DS will go on the electoral register this time next year, although he won't be eligible to vote until he's 18. There is a movement here to give the vote to 16-17-year-olds, which sounds a bit much until you realise that all 16- or 17-year-olds still in full-time education (which most are these days) are attending compulsory citizenship classes, which almost certainly means that they would be better-informed about the issues than very many older voters. Certainly I'm convinced that DS would make a very mature and informed choice if he had the vote this time next year. It does seem a bit wrong that you can marry and put your life on the line as part of the armed forces (with parental consent, admittedly, but still...) when you still can't have a say in how your country is run (although I could say that the age for these things should be raised to 18 rather than the voting age dropped to 16...).
As for the Green vote, I've voted that way before now. Given that my vote in this constituency won't change anything, I've often used my vote to state my support for Green issues.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 07:38 pm (UTC)DS will go on the electoral register this time next year, although he won't be eligible to vote until he's 18. There is a movement here to give the vote to 16-17-year-olds, which sounds a bit much until you realise that all 16- or 17-year-olds still in full-time education (which most are these days) are attending compulsory citizenship classes, which almost certainly means that they would be better-informed about the issues than very many older voters. Certainly I'm convinced that DS would make a very mature and informed choice if he had the vote this time next year. It does seem a bit wrong that you can marry and put your life on the line as part of the armed forces (with parental consent, admittedly, but still...) when you still can't have a say in how your country is run (although I could say that the age for these things should be raised to 18 rather than the voting age dropped to 16...).
As for the Green vote, I've voted that way before now. Given that my vote in this constituency won't change anything, I've often used my vote to state my support for Green issues.