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Articles

Vol. 37 No. 1 (2017)

The right to vote for minors: electoral capacity and electoral age

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2017000100001
Submitted
December 13, 2019
Published
2017-04-30

Abstract

This article offers a brief conceptual framework for understanding the allocation of the right to vote in a democratic community. It explores one of the main reasons for setting the elec­toral age at 18 years. The article focuses on the popular argument that minors lack electoral capacity, critically analyzing the consistency with which rules on electoral capacity are applied, and exploring alternatives to the use of a minimum age restriction. It concludes that there are good reasons to believe that this age could be lowered 16 years, as the capacity of individuals is already clearly recognized by the legal system at that age. This may be a pow­erful argument in support of the hypothesis that a democracy attributes democratic rights as a consequence of the recognition of deliberative personality, on which the attribution of legal capacity associated with the legal subject is also based

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