Summarised by Centrist
Luke Tetley-Jones is against lowering the voting age to 16. Despite the ‘Make it 16’ group’s advocacy, Tetley-Jones questions the maturity and readiness of 16-year-olds for the responsibility.
16-year-olds are impacted by government legislation and have certain legal liberties, but he argues many may not be ready for independent adult life. They could lack the life experience and understanding needed for informed voting.
Allowing younger, potentially less mature voters could lead to manipulation in voting. Tetley-Jones’ stance is to maintain the voting age at 18 and to consider 16 to 18 “a reasonable safeguard to ensure democracy is decided by those who have the maturity to do so.”
