To be clear, I am asking why the "push" is for compulsory and not optional, given there is likely to be stronger opposition to the former. Either will give a voice to those who want one, but on paper optional would seem to be a more realistic goal and therefore makes more sense to advocate for. Advocating for compulsory kind of feels like letting perfect be the enemy of good, so to speak.

[–] zik@aussie.zone 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why not start them off in the way you mean to continue? It's not like there are any significant downsides.

[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 2 points 7 months ago

Increased opposition is a significant downside.

[–] irasponsible@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago

Changing the voting age is one change, but making voting non compulsory for some voters starts to get messy. It would also be an easy thing for a government to tweak to reduce youth voter turnout by shifting that number around.

[–] jagungal@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The push is to lower the voting age to 16. Plus, I doubt making it optional until 18 would change many people's minds on whether or not we should lower the voting age.