Lowering the voting age to 16: Young people making a case for political education in fostering voting competencies

Abstract

The intention of this article is to contribute to the debate about whether the voting age should be lowered to the age of 16, by examining quantitative and qualitative data collected in a local participation project with young people in Portugal: questionnaires (N = 961), interviews (N = 3), and focus group discussions (N = 15). Considering the coexistence of both willingness and reluctance to get engaged in formal politics – as youngsters often feel ill-equipped politically – it is argued that adequate political education needs to be provided by schools to enable young people to be confident and knowledgeable voters. We propose that governments recognise the importance of this area in the school curriculum, in order to enable the young people’s acquisition of knowledge and skills that can sustain their growth as competent voters. This is crucial in legitimising democratic representative systems.