No, and voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote

Any test designed to assess a voter's understanding of politics will be inherently biased and lead to biased elections.

No, you don’t have to be a genius or be educated in a specific field to understand who you feel should run things.

A lot of people would take the test to fail. People have the right to voice their opinion in politics no matter competence. Otherwise, they shouldn't have to pay taxes.

Kids 16 and over have a vested interest in where this country is heading and we do not impose such tests on anyone else voting

Of course! It must be available in the future, no matter what, could change the vote during first 24 hours, thinking again before voting.

Certain groups of people would be much more disproportionately affected by this policy. Historically, these requirements to voting have been used to disenfranchise minority voters and voter fraud is already very rare within the United States.

Well that's not the issue everyone has to live under the rules so they should have a say, if they are old enough to work and pay taxes they should be able to vote on who benefits their country.

Ideas like these have roots in unfair exemption from voting, specifically in regards to race. I’d like the person who supports this idea to imagine the day that they are exempted from voting because they got too busy with work/family life/finances to study for the test. This idea preys on the most vulnerable individuals in this country.

My best counter argument is they should make it lower to like 16 years old so that the people are more mature and they understand more and there would be a lot more votes.

that people younger should be able to vote also us people are also smart and we have decisions and curiosity also.

People's perception of reality is influenced by their unique internal perspectives. And more education does not necessarily imply more correctness. The judgment of how well they understand politics is a subjective judgment based on the auditor's personal biases. So there's no universal objective test which would be able to completely accurately determine how good a person's understanding of politics actually is.

I don't believe any eligible voter should have to pass a test to vote. When I say I'm against lowering the voting age it isn't because of a lack of knowledge. Any decently educated 15 year old could explain how our government functions. The issue is wisdom. a 15 year old, and for that matter most 18 year olds, don't have enough life experience to see how government policies affect the every day life of themselves and their community. I would actually support repealing the 26th amendment and take the voting age back up to 21; along with 21 being the minimum age to serve in the military.

I agree with the statement that voters should be required to pass a basic test demonstrating their understanding of politics in order to vote, however I also believe that the voting age should be lowered. If there are individuals that are educated, knowledgeable and provided with the necessary information to create an informed vote, there should be no reason to stop them from legally voting. If we lower the voting age, we should implement programs that supplement individuals with knowledge regarding the voting process so that these young individuals are able to participate in the shaping of the nation's future, their future.

There is no right answer to politics and passing a test will not mean someone is very informed on government, some people have test taking anxiety.

No test is required. Politics is simply trying to make the best argument for your position or perspective.

The idea of democracy is that everyone who is affected by the decisions should have a say in the decisions. You don’t need political knowledge to become a valuable voice. Even the voices of citizens that don’t understand politics matters. Such tests will favor the wealthy, the educated, and the historically advantaged and discriminate against the poor, the less educated (hey, some people couldn’t afford getting advanced education and had to choose to support their family members instead), and historically marginalized groups. Nevertheless, these voices still matter because…  Read more democracy isn’t just for the know-it-alls. It’s a decision making system that values the opinion of the groups most affected by it. These kinds of tests have a history of being abused in a discriminatory manner and has prevented people that are constitutionally entitled to vote just because of their biological characteristics: people of color, women, and now immigrants and young people that PAY TAXES AND ARE AFFECTED BY THE DECISIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT. When did the constitution start to allow age-based discrimination? Just the fact that a person is 13 years old doesn’t stop the person from understanding politics more than some 78-year olds. Teens can be passionate, educated, and thoughtful. Age itself isn’t a benchmark of qualification. Our founding father’s original idea was that people who are taxed should be represented. WE, the youth, pay taxes. No say, No pay. The constitution grants all people to participate in democracy, not just the wealthy. A “basic” test is subjective and is prone to abuse. If it’s TOO BASIC, then there will be no point to doing the test. If it’s TOO ADVANCED, it will favor the wealthy, not working or middle class Americans like US. Who wants to be controlled by your childhood classmates who knew all the important dates in history but nothing about people’s emotions and monetary environments? Until the government grants US, people under 18, full voting rights, we aren’t ideologically obliged to pay taxes nor follow laws created without our voices.

Lowering the voting age will allow more people to vote and a basic test is a waste of time as people have their own beliefs'.

This would be used for discrimination. I do not trust politicians to decide what is and isn't an "understanding of politics". Also, tests required to vote will always be marked by their past in the Jim Crow era.