If the adult can’t meet this standard, why give him/her a free pass? Well like I said, adults don’t have the same unfair sway over their lives from other adults with more power influencing how they vote. It’s less about showing intellectual competency to vote and more about just showing you have enough self and independence to take the test to show you aren’t going to be negatively affected by adults trying to frighten you into voting extra for them. Similar principle to citizenship - if you are natural born all you have to do is be born. But if you want special consideration you have to take an eligibility test. I doubt the test is really about knowledge of the good ol USA as much as it a barometer to weed out those who don’t really want it. I guess we could just not have any requirements at all, which would worry me not so much in terms of harming elections as in putting kids in a dangerous situation for them. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youth-rights-suffrage/511053/142 "2009-10-17T07:37:14Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Well like I said, adults don’t have the same unfair sway over their lives from other adults with more power influencing how they vote. It’s less about showing intellectual competency to vote and more about just showing you have enough self and independence to take the test to show you aren’t going to be negatively affected by adults trying to frighten you into voting extra for them. > > Similar principle to citizenship - if you are natural born all you have to do is be born. But if you want special consideration you have to take an eligibility test. I doubt the test is really about knowledge of the good ol USA as much as it a barometer to weed out those who don’t really want it. But then why allow the adults who are going to be negatively affected by other adults trying to frighten you into voting extra for them? It just seems like if this is a real concern, it should be a concern no matter who the subject is. > [@jackdavinci](#): > > I guess we could just not have any requirements at all, which would worry me not so much in terms of harming elections as in putting kids in a dangerous situation for them. This has been my position here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youth-rights-suffrage/511053.md?page=7)