Voting at 16: Turnout and the Quality of Vote Choice

Autor(en)

Markus Wagner, David Johann, Sylvia Kritzinger

Abstrakt

Critics of giving citizens under 18 the right to vote argue that such teenagers lack the ability and motivation to participate effectively in elections. If this argument is true, lowering the voting age would have negative consequences for the quality of democracy. We test the argument using survey data from Austria, the only European country with a voting age of 16 in nation-wide elections. While the turnout levels of young people under 18 are relatively low, their failure to vote cannot be explained by a lower ability or motivation to participate. In addition, the quality of these citizens' choices is similar to that of older voters, so they do cast votes in ways that enable their interests to be represented equally well. These results are encouraging for supporters of a lower voting age.

Organisation(en)

Journal

Electoral Studies

Band

31

Seiten

372-383

Anzahl der Seiten

12

ISSN

0261-3794

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2012.01.007

Publikationsdatum

2012

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

506014 Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft

Link zum Portal

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/voting-at-16-turnout-and-the-quality-of-vote-choice(78844b83-d234-4282-afd6-8959041f1207).html