Voting at 16? Youth suffrage is up for debate. Issue 2 (December 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zeglovits, Eva
• Is Part Of: European view. Volume 12:Issue 2(2013)
• Page Start: 249
• Page End: 254
• Publication Date: 2013-12
• Subjects: Youth suffrage -- Voting age -- Turn-out -- Quality of the vote choice -- Political interest; Political science -- Europe -- Periodicals; Europe -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 320.94
• DOI: 10.1007/s12290-013-0273-3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1781-6858

Abstract

In the debate on lowering the voting age, possible consequences have been discussed, among which are turn-out and the quality of the vote choice of newly enfranchised teenagers. Although findings on the turn-out of 16- and 17-year-olds are encouraging to supporters of youth suffrage, the results on political maturity are somewhat mixed. Most results stem from the case of Austria, where the voting age was lowered to 16 in 2007. They are supplemented with results of the Norwegian Voting Age Trial.