Turning 18 will be a big moment for me. Not only will it be time for me to go off to live my college experience or be gifted a new car, but it will be time for me to take care of bigger responsibilities such as voting. Those that turn the eligible age to vote before the next election most likely are confused or may not understand the impact voting has on their future. Because of our lack of education and time spent with this topic, we tend to rely on the option of our parents. Most likely I will vote for whoever my parents tell me to vote for. And then there are those that don’t have parents to guide them into the right path when it comes to voting.

At 18, my father John Payne voted for the brutal John Englar, Governor of Michigan from 1991-2003. At my fathers young age, he decided that he would vote for this man without any knowledge of his plans for the city. My dad voted for him because they shared the same first name. As months passed, my father didn’t know that his vote contributed to the many others that had the potential to destroy the city of Detroit. Englar in 1997 shut down over a dozen physiatrist hospitals and mental health facilities, causing the city of Detroit to suffer even to this day trying to keep up with treatment. As a kid, my father wasn’t aware of his vote’s impact; at the time, he didn’t live with his parents, so they did not determine who he should vote for. But because he was “eligible,” he took the opportunity.

Candidates don’t necessarily care if you’re 18 or 80 when you vote, they just care about what counts in the heat of election season. That’s why I believe that it would be better if the age for voting should be moved up to 25. In your late 20s, you begin to accumulate more issues that only the government could solve or assist with, such as new laws, bills and maybe even debt.

Because you are going through situations that can be assisted or determined by the government, this should determine whether or not you are eligible to vote. Although the federal election is very important and should be taken with much consideration, local elections should be lowered to 16 or 17 years of age. Local elections are important to youth, they depict the success of our young people in schools, communities and families.