Why Millennials Should Not Vote.

Why Millennials Should Not Vote.

By Quinton B. Smith, a Millennial

Voting means: You can. Not: You should.

The millennial age group include those born after the early to mid 1980s and before 2000. And they should not have the same say as their seniors in the political process. Some say the voting age in America should be raised to at least 24. I think all millenials should revisit their rights to vote. There are some Hard Questions to be asked. 

 “Raising the voting age to 24 will not change anything…” 

Raising the voting age to 24 will not change anything for approximately 80% of those in the identified age group. It is widely thought that because 80% of millennials refuse to take part in the political process, they are somehow avoiding their civic duty. However, there is another argument that says, “people who are indifferent to political parties may have a duty not to vote.” 

“Millennials have records of making poor decisions…”

Millennials have a high recorded rate of making poor decisions and have less real world experience than ever before. Cutting out the right to vote for millennials, or at least everyone under 24 years old, may help to insure a more potent vote for more competent people—if “competent” is equal to “real-world experience.” 


Raising the voting age might give more people who may have the ability to think critically, a more meaningful vote—if people who takes care of themselves, provides for themselves, and makes real world decisions on a daily basis, are also people who learn to think more critically. Maybe we should stop letting people who can’t even take care of themselves, vote? 

"People under 24 don’t even care"

Some think that people under 24 don’t even really care. Changing the voting age to 24 would not stop a large percentage of people from voting. Joanna Weiss writes that “only 19.9% of people between 18 and 29 actually vote.” Weiss writes that of those just under thirty, most did not vote in the 2014 midterm elections. (In Utah that number is even less) Weiss said this was the lowest recorded turn out, ever, in history! This absent group mainly consisted of millennials, or those who were 18 to 29 in 2014. So raising the minimum voting age to 24 would not have made a big difference for nearly 80% of the recommended age group. 

 Use it or lose it! 

“Use it or lose it.” In Utah, people are prompted to use their water shares because if they do not use them, they will lose them. As a result people invest large amounts of money and effort to secure the rights to their wells and water shares. By using physical property to exemplify contrast against an intangible civil right, like voting, a clearer line can be drawn connecting political inactivity with the age group in question. They should also, use it or lose it. And in Many states this is already true as they take this a step further and purge voter registration if the potential voter is inactive. This means that in some states, roughly 80% of millennial voters temporally lose their right to vote anyway. Meaning: any law all together barring a millennial’s right to vote would only hinder the political behavior of less than 20% of voters between 18 and 29 years old. A raised voting age would even affect much less of those who are 18 to 24 years old according to 2012 US census data. 

 “Is voting a civic duty: if you are not informed?” 

Many Americans view voting as a civic duty. This can be seen clearly when driving by the ballots on Election Day while people stand about holding signs reading nothing more than “Vote!” There are no signs reading “vote for so and so!” they just read “vote!” Most people think voting is important. However, some argue that there may be a principled obligation to refrain from voting altogether. Paul Sheely illuminates some reasons why one should not vote below. “There is a widely held belief that a citizen of a free and fair democracy has a duty to vote,” but Sheely asks “whether there can also be a duty not to vote in a free and fair democracy???” He says that “when a citizen is indifferent… or does “not care about the outcome of an election…” they probably should not vote (46-48). Finally, Sheely says that the since of “duty to vote for someone would amount to these…” unconcerned, uninformed, and unaware, “…voters having a course of action forced upon them...” (Sheehy 49). 

Only 19% of millennials are going to the voting booths, their cause very well may be indifference, and considering some might vote to satisfy their feelings of duty—ill-informed and by in large indifferent to current events, Maybe they should not be allowed to vote until they are at least 24 years of age. This change in law would at least create disambiguation about any indifferent voter’s obligation to vote. 

"Millennial make poor decisions"

(assault, robbery, rape, murder and theft)

There are concise records of very bad decisions being made by the age group in question. The question is: are millennial’s votes made in the best interest of themselves and our country even when they do vote? 1990 arrest statistics suggest that the bulk of crime is committed by teenagers and young adults. For example, “45% of those arrested in 1990 for indexed (assault, robbery, rape, murder and theft) crimes were 15 to 24 years old” (Marvell T at al). and according to My Budget 360, an online economy themed publication, says “24 years old is the new 17…” In fact, according to the 360 pole, more than half of people ages 18 - 24 still live at home with parents and are not likely making real world decisions on their own yet. Cause and effect is always a key element in politics. So naturally, the argument leads to a large percentage of millennials making poor decisions, and as the result, multiple criminal records show they do make more poor decisions than other age groups. 

To what degree should millennials make decisions that influence others? 

There is no question that there is a high rate of poor decisions being made by those under 24. Some argue they are committing these crimes because of their youthful indiscretions. While another study shown here will argue that it is actually their inexperience that causes them to get caught. That said, from either point of view there is not an argument stating that today, there is not indeed more millennials being arrested than all other age groups. Some of these crimes are heinous crimes. Thomas B Marvell and Carlisle E. Moody Jr say that “the high arrest rates for younger persons are due partly to their lesser ability to escape arrest,” not that they are more prone to crime. Marvell and Moody’s study says that even though “Arrest statistics suggest that the bulk of crime is committed by teenagers and young adults. For example, 45% of those arrested in 1990 for indexed crimes were 15 to 24 years old” (as cited in Marvell and Moody). These people are being caught because they have limited experience escaping law enforcement. For the other side of the argument, researchers site the causes for these statistics as “chemical factors such as testosterone levels that might predispose persons to crime, innate recklessness of juveniles, level of moral development, inability to balance immediate gains against long-term effects of crime…” (Marvell, at el). So, there is no argument about if the age group in question is actually making bad decision, the scientific argument is only whether they make bad choices because of youthful hormones or do they get caught more because they have less experience in the real world? Either way, there is an alarming trend of poor decisions being made by millennials. 

Should they make those decisions for others? 

Voting decisions are all political, and mainly, opinion based. No facts really exist, at least none that can be known by the average voter. The people in the question age group are not voting anyway, they don’t have real world experience and are recorded making increasingly poor decisions every day. 




It is true that in times of war, the age group in question can be called to serve, to put their lives on the line, and they are considered culpable if and clearly when, they are caught committing crimes, and as a result they will likely do time behind bars. It is easy to use all these truths as reasons why they should also be allowed to vote. However, while with their parents, in times of military service, or even while in jail, the members of this age group still do not make decisions on their own. They rely on orders, support and advice from parents, and they are not making their own “real world decisions” in many other cases. We can argue that their obligation to sign up for the draft should be their end all ticket to the right to vote; but I will conclude saying that it is that very risk to these young peoples’ lives why the voting age should be raised to at least 24. It should be raised because the prescribed age group, for the most part, are not voting anyway, they have limited experience making real world decisions, they have a record of making bad decisions and their lives are literally on the line here. 








Educational Image graft scale: “Millennials Living At Home, 2012” ( src="http://www.mybudget360.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/young-americans-living-at- home.png" width="321" height="622">) Arrested economic development: 36 percent of Millennials living at home delaying financial adulthood. Less than one-third of Millennials employed, Web: http://www.mybudget360.com/ (No date,) 20 Nov. 2015 Weiss, Joanna, Millennials Don’t Believe in Voting Boston Globe: web (www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/08/20/millennials-don-believe-voting/cGb7sx5ZvkmDCsNd3shTDO/story.html ) Aug, 2015, 20 Nov. 2015 Sheeny, Paul. “A Duty Not To Vote.” Ratio 15.1 (2002): Academic Search Priemer. Web 20 Nov. 2015 Marvell Thomas B., and Carlisle E. Moody Jr. “Age Structure And Crime Rates: The Conflicting Evidence.” Journal Of Quantitative Criminology. 7.3 237-272. Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full text. Web 20 Nov. 2015 Age gap chart from: Housing Statistics Division U.S. Census Bureau Washington, DC 20233-8500 (2012) Nov 23 2015 Why do some of us vote? More importantly, why is it that most of us don’t vote? What if there was a law saying no voting until you’re less stupid? For this law, let’s aim for 24… Maybe language like this isn’t such a bad idea, maybe it will actually cause more people to take voting seriously… 

Survey Monkey When asked if the voting age should be raised to 24 years old… Tyler age 21—no Rileane age 19—yes Justin age 21—no John age 33—yes Quinton age 33—no Natalie age 36—yes Steve age 26—yes Cara age 23—no Y