​

​

Organizations working for all children's voting:
 

• Amnesty International UK, Children's Human Rights Network

• Association for Children’s Suffrage (ACS)

• Children's Rights International Network (CRIN)

• Children's Voice Association

• Freechild Institute for Youth & Social Change

• Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations (FRFG)

• KRÄTZÄ (die KinderRÄchTsZÄnker)

• National Large Familes Association

• National Youth Rights Association (NYRA)

• Represent MA Children 2020

• Represent PA Children 2020

• We Want the Vote

 

Organizations working to lower the voting age to 16: See here

​

Select publications on eliminating all voting ages:

​

Academic Studies

​

• Bennett, R. W., "Should Parents Be Given Extra Votes on Account of Their Children: Toward a Conversational Understanding of American Democracy," 94 Nw. U. L. Rev. 503, 1999-2000.

• Campiglio, Luigi, “Children’s Right to Vote: The Missing Link in Modern Democracies,” Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, 2009, Vol. 12, 221-247, p. 222.

• Campiglio, Luigi, "Political Participation, Voting, and Economic Policy: Three Problems of Modern Democracies." In Albert Breton, et al., eds., Understanding Democracy: Economic and Political Perspectives (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

• Campiglio, Luigi, First, the Women and Children: Why it is Indispensable to Give Political Weight to the Under-Age Ones (Il Mulino, Bologna 2005).

• Cook, Phillip, “Against a Minimum Voting Age,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2013) 16.3.

• Cummings, Michael, Children’s Voices in Politics (Peter Lang AG: 2020).

• Daly, Aoife, "Free and Fair Elections for Some? The Potential for Voting Rights for Under-18s," in David Keane and Yvonne McDermott, eds., The Challenge of Human Rights: Past, Present, and Future (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012), 268-290. 

• Demeny, Paul, "Pronatalist Policies in Low-Fertility Countries: Patterns, Performance and Prospects," Population and Development Review (1986), vol. 12 (supplement): 335-358.

• Douglas, Joshua, “In Defense of Lowering t he Voting Age,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 165 (2017), 63-72.

• Farson, Richard, Birthrights: A Bill of Rights for Children (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1974).

• Folkes, Alex (2004). “The Case for Votes at 16.” Representation 41(1): 52–56.

• Franklin, Bob, “Children’s political rights.” In: Bob Franklin, ed., The Rights of Children (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1986), 24–53.

• Godwin, Samantha, “Children’s Oppression, Rights, and Liberation,” Interdisciplinary Law Review (2011) 247.

• Goodin, Robert and Joanne Lau, “Enfranchising Incompetents: Suretyship and the Joint Authorship of Laws,” Ratio, 2011, XXIV.2:154-66.

• Hamilton, Vivian, “Democratic Inclusion, Cognitive Development, and the Age of Electoral Majority,” Brooklyn Law Review (2012) 77.4:1447-1513.

• Hinrichs, Karl, “Do the Old Exploit the Young? Is Enfranchising Children a Good Idea?” Arch Europ Sociol XLIII.1 (2002):35-58.

• Hinze, Jakob, “Does Epistemic Proceduralism Justify the Disenfranchisement of Children?” Journal of Global Ethics, 2019.

• Holt, John, Escape from Childhood (New York: Penguin, 1975).

• Kamijo, Yoshio, et al, “Voting on Behalf of a Future Generation: A Laboratory Experiment,” Sustainability 2019, 11.

• Lau, Joanne, “Two Arguments for Child Enfranchisement," Political Studies, 2012.

• Lecce, Steven, “Should Democracy Grow Up? Children and Voting Rights,” Intergenerational Justice Review, 9.4 (2009), 133-139.

• López-Guerra, Claudio, “Enfranchising Minors and the Mentally Impaired,” Social Theory & Practice, Jan. 2012, Vol. 38 Issue 1, pp. 115-138.

• López-Guerra, Claudio, Democracy and Disenfranchisement: The Morality of Electoral Exclusions, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

• Ludbrook, Robert, “Should Children Have the Right to Vote?” National Children’s and Youth Law Centre, Discussion Paper, 1995.

• Modi, Neena, “Votes for a Better Future,”. Arch Dis Child 2020, 105.1:13-14, p. 14.

• Modi, Neena, “A Radical Proposal: To Promote Children’s Wellbeing Give Them the Vote,” BMJ 2018:361.

• Munn, Nicholas John, “Capacity Testing the Youth: A Proposal for Broader Enfranchisement,” Journal of Youth Studies 15:8, 2012:1048-1062.

• Munn, Nicholas John, "Against the Political Exclusion of the Incapable," Jouranl of Applied Philosophy 35(3), 2018:601-616.

• Olsson, Stefan, “Children’s Suffrage: A Critique of the Importance of Voters’ Knowledge for the Well-Being of Democracy,” The International Journal of Children’s Rights 16 (2008):55-76.

• Parijs, Philippe van,"The Disenfranchisement of the Elderly, and Other Attempts to Secure Intergenerational Justice," Philosophy and Public Affairs (1999) vol. 27: 292-333.

• Pantell, Robert and Maureen Shannon, “Improving Public Policy for Children: A Vote for Each Child,” Intergenerational Justice Review (2009) 9.4:139-143.

• Peterson, Paul (1992), “An Immodest Proposal.” Daedalus. Vol. 121 (4/1992), 151-174.

• Runciman, David, “The Paradox of Political Representation," Journal of Political Philosophy 15, 1 (2007), pp. 93–114.

• Runciman, David, How Democracy Ends (London: Profile Books, 2018).

• Rutherford, Jane, “One Child, One Vote: Proxies for Parents,” Minnesota Law Review (1998), Vol 82:1463-1525, p. 1495-96.

• Tremmel, Jörg and Wilhelm, James, "Democracy or Epistocracy? Age as a Criterion of Voter Eligibility." In: Tremmel, Jörg, ed., Youth Quotas and Other Efficient Forms of Youth Participation in Ageing Societies (Cham: Springer, 2015), pp. 125–147.

• Umbers, Lachlan Montgomery, “Enfranchising the Youth,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2018:1-24.

• Vaithianathan, R., R. Aoki and Erwan Sbai, “Support for Franchise Extension for Children: Evidence on Japanese Attitude to Demeny Voting,” CIS DP No. 610, 2013.

• Wald, Patricia, “Making Sense Out of the Rights of Youth,” Human Rights (1974): 4.1:13-29.

• Wall, John, Give Children the Vote: How to Democratize Democracy (New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming November 2021).

• Wall, John, “Why Children and Youth Should Have the Right to Vote: An Argument for Proxy-Claim Suffrage,” Children, Youth and Environments, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2014), pp. 108-123.

• Wall, John. "Democratizing Democracy: The Road from Women’s to Children’s Suffrage,” International Journal of Human Rights, Special Issue, edited by Sonja Grover (2014) 18.6: 646–659.

• Wall, John, “Can Democracy Represent Children? Toward a Politics of Difference,” Childhood: A Journal of Global Child Research 19.1 (February 2012), 19: 86-100.

• Wall, John and Anandini Dar, “Children’s Political Representation: The Right to Make a Difference,” International Journal of Children’s Rights 19.4 (December 2011), pp. 595-612.

• Wiland, Eric, "Should Children Have the Right to Vote?" The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy, 2018.
   

Popular Articles and Reports

​

• Aber, J. Lawrence, "A Big, New Investment in America's Poorest Children: Conditional Cash Transfers."In: Big Ideas for Children. Investing In Our Children’s Future. First Focus: Washington D.C. Pp 192-202.

• Bayer, Alexei, "The US Economy is Stuck in the Past." Research Magazine. November 25, 2013.

• Bernstein, Jonathan, “The Case for Lowering the Voting Age ... to Zero,” New Republic, May 30, 2011.

• Campiglio, Luigi, "Elezioni, delega alle madri per dare voce ai più piccoli." Corriere Della Sera, Mar 10/03/2004, p. 21.

• Carballo, Manuel, "Extra Votes for Parents?" Boston Globe, December 17, 1981.

• Children's Rights International Network (CRIN), “Right to Vote.”

• Conrad, Stefanie (2009). “Children as Active Citizens: Addressing Discrimination against Children’s Engagement in Political and Civil Society Processes.” Plan International.

• Corak, Miles, TED Talk “Citizenship as a Privilege or as a Right: Should Children be Given the Vote.”

• De Quetteville, Harry, ‘Germany plans to give vote to babies,’ Daily Telegraph, 9 July, 2008.

• Douthat, Ross, “Power to the Parents,” New York Times, March 3, 2018.
• Fletcher, Adam, The Practice of Youth Engagement (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2014).

• Fletcher, Adam, “My Call to End the Voting Age,” adamflectcher.net.

• Gans, Joshua, “Why It Is Time to Give Children the Right to Vote,” Forbes (April 20, 2012).

• Goethe Institute (2010). “The Right to Vote from Birth On?”

• Köhler, Lennart, “Voting Rights for Children,” Dagens Medicin, Nov. 12, 2008.

• Koroknay-Palicz, Alex, “Youth Demand a Voice and a Vote,” Wiretap Magazine (May 27, 2003).

• McCrummen, Stephanie, ‘'Children's Parliament' Sets High Bar in Congo: youthful body in a beacon of justice,’ The Washington Post, August 11, 2007.

• Olsson, Stefan, "Voting Rights for Everyone" [in Swedish], blog.

• Peebles, Graham, “Give Children the Vote, Strengthen Democracy,” Counterpunch, January 2019.

• Phillips, Leigh, “Hungarian Mothers May Get Extra Votes for their Children in Elections,” The Guardian (Sunday 17 April, 2011).

• Ringen, Stein, “In a Democracy, Children Should Get the Vote,” New York Times (Dec 14, 1996).

• Runciman, David, "Democracy for Young People," Talking Politics blog, 5 Dec 2018.

• Sridhar, Lalitha, "Bal Sansads: Members of Parliament at 11," Infochange: news and analysis of social justice and development issues in India (May 2004).

• Stone, Lyman, "The Minimum Voting Age Should be Zero," New York Times, September 1, 2021 (full text here).

• Wallace, Vita, “Give Children the Vote,” The Nation, October 14, 1991.

• Walton, Katherine, Amnesty International UK, “Votes for Children: The Case for Universal Suffrage.”

• Wiland, Eric, “One citizen, One Vote," What’s Wrong? Colorado University Boulder Center for Values and social Policy bog, August 12, 2015.

• Yglesias, Matthew, “The case for letting children vote,” Vox.com, Nov. 2015.