Stuff reports
today that Patrick Barrett, a senior lecturer in public policy and political
science at Waikato University, is concerned that not enough young people vote
in local government elections.
Fine. I agree that if only 33 per cent of eligible voters in
Hamilton cast votes, as happened in 2016, a lot of people are missing out on an
important opportunity to exercise their democratic right. Perhaps more to the
point, low voter turnout can skew the result and lead to the election of a
council that’s not truly representative of the community.
So what’s Barrett’s solution? He’s urging that the voting
age be lowered from 18 to 16.
Brilliant. I wonder what makes him think 16-18 year-olds are
any more likely to vote than all the millennials who don’t bother. I mean,
really.
