In Buenos Aires, Argentina, lawmakers passed a new bill Wednesday saying that they are lowering the age to vote from 18 to 16 years old. Even representatives in South America, surprisingly, voted in favor. This happened a year before a very important mid-term election in Argentina. There are many hypothesis as to why they would do it. Some people say it was an effort for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her party to receive more votes. On the other hand, people say that is it a great way to have adolescents more involved in politics. Some people think that 16 year old teenagers are participating anyway and that they might as well let them vote. There are many people for and against this new bill. Nahuel Armando, a student in Buenos Aires, said lowering the voting age would be a positive move. Yet, Santiago Tricario said that politics and political campaigns would interfere with their education. With this new law, approximately 1.5 million new teenage Argentinians are being added to the voting roll.
I think this new law is beneficial as well as it may exacerbate the voting process. In theory this law sounds like a good way for the younger generation participate in politics, but we all know there are many absurdities in why they vote for this certain person. Hopefully it will be beneficial.
SOURCES:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/31/world/americas/argentina-youth-vote/index.html?hpt=ila_c2
It's weird that they lowered it so low! However, it's probably only low to us because of where ours is currently. Everyone's sixteenth birthday just got a little bigger in Argentina!
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