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Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? Many having opposing views.

"We allow 16-year-olds to go off and get jobs and pay taxes, but we fail to allow them to exercise their voice come election time."

In the wake of school shootings, outrage pouring on social media and an even more volatile political divide, is it time to bring a new crop of people into the voting world? Some say yes, some say absolutely not. In Michigan, new legislation was announced last week that would change the voting age in Michigan to 16. Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights, said in his statement when proposing the bill, "we allow 16-year-olds to go off and get jobs and pay taxes, but we fail to allow them to exercise their voice come election time." Is he right? Are we neglecting an age group that could be helpful, honest and open-minded in the voice of American politics?

In an op-ed piece, Brian Dickerson, an editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press, wore his feelings down using the only type of humor that seems to get noticed when involving politics - irony. The title of his piece "Sixteen-year-olds are woke and dangerous. We can't let them vote" asserts that the voting rights of women, black citizens and even America itself when freed from Great Britain, were instrumental in bringing about change to a country at times when it so desperately needed change. Dickerson writes, "there are people in the political and media elite who believe that enlisting young Americans to protect their country's long-term interests at the polls would be good for the country." However, Dickerson also acknowledges that many of the staunch oppositionists to this new legislation fear that only the "left" side of politics would benefit from this change.

On the opposing side, the argument is based mainly on the maturity of the teens in question. Constitutional law expert Michael Morley in an interview with PBSNews said that, “the arguments for lowering the voting age to 18 (back in the 1970's) doesn't’ entirely translate to lowering it to 16...kids are still legally required to attend school and generally depend on parental support." Others are also worried that the issues 16-year-olds would focus on might not look at long-term problems like Social Security, Medicare and retirement.

So what do you think? Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? Let us know your DBLTake!

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