GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- Rebecca Eissler, political science professor at SF State, noted that ages used for voting ages are entirely dependent on a society’s culture, and she described these set ages as “arbitrary.”
“The voting age used to be 21; It was lowered to 18 in the wake of Vietnam,” Eissler said. “If young people were going to be sent to war to die, potentially for their country, then they should have a say in who the leaders are that are making those decisions.
“I’ve seen many groups who are fighting to lower the voting age saying, ‘Look, the decisions that are being made now, relating to guns, relating to climate change, directly impact people who are in that 16- to 18-year-old window. They should have a say about who makes the decisions,’” she said.