# FILE NAME: 00001869.soc
# TITLE: Should the voting age be 16? [ed0c5a9ba8cb8d345123a832db8037e5]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 4
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - We believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16. We believe that the right to vote is a basic human right and that this should be extended to 16 year olds. 16 year olds are already expected to have a lot of responsibility and this should be reflected in their right to vote. We believe that this will increase the number of people voting and make the government more representative of the population. We also believe that it is important to educate 16 year olds about voting and politics beforehand. If we do not do this, 16 year olds may be less informed on the key issues than older people and so a longer term plan needs to be put in place to give all young people the information that they need before this right is given to them. We do not believe that this policy should be extended to those under 16 or above 18 as these people would probably not be as well informed about the issues.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - We believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16. We believe that the right to vote is a basic human right and that this should be extended to 16 year olds. We also believe that 16 year olds are often more informed on the key issues than elderly people who are stuck in their ways and are not up to date with the real state of the world right now. 16 year olds are already expected to have a lot of responsibility and this should be reflected in their right to vote. We believe that this will increase the number of people voting and make the government more representative of the population. We also believe that 16 year olds are more affected by the results than some other people.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - We believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16. We believe that the right to vote is a basic human right and that this should be extended to 16 year olds. We also believe that 16 year olds are often more informed on the key issues than elderly people who are stuck in their ways and are not up to date with the real state of the world right now. 16 year olds are already expected to have a lot of responsibility and this should be reflected in their right to vote. We believe that this will increase the number of people voting and make the government more representative of the population. We do not believe that all 16 year olds will be well informed and are more affected by the results than some other people. Discussion The above is an example of a group of participants coming to a consensus on a question. The process is summarised below in a flowchart. The flowchart starts with a facilitator establishing a question that participants will be debating. In this case, the question was “Should the voting age be 16?”. The participants are given time to write down their own initial opinion on the question. The facilitator then presents the question and the initial opinions to all of the participants.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - Final consensus statement: It is the opinion of this group that the voting age should be 16. We believe that 16 year olds are mature enough and are prepared enough to make such decisions. We believe that this will make the government more representative of the population as a whole.
2: 3,1,2,4
1: 2,4,3,1
1: 2,1,4,3
1: 4,2,1,3