Teens 16 and older can win the Nobel Peace prize, reach the summit of Mt. Everest, conduct cancer research, become published authors, and even work for NASA, but still cannot vote on local community issues.

Yet, these 16 and 17 year olds need to take part in their communities.

Older teens are not legally adults, but they still are treated as such.

They are legally allowed to work, as long as they do not handle alcohol or tobacco products and are allowed to get their licenses after segment one and two of driver training.

Most teens are educated about the government by age 16. They have the same amount of knowledge as some of the adults that get to vote, especially since they have a required government and economics class.

Many adults disagree, arguing that teens are going to mess around and that they do not know what they are doing. Teens are often stereotyped as inconsiderate or jokers, meaning they just mess around and do not care about what is going on in their local government. There are teens who want to actually make a change.  

Abigail Chandler, journalist for Metro website, thinks that “saying 16 year olds should not be allowed to vote because they are immature is like saying people over 80 should not be allowed to vote because some have dementia.”

The young people who actually pay attention and want there to be a difference are going to be the ones who vote.

In Florida, the Parkland teens talked to their lawmakers at the capitol in order to change the current policies about gun control. These teens wanted to make a change in gun control because of the school shooting and they made an effort towards that.

There are a lot of teens who care a lot about what goes on in their school and community.

Such as the hundreds of girls involved in the Larry Nassar case. They came forward to give victim statements in order to make a change.

Many people of all different ages want the law to be changed so older teens can vote.

One of the main reasons older voters want this so badly is because parents think it would be good for teens to vote on smaller issues to get a taste of what it is like.

Getting them in the habit of voting will help later on when they vote for more serious issues like the presidency.

Some 18-year-olds have no idea what they are doing, but still are voting for one of the most important jobs in the United States.

Some say this is because they are uneducated, but they get the same education as adults who vote. Others say this is because they do not know how to vote. Voting at a younger age will help with this.  

Chandler thinks people generalize all teens into stereotypes. This stereotyping has been proven to be wrong by multiple researchers.

Voting is on local elections will improve voting skills for the future, give teens a say in issues that are directed toward them, and help teens become more involved.