The Daily Background

WaPo’s Jefferson Morley writes:

Old enough to drive, old enough to vote. That’s the conclusion of a British parliamentary commission, which recommended lowering the voting age to 16 years of age as part of a broader effort to reinvigorate democracy in the United Kingdom.

Gordon Brown, heir-apparent to Prime Minister Tony Blair, once opposed the idea but now says he supports it.

So does the liberal Independent: “Democracy faces meltdown in Britain as the public rejects an outdated political system which has centralised more authority than ever in a tiny ruling elite, the Power inquiry warns today,” the London daily reports. It gives sympathetic coverage to the commission’s “plan to revive Britain’s dying democracy.”

It’s an interesting point, and apparently the conservatives are opposed to it. Of course it begs the question, if you’re old enough to vote, are you old enough to run as a canidate? Hmm. Not that any 16 year olds would seriously run for elected office, though.

In unrelated voting news, Associated Press is reporting that dead people voted in local Detroit elections last November. The article also discusses steps being taken to prevent this from occuring in the future. Hopefully that sort of thing will be nipped in the bud, by the time for this year’s November midterm elections.

Filed under: oh six midterm Elections, Z-TDB Blog