Right to vote from 16: A critical view

Almost every detail of the past state elections has now been discussed. What hardly anyone points out: In eight federal states, young people are now allowed to vote from the age of 16. Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are two of the three states in which the Left or the AfD recently won elections. The change in voting rights is often justified by the fact that young people will have to live with the effects of political decisions for longer.

You can see the consequences now. In Berlin, 46 percent of 16 to 24 year olds voted for the Left Party. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD and the Left together won 54 percent in this age group. Unfortunately, the numbers do not show how 16 and 17 year olds alone voted. But the idea that the voices of young people are necessarily voices for a sensible future has no basis.

What future should that be? One in which migrants and their children leave the country because they are harassed? Even those who have long been at home here and who pay taxes? A future in which no one invests here because they have to expect to be expropriated? Where clans have influence on politics?

In other areas we draw boundaries for 16 and 17 year olds. Fully operational? From 18. Hard alcohol? From 18. Driving alone? From the age of 18. The discrepancy in criminal law becomes very clear: anyone who commits an offense before their 18th birthday will be sentenced according to juvenile criminal law. This happens all the time, even with 20-year-olds. Courts take into account that young adults often do not understand the consequences of their actions. In order. But then why do we let them vote at 16?