Opinion

Let’s push voting age back to 21

Posted June 03, 2013 4:40 am

In its May 30 editorial, the Daily Herald calls for allowing 17-year-olds to vote. The reasoning: “An earlier voting age will engage 17-year-olds in the process and jump-start lifelong voting habits.”

The exact same thing could be said for 16-, 15- and 14-year-olds. But wait a minute. Why stop there? Couldn’t this also be said for 13-, 12-, 11- and 10-year-olds? Hey, why not also 9-, 8-, 7- and 6-year-olds?

Before 1972, only 21-year-olds could vote. Isn’t there something to be said about the wisdom of our forefathers in allowing only people age 21 or older to vote? Does an 18-year-old or a 17-year-old have enough wisdom between the ears to make an intelligent voting decision?

Forget about allowing 17-year-olds to vote. Let’s push the voting age back to 21. After all, 21 is about the age where an average adult truly has enough smarts to make an intelligent voting decision.

Joe Schrantz

Villa Park

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