Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to direct my questions to Ms. Banka.
Thank you for your submissions regarding lowering the voting age. I will say at the outset that I respectfully disagree with your position, but I understand some of the arguments you've put forward.
One argument you put forward, which is often put forward as to why lowering the age would be a net positive, is encouraging greater engagement, with young people voting and this becoming a habit going forward as they become adults. However, I would argue that some of the data and analysis of it is not particularly strong. If you look at a lot of the research, it tends to be focused on the immediate impact of lowering the age and having 16- and 17-year-olds voting. I think that if you look at a number of jurisdictions, you will find that 16- and 17-year-olds who have the opportunity to vote for the first time often do vote at a slightly higher rate than 18-year-olds, for example, but what is less clear is the longevity of this early voter boost.
I would cite one study from Scotland, a fairly detailed study. I think Scotland is a good jurisdiction to look at because they have had voting for 16-year-olds since 2014, so there has been more than 10 years of it now. This study, “Longer-Term Effects of Voting at Age 16: Higher Turnout Among Young People in Scotland”, looked at:
...original survey data from Scotland collected, among 16- to 31-year-olds, seven years after Scotland lowered the voting age to 16. The data was collected specifically to allow for the consideration of cohorts with different ages of enfranchisement. The survey sample includes cohorts of young people who experienced their first opportunity to vote at age 16/17 as well as cohorts who experienced their first election aged 18 or older, between four years before and up to seven years after the change of the franchise.
The study concluded:
For engagement with politics beyond voting in elections...we find no lasting difference between young people who were eligible to vote at 16 versus 18. The experience of voting at age 16/17 did not make a difference in young people's non-electoral engagement in early adulthood.
Can you speak to the issue of engagement over the long term, not simply voting at the age of 16 or 17?