Retchless 1

Paxton Retchless

Mr. Ventura

ENG 1530

26 October 2020

Annotated Bibliography

Astor, Maggie. “16-Year-Olds Want a Vote. Fifty Years Ago, So Did 18-Year-Olds.” The New

York Times, 19 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/us/politics/voting-age.html.

The article, “16-Year-Olds Want a Vote. Fifty Years Ago, So Did 18-Year-Olds,”

was published on May 19, 2019. This article is very current since its publication was only

a little over a year ago, and the information has not changed severely between now and

then. The author, Maggie Astor, is a political reporter for the New York Times. She has a

political science degree from Barnard College. The information in the article answers my

questions. The information can be backed by evidence because statistics and historical

facts were included. The intended audience is to show the status of the fight of lowering

the voting age to 16. The article was written to show people the opinions surrounding

lowering the voting age, and to let people form their own opinions based off the

information. The article does not seem to lean towards one side of the arguments because

opinions from both sides are presented equally.

The article, “16-Year-Olds Want a Vote. Fifty Years Ago, So Did 18-Year-Olds,”

explains the differences and similarities between the fight to lowering the voting to 18

and 16. When lowering the voting age to 18, people used the popular argument that 18

year olds could go to war, but a popular argument is not present for 16 year olds. A lot of

people are against lowering the voting age to 16, including 84 percent of registered
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voters. But, a lot of people were also against lowering the voting age to 18 in the

beginning. In 1939, support for lowering the voting age was only at 17 percent. By 1967,

the number went up to 64 percent. In the future, more people may be in favor of lowering

the voting age to 16. The main point of the article was to show how most people are not

in favor of changing the voting age, but like in the past, this could change. This source

will be used for background information since it shows historical facts of the previous

fight of lowering the voting age. I will also use the article to show different opinions

about lowering the voting age and to show how many people support the argument.

Brown, Steven. "'16 is far too young' England urged NOT to reduce voting age to 16;

EXPRESS.CO.UK readers have voiced their opinions on whether England should follow

Wales and reduce the voting age to 16." Express Online, June 2, 2020. advance-lexis-

com.jsrvproxy1.sunyjcc.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:6020-

F861-JCJY-G2FR-00000-00&context=1516831. Accessed October 27, 2020.

The article, “16 is far too young' England urged NOT to reduce voting age to 16;

EXPRESS.CO.UK readers have voiced their opinions on whether England should follow

Wales and reduce the voting age to 16,” was published on June 2, 2020. Since the

publication was only four months ago the article seems very current, but some of the

opinions people have in the article have been proven false by science and research. The

authority of the article is questionable. The author, Steven Brown, is not a political

science expert, and only two statements within the article were supported by evidence.

Since very little evidence was cited, the article is also not very accurate. The article

answers my research questions because reasons people are against lowering the voting

age are provided. The intended audience are people who do not have an opinion on the
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topic or people who believe the voting age should be lowered. The purpose of the article

is to sway people to believe the voting age should not be lowered. The article is highly

biased towards the side of people who want to keep the voting age the same.

The article, “16 is far too young' England urged NOT to reduce voting age to 16;

EXPRESS.CO.UK readers have voiced their opinions on whether England should follow

Wales and reduce the voting age to 16,” provides the opinions of people in England who

believe the voting age should not be lowered. Those people believe 16-year-olds only

think about themselves and they should not be voting. The article also shows that the

majority of people in England do not want the voting age to be lowered. The main idea of

the article is that the voting age should not be lowered because 16-year-olds are not ready

to vote. I will use this article to show the opinions of people who do not want the voting

age to be lowered, but will make sure to clarify the information is not backed by science

or research.

Davenport, David. "Don't Rock the Vote: Why the voting age is plenty low enough

already." Hoover Digest, no. 1, 2019, p. 82+. Gale Academic

OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613204356/AONE?

u=sunyjcc&sid=AONE&xid=c97125eb. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

The article, “Don’t Rock the Vote: Why the voting age is plenty low enough

already,” was published in the winter of 2019. This article is very current since it was

published a little under a year ago and no new information has discredited the

information within the article. The article is credible because the writer, David

Davenport, is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the article was peer-

reviewed. The article answers my research question because reasons why 16-year-olds
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are not ready to vote are provided. The information is said to be backed by research, but

no specific evidence is cited. The article would be more accurate if the specific research

was actually included within the article. The intended audience is people who do not have

an opinion on the issue or people who believe the voting age should be lowered because

he wants people to look at the information and decide that the voting age should not be

lowered. The purpose of the article was to sway people to believe the voting age should

not be lowered to 16. All of the information within the article supported the idea that 16-

year-olds are not ready to vote.

The article, “Don’t Rock the Vote: Why the voting age is plenty low enough

already,” explains why the voting age should not be lowered. The writer’s argument is

that 16-year-olds just are not ready to vote. Society has increased the age to

responsibilities, not lowered it. Also, the younger voters are the one who are not showing

up to the polls. In the 2016 election, only half of the younger voters showed up,

compared to two thirds of the older voters. Also, in the previous civic tests, only 23

percent scored proficient or above. Allowing 16-year-olds to vote could also largely favor

the Democrats over the Republicans, so the argument is merely a political motive for

some. The main idea of this article is that 16-year-olds are not ready to vote yet and the

voting age should stay the same. This article I will use this article to represent the

opinions and arguments of people who believe the voting age should not be lowered.

Davenport, David. “No, We Shouldn't Lower The Voting Age To 16.” Forbes Magazine, 25

May 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/daviddavenport/2016/05/25/no-we-shouldnt-lower-the-

voting-age-to-16/.
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The article, “No, We Shouldn’t Lower The Voting Age To 16,” was published on

May 25, 2016. The article is not extremely current because the publication was four years

ago and some of the information has been discredited. The author says no evidence is

present to support why we should lower the voting age, but some evidence is present. The

author, David Davenport, is not an expert in political science, but he does cite his

information from multiple sources, which makes the article credible. The article answers

my research question because reasons are provided why the voting age should not be

lowered. The information is accurate since multiple sources of evidence and research

were cited. The intended audience was people who do not have an opinion about the topic

or people who believe the voting age should be lowered because the author wants people

to believe the voting age should not be lowered. The purpose of the article was to sway

people to believe the voting age should not be lowered.

The article, “No, We Shouldn’t Lower The Voting Age To 16,” explains how

lowering the voting age to 18 is different from lowering it to 16. When lowering the

voting age to 18, most people supported the idea because 18-year-olds could fight in the

military, but a strong reasoning for 16-year-olds voting is not present. This article also

supports the idea that the age of responsibilities is going up, not down. The author

believes evidence for why we need or want 16-year-old voting is just not there. The main

idea of the article is that evidence and reasoning to support why we should lower the

voting age is not present. This article is very similar to the above article, "Don't Rock the

Vote: Why the voting age is plenty low enough already,” because they are both written

by the same person. Although a lot of the information within the two articles is the same,

each article has some other information that is not within the other one, so both articles
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will still be useful. I will use this article to show the argument people make on the side of

not lowering the voting age, and for providing a possible solution to the problem since

making 16-year-olds take a citizenship test is suggested.

FairVote.org. “Why Should We Lower the Voting Age to 16?” FairVote,

www.fairvote.org/why_should_we_lower_the_voting_age_to_16.

The article, “Why should we lower the voting age to 16?” does not provide a

publication date or author, so currency and authority are questionable, but evidence is

cited which makes the article somewhat credible. The evidence that was cited goes back

as far as 2012, but no new information has discredited or disproven the information.

Since specific evidence was cited, the article is also accurate. The article is relevant to my

topic and answers my research question. The intended audience is people who assume

16-year-olds are not mature enough yet to vote. The article was written to disprove the

assumptions about 16-year-olds voting. The article is in favor of lowering voting age

because only reasons they should be allowed to vote are provided. The article also

specifically discredits reasons for not allowing 16-year-olds to vote.

The article, “Why should we lower the voting age to 16?” explains why certain

assumptions regarding 16-year-olds voting are false. Many people believe 16-year-olds

are not mature enough to vote, will not show up to vote, or will vote the way their parents

tell them to, but research and evidence discredits these assumptions. The main idea of this

article is that what most people believe about 16-year-olds voting is actually wrong and

that they should be allowed to vote. I will use this article to disprove some of the

arguments people make for why 16-year-olds should not be allowed to vote. The
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information will be very useful since specific evidence and research is cited and I can

stray away from using opinion.

Mandal, Saunak. “Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age.” NYRA,

www.youthrights.org/issues/voting-age/top-ten-reasons-to-lower-the-voting-age/.

The article, “Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age,” does not provide a

publication date. Although I do not know how old the article is, the article can still be

determined current because the information within the article has not been discredited by

new information. The author, Saunak Mandal, is credible because he cited multiple

sources of science and research. Also, since the sources were cited, the information

within the article is accurate. The article answers my research question because multiple

reasons why the voting age should be lowered are provided. The intended audience is

people who do not know much about the topic or people who believe the voting age

should not be lowered because the article is trying to convince people the voting age

should be lowered. The purpose of the article is to sway people into believing the voting

age should be lowered.

The article, “Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age,” explains why 16-year-

olds deserve the right to vote. Many people are against lowering the voting age for

maturity reasons or because they do not know enough, but knowledge and experience are

not criteria for voting eligibility. In fact, if knowledge and experience were criteria for

voting eligibility, many adults would not be able to vote. The main idea of the article is

that 16-year-olds deserve to vote and have a say in the policies that severely affect them.

I will use this article to show the reasoning people provide for lowering the voting age. I
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will also use the article to show how some of the concerns of people who do not want the

voting age lowered have been invalidated.

Mandell, Keith. "Lowering the Voting Age Will Increase Voter Turnout." Greenhaven Press,

2008. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010525207/OVIC?

u=sunyjcc&sid=OVIC&xid=7983f720. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

The article, “Lowering the Voting Age Will Increase Voter Turnout,” was

published in 2008. Although the publication was twelve years ago, the information has

not been discredited by new information. The author, Keith Mandell, is not an expert in

the field, but he cites multiple sources of credible research and information which support

the authority and credibility of the article. The article is peer-reviewed, which also

supports the credibility of the article. The article answers my research question because

reasons why lowering the voting age would be beneficial are provided. The intended

audience is people who do not have an opinion on the topic or people who believe the

voting age should not be lowered because he wants people to believe lowering the voting

age would be beneficial. The information is accurate because multiple sources of research

and evidence are cited. For example, he shows where he got the statistics from within the

article. The purpose of the article is to sway people to believe the voting age should be

lowered. The article only states reasons why the age should be lowered and only shows

the beneficial aspects.

The article, “Lowering the Voting Age Will Increase Voter Turnout,” explains

how lowering the voting age would be beneficial for many reasons. Lowering the voting

age could increase the turnout for younger people and adults. Currently, many college
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age kids are not voting, but this is believed to be because they are apathetic to voting. If

the age was lower, kids would be more likely to vote because they would not be apathetic

towards it yet. If they start voting when they are 16, they would be more likely to

continue voting in the future as well. A lower voting age would also increase political

discussions between parents and children, which would encourage more adults and

parents to vote as well. The main idea of the article is that lowering the voting age would

be beneficial and increase voter turnout. I will be using this article to represent the side of

the argument for lowering the voting age. The statistical research will also be beneficial

in providing factual evidence rather than opinion.

Powell, Kendall. "Neurodevelopment: How does the Teenage Brain Work?" Nature, vol. 442,

no. 7105, 2006, pp. 865-7. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-

com.jsrvproxy1.sunyjcc.edu/docview/204536010?accountid=39896,

doi:http://dx.doi.org.jsrvproxy1.sunyjcc.edu/10.1038/442865a. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.

The article, “Neurodevelopment: How does the teenage brain work?,” was

published on August 24, 2006. Although this article was published 14 years ago, the

information within the article has not been discredited by new information. The author,

Kendall Powell, a freelance science writer based in Broomfield, Colorado included

multiple sources of credible research and evidence. The article is also peer-reviewed

which supports credibility and authority. The article does not directly answering my

research question because the article has nothing to do with voting, but the information

within the article will be helpful in determining the kind of decision making teenagers

experience, which is important for my topic. Since multiple scientific sources are cited,

the information within the article is highly accurate. The intended audience was people
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who do not understand why some teenagers act the way they do. The purpose of the

article was to explain how some teenagers act reckless or immature because of a

scientific reason. The way teenagers’ brains develop can severely affect their decision

making.

The article, “Neurodevelopment: How does the teenage brain work?,” explains

how the “grey matter” in the brain thickens during childhood, but then thins from the

back from of the brain towards the front. The thinning in the front of the brain does not

occur until early adulthood. This process is what affects the decision making in teens.

The main idea of this article is that teenagers have a scientific reason for acting the way

that they do. I will be using this article to show how the development of teenagers’ brains

affects their decision making and relate the information to voting.

Psychologicalscience.org. “The Teenage Brain: How Do We Measure Maturity?” Association

for Psychological Science - APS, 29 Mar. 2013,

www.psychologicalscience.org/news/were-only-human/the-teenage-brain-how-do-we-

measure-maturity.html.

The article, “The Teenage Brain: How Do We Measure Maturity?,” was

published on March 29th, 2013. Although the article was published seven years ago, the

information within the article has not been discredited by new information. The author of

the article is not provided, but the article is still credible because multiple sources of

information and evidence are specifically cited. Since the article has evidence, the article

is also accurate. The article does not directly answer my research question because none

of the information has to do with voting, but the information will still help me determine

the level of decision making in teenagers. The intended audience of the article was people
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who are curious about how maturity is measured. The purpose of the article was to show

that we do not know a way to measure maturity of an individual brain.

The article, “The Teenage Brain: How Do We Measure Maturity?,” explains how

the emotional aspect of the brain develops early, but the frontal cortex which includes

judgement, self-control, and sensible planning matures very gradually into early

adulthood. Although this information is known, the maturity level of an individual brain

cannot be determined. This causes issues in the court system because deciding whether or

not an adolescent should be rehabilitated or punished relies on their maturity levels. The

main idea of this article is that maturity is difficult to measure, especially in developing

teenage brains. I will use this article to explain the decision-making of teenagers and

relate it to the process of voting.

Zeglovits, Eva. "Voting at 16? Youth Suffrage is Up for Debate." European View, vol. 12, no. 2,

2013, pp. 249-254. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-

com.jsrvproxy1.sunyjcc.edu/docview/1467021883?accountid=39896,

doi:http://dx.doi.org.jsrvproxy1.sunyjcc.edu/10.1007/s12290-013-0273-3. Accessed 27

Oct. 2020.

The article, “Voting at 16? Youth suffrage is up for debate,” was published in

December of 2013. Although this was seven years ago, no new information has

discredited the information within the article. The author, Eva Zeglovits, is an assistant

professor at the Department of Methods in the Social Sciences at the University of

Vienna. The article was peer-reviewed and contains multiple sources of factual evidence

and research which supports the article’s credibility. The article answers my research

question because information regarding the likely outcome of lowering the voting age is
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provided. The fourteen references Zeglovits included helped establish the accuracy of the

information within the article. The intended audience is people who do not have an

opinion yet on the issue of voting age because although a couple more reasons supporting

the lowering of the voting age are present, information which supports the side of not

lowering the voting age is also provided. The purpose of the article is to provide people

with the likely outcome of lowering the voting age so they can form their own opinion on

the issue. Although the article sways a little bit onto the side of lowering the voting age,

people are not being persuaded to believe the age should be lowered.

The article, “Voting at 16? Youth suffrage is up for debate,” discusses the likely

outcome of a lowered voting age. The article looks at the results in two different

countries of trials with a lowered voting age. Research based in Austria suggested that

lowering the voting age would be beneficial, while research based in the Norwegians

disagreed with this. The main difference is that Austria modified its school curriculum to

increase civic knowledge, while the Norwegians did not. The main idea of this article is

that lowering the voting age can be beneficial, but with the addition of civic education

within school curriculums. I will be using this article to provide reasoning for both sides

of the argument, but also to present a possible solution or improvement to the topic of

voting age.