Kids Vote

Jackie Mason | October 20, 2004
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | October 21, 2004
Yeah... this'll give them WAY more time to become disillusioned/jaded/cynical!!! ;D

(Sorry, Jackie -- I'm just tired of feeling politically outnumbered, you know?)

Anna Gregoline | October 21, 2004
I voted in 3rd grade or whatever when Bush Senior was elected - I was mad because my vote wasn't counted - instead of a "check" I'd put an "x" or some stupid thing. I guess that was a shadow of the 2000 election.

Amy Austin | October 21, 2004
I was going to say... "Was that in Florida?" That and, "For real?" or are you just cracking a joke (good one).

Anna Gregoline | October 21, 2004
Nope. I remember it clearly - it almost made me cry, because even at that tender and unknowning age, I knew I wanted Dukakis to win instead of that smug Bush.

Oh so little has changed.

Personally, I thought that was rude of the teacher - we were in THIRD GRADE for crying out loud - let a poor kid's vote in the fake election count. It was an honest mistake.

Amy Austin | October 21, 2004
HAHAHAHAHAA... I'm sorry, Anna -- but that story is freakin' hilarious! That's quite possibly the funniest thing I've read from you...

Anna Gregoline | October 21, 2004
Hopefully you'll hear more, you've only been here a few days....

Amy Austin | October 21, 2004
I can't wait... I really can't.

Scott Hardie | October 21, 2004
So Nickelodeon kids chose Kerry for president... Does that mean Bush gets slimed?

David Mitzman | October 21, 2004
I don't know!

(kudos to anyone catching the reference here)

Scott Horowitz | October 21, 2004
Personally, I think they should lower the voting age to 15.. People are probably going to say that is stupid, but hear me out. A child is in 10th grade by that point. I can't imagine 1 social studies class in this country that isn't covering the election right now. Kids feel they don't have a say in government right now. This would be a good way to increase the responsibilty and maturity of kids.

Jackie Mason | October 21, 2004
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | October 22, 2004
"Hardie"? No, please don't. ;-)

There's a movement to lower the voting age to 15 in Florida, since that's the minimum legal age of employment. It boils down to taxation without representation; by having a job a teenager is considered a productive member of society, but she's still denied the right to vote for her own Congressional representatives. Personally, I don't think that's justification enough, since having a job is not related to being a citizen, otherwise Amy wouldn't be allowed to vote in two weeks. But I do think that smart, informed teenagers should have the vote, and the rest of the teens wouldn't bother showing up at the polls, so we should at least consider lowering the voting age.

Kris Weberg | November 2, 2004
Of course, the real problem is with the necessary evil of age limits in general. Different people mature at different rates, and some never mature at all.

I've known 16-year-olds whop ought to be voting; and 35-year-olds who should be made to retake high school civics before being let near a ballot box.

Anthony Lewis | November 28, 2004
I think if you are going to let a someone under the age of 18 vote, then they should be made to take some sort of certification test. Something that shows to the administrator that they have, at the very least, a rudimentary grasp of current issues and how the government is run. Because Lord knows, I don't want to see Ashton Kutcher or Ashlee Simpson as President.