Jackson Free Press

The average American citizen has access to more information than ever before. Candidates are waging and winning political campaigns through grass-roots outreach efforts to Joe and Jane Citizen, and few elections of recent memory were as exciting and energizing as the current race for the White House. However, even in this historic and groundbreaking year, there is still one area where we could make a major improvement: the minimum voting age.

In 2001, the Mississippi Senate considered a bill that would have lowered the age of compulsory school attendance to 15. Many of the problems in high schools come from students aged 15 to 17 who don't want to be there, the bill's authors argue, so why don't we let them drop out if that's what they really want to do?

Several studies on the disparity in lifetime earning and achievement potential between high-school graduates and high-school dropouts, point to an overwhelming advantage for graduates. The Community Resource Development reported that in 1999, 25-year-old adults who had dropped out of school before ninth grade earned almost 48 percent less than a high school graduate of the same age. And this is just one study.

My point is that some lawmakers in this state thought that it would be a good idea to make dropping out of school an available option for 15-year-old kids. These lawmakers wanted to give these teens the freedom to make a decision that would negatively affect their income and job opportunities for the rest of their lives. So, teens are qualified to make this life-altering decision, but they aren't responsible enough to cast a vote in the presidential race?

That's not all. Other evidence suggests Mississippians think that teens are capable of making responsible decisions. At 16, a teen can earn a license to operate a motor vehicle, and consent to sex, or do both (although hopefully not at the same time). With parental consent, when a young Mississippi man has reached age 17, he can get married, while his bride-to-be could be as young as 15. A parent's signature also makes a 17-year-old, male or female, eligible for service in our U.S. military. Mississippi state law allows for children as young as 13 to be tried for crimes as adults.

Do we believe that teens are responsible enough to make major decisions on their own, or do we not? If not, how do we decide at what age our children are able to comprehend the consequences of their decisions, actions and inactions?

Lowering the voting age to 16, 14 or even 13 could have very positive effects on the United States' political system. Involving teens in our political process early on would surely make those high-school civics courses more interesting, and would, hopefully, create more informed voters in the process.

Researchers, such as Dr. Steven Chaffee of Stanford University, have observed a "trickle-up effect" in families that have children who participate in national mock elections. These kids bring an enthusiasm for politics back to their parents, who vote in higher numbers. And that's a good thing.

Some Americans have valid concerns regarding a lower voting age, one of those being the idea that parents might place undue pressure on their children to register and vote for the candidates of their parents' choosing. Taken to the extreme, some might even argue that parents could lean on their children—whom they still file as dependents with the IRS—to vote for a particular candidate in exchange for continued financial support. What's a cash-strapped college student to do in such a situation? Fortunately, this has never really emerged as a problem. America may not have many brilliant voting policies or regulations in place, but the idea that everyone has the right to cast a secret ballot is exactly that.

Many of today's political issues will have long-lasting effects on tomorrow's parents, educators and leaders. Any American citizen who is interested enough in politics to register to vote should have a say in the shaping of that world. If teens are responsible enough to handle vehicles, hold down jobs and get married, then they are probably responsible enough to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice. With that in mind, I propose that we engage our children in the political process by actually allowing them to have a say in the shaping of things to come.