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A legal voting age is the minimum age that a person is allowed to Voting in a democracy. Most nations use 18 years of age as their voting age, but for other countries their voting age ranges between 16 and 21 (with the sole exception of the United Arab Emirates where the voting age is 25). A nation's voting age may therefore coincide with the country's age of majority, but in many cases the two are not tied.
The effort was, like later legislation expanding voting rights for women and impoverished whites, in part an attempt to skew the electorate further in favor of Afrikaner interests against uitlanders.
Prior to the Second World War of 1939–1945, the voting age in almost all countries was 21 years or higher. The U.S. state of Georgia lowered its age to 18 by referendum in 1943, for all elections including Congress and President, on the basis that many under 21 were at war; Kentucky followed suit in 1955. In 1946 Czechoslovakia became the first state to reduce the voting age nationally to 18 years, (2025). 9783832956097, Nomos. ISBN 9783832956097 and by 1968 a total of 17 countries had lowered their voting age, of which 8 were in Latin America, and 8 were communist countries.
Australia, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland had lowered their voting age to 20 by the end of the 1960s.
Many major democratic countries, beginning in Western Europe and North America, reduced their voting ages to 18 years during the 1970s, starting with the United Kingdom (Representation of the People Act 1969), Canada, West Germany (1970), the United States (26th Amendment, 1971), Australia (1974), France (1974), Sweden (1975) and others. It was argued that if young men could be drafted to go to war at 18, they should be able to vote at the age of 18.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries voting ages were lowered to 18 in Japan, Young voters hope to reform Japan's 'silver democracy'. The Japan Times. Published 8 July 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2018. India, Switzerland, Austria, the Maldives, and Morocco. By the end of the 20th century, 18 had become by far the most common voting age. However, a few countries maintain a voting age of 20 years or higher, and a few countries have a lower voting age of 16 or 17.
In 2007, Austria became the first country to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in national elections, with the expanded franchise first being consummated in the 2009 European Parliament election. A study of young voters' behavior on that occasion showed them to be as capable as older voters to articulate their beliefs and to make voting decisions appropriate for their preferences. Their knowledge of the political process was only insignificantly lower than in older cohorts, while trust in democracy and willingness to participate in the process were markedly higher. Additionally, there was evidence found for the first time of a voting boost among young people age 16–25 in Austria.
During the 2000s several proposals for a reduced voting age were put forward in U.S. states, including California, Florida and Alaska, Worldwide Efforts to Lower the Voting Age, National Youth Rights Association but none were successful. In Oregon, Senate Joint Resolution 22 has been introduced to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16. A national reduction was proposed in 2005 in CanadaParliament of Canada, Bill C-261 (2005); Vote16, Canada and in the state of New South Wales,Parliament of New South Wales, Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Amendment (Voting Age) Bill (2005); Hansard, 14 September 2005, p. 17686 . but these proposals were not adopted. In May 2009, Danish Member of Parliament Mogens Jensen presented an initiative to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg to lower the voting age in Europe to 16.
Demands to reduce the voting age to 16 years were again brought forward by activists of the school strike for climate movement in several countries (including Germany and the UK).
On 21 October 2019, Greens MP Adam Bandt introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to lower the voting age to 16.
A report suggesting that consideration be given to reducing the voting age to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory in Canberra, Australia was tabled in the territorial legislature on 26 September 2007 and defeated.
In 2015, federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that the voting age should be lowered to 16.ABC News, 31 October 2015, Bill Shorten calls for voting age to be lowered to 16
The voting age for municipal elections in some states was lowered to 16 shortly after 2000. How old is old enough? - the minimum age of voting and candidacy in UK elections: consultation paper , July 2003, UK Electoral Commission, para. 3.6. Three states had made the reduction by 2003 (Burgenland, Carinthia and Styria), and in May 2003 Vienna became the fourth., Votes at 16. Retrieved 6 June 2007. Salzburg followed suit, Lowering the Electoral Age , Austrian National Youth Council. Retrieved 6 June 2007. Elections , Demokratiezentrum Wien. Retrieved 6 June 2007. and so by the start of 2005 the total had reached at least five states out of nine. Committee on Rights of Child Considers Second Periodic Report of Austria, UNHCHR, 14 January 2005. As a consequence of state law, reduction of the municipal voting age in the states of Burgenland, Salzburg and Vienna resulted in the reduction of the regional voting age in those states as well.
After the 2006 election, the winning SPÖ-ÖVP coalition announced on 12 January 2007 that one of its policies would be the reduction of the voting age to 16 for elections in all states and at all levels in Austria. The policy was set in motion by a Government announcement on 14 March, and a bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution was presented to the legislature on 2 May. 94 d.B. (XXIII. GP) Bundesverfassungsgesetz, mit dem das Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz geändert wird , Republik Österreich Parlament (German). On 5 June the National Council approved the proposal following a recommendation from its Constitution Committee. Wählen mit 16, Briefwahl, fünfjährige Gesetzgebungsperiode kommen , Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 6 June 2007. Verfassungsausschuss gibt grünes Licht für Wahlrechtsreform , Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 25 May 2007. During the passage of the bill through the chamber relatively little opposition was raised to the reduction, with four out of five parties explicitly supporting it; indeed, there was some dispute over which party had been the first to suggest the idea. Greater controversy surrounded the other provisions of the bill concerning the Briefwahl, or postal voting, and the extension of the legislative period for the National Council from four to five years. A further uncontroversial inclusion was a reduction in the candidacy age from 19 to 18. The Federal Council approved the Bill on 21 June, with no party voting against it. Wahlrechtsreform 2007 passiert den Bundesrat , Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 30 June 2007. The voting age was reduced when the Bill's provisions came into force on 1 July 2007. 31/BNR (XXIII. GP) Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz , ss. 1, 5 and 25, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 1 July 2007. Austria thus became the first member of the European Union, and the first of the developed world democracies, to adopt a voting age of 16 for all purposes. Lowering the voting age encouraged political interest in young people in Austria. More sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds voted than eighteen-to-twenty-one-year-olds in Austria.
In August 2018, in British Columbia, a group of 20 youth partnered with Dogwood BC to launch a Vote16 campaign. Currently, they have unanimous support from the Union of BC Municipalities, as well as endorsements from the province's Green Party of British Columbia and British Columbia New Democratic Party representatives. The campaign is now waiting for it to be brought up in the legislative assembly by the NDP and for it to pass there.
In 2020, Canadian Senator Marilou McPhedran introduced a bill to lower the federal voting age from 18 to 16. She reintroduced it again in November 2021, (bill S-201), but it died on the floor when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. In December 2021, a group of young people filed a court challenge to lower the federal voting age from 18, arguing that the voting age is unconstitutional for violating multiple sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Several weeks later, Taylor Bachrach of the New Democratic Party (NDP) introduced a private member's bill to lower the voting age to 16. The bill (C-210) was debated in May 2022. The bill was defeated in its second reading with 245 members of parliament voting to oppose the bill and 77 voting to support it.
Internal elections run by Canadian political parties have a lower voting age than that of general elections set by the government, typically allowing party members 14 and up to vote.
On 28 October 2023, the municipalities of Vesturbyggð and Tálknafjarðarhreppur held a referendum on unification; the voting age in this referendum was lowered to 16.
Discussion about lowering the voting age to 16 was first introduced as part of a wider June 2015 referendum. The broader principles of the referendum which concerned electoral reform were rejected by 81% of voters.
Discussion, specifically surrounding the lowering of the voting age to 16 received almost universal support in 2025. Politically, only the ADR and CSV oppose the idea.
Malta
On 20 November 2013, Malta lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 for local elections starting from 2015. The proposal had wide support from both the government and opposition, social scientists and youth organizations.
On Monday, 5 March 2018, the Maltese Parliament unanimously voted in favor of amending the constitution, lowering the official voting age from 18 to 16 for general elections, European Parliament Elections and referendums, making Malta the second state in the European Union to lower its voting age to 16.
On 21 November 2022, the Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled in Make It 16 Incorporated v Attorney-General that the voting age of 18 was "inconsistent with the bill of rights to be free from discrimination on the basis of age". Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern subsequently announced that a bill to lower the voting age to 16 would be debated in parliament, requiring a supermajority to pass. This bill was subsequently withdrawn in January 2024, after the Sixth National Government of New Zealand was elected.
Men in military service who turned 19 during the first world war were entitled to vote in 1918 irrespective of their age as part of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which also allowed some women over the age of 30 to vote. The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 brought the voting age for women down to 21.
The reduction of the voting age to 16 in the United Kingdom was first given serious consideration in 1999, when the House of Commons considered in Committee an amendment proposed by Simon Hughes to the Representation of the People Bill. smells14.htm#91215-14_time0 HC Deb, 15 December 1999, Vol. 341, cc. 305-338. Retrieved 3 November 2007. This was the first time the reduction of a voting age below 18 had ever been put to a vote in the Commons. smells14.htm#91215-14_time0 HC Deb, 15 December 1999, Vol. 341, c. 336. Retrieved 3 November 2007. The Government opposed the amendment, and it was defeated by 434 votes to 36.
The Votes at 16 coalition, a group of political and charitable organizations supporting a reduction of the voting age to 16, was launched on in 2003. At that time a Private Member's Bill was also proposed in the House of Lords by Lord Lucas.The Voting Age (Reduction to 16) Bill (HL).
In 2004, the UK Electoral Commission conducted a major consultation on the subject of the voting age and age of candidacy, and received a significant response. In its conclusions, it recommended that the voting age remain at 18. Age of Electoral Majority , Electoral Commission, 19 April 2004, para. 8.16 In 2005, the House of Commons voted 136-128 (on a free vote) against a Private Member's Bill for a reduction in the voting age to 16 proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams. Parliament chose not to include a provision reducing the voting age in the Electoral Administration Act during its passage in 2006.
The report of the Power Inquiry in 2006 called for a reduction of the voting age, and of the candidacy age for the House of Commons, to 16. On the same day the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, indicated in an article in The Guardian that he favored a reduction provided it was made concurrently with effective citizenship education.
The Ministry of Justice published in 2007 a Green Paper entitled The Governance of Britain, in which it proposed the establishment of a "Youth Citizenship Commission". The Governance of Britain, UK Ministry of Justice, 3 July 2007, para. 190. Retrieved 5 July 2007. The Commission would examine the case for lowering the voting age. On launching the paper in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Although the voting age has been 18 since 1969, it is right, as part of that debate, to examine, and hear from young people themselves, whether lowering that age would increase participation." HC Deb, 3 July 2007, Vol. 462, c. 819. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
During the Youth Parliament debates of in 2009 in the House of Commons, Votes at 16 was debated and young people of that age group voted for it overwhelmingly as a campaign priority. In April 2015, Labour announced that it would support the policy if it won an overall majority in the 2015 general election, Labour Vows To Lower Voting Age To 16. Huffington Post (UK edition). Published 7 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2017. which it failed to do.
Surrounding Brexit, in June 2016, the government was criticised for not lowering the voting age to 16 for the referendum.
Following the 2024 general election, Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As part of the 2024 Labour Party manifesto, they maintained this previous position, confirming they would lower the voting age from 18 to 16 in all elections, replacing the existing split of 16 and 18 age limits in Scotland and Wales.
In July 2025, the government announced that the minimum voting age for all elections in the UK would be reduced to 16 by the 2029 general election, branding it a "seismic" change, in addition to adding Payment card as valid voter ID.
In September 2011, it was announced that the voting age was likely to be reduced from 18 to 16 for the Scottish independence referendum. This was approved by the Scottish Parliament in June 2013.
In June 2015, the Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to reduce the voting age to 16 for elections for the Scottish Parliament and for Scottish local government elections. The voting age in Scotland remains 18 for UK general elections.
The Welsh Assembly's Commission, the corporate body, introduced a bill in 2019 to reduce the voting age to 16 and change the Assembly's name to Senedd. The Senedd passed the Senedd and Election (Wales) Act later that year. A vote to remove this enfranchisement was defeated by 41 votes to 11. The first election to include the biggest enfranchisement in Welsh politics since 1969 was the 2021 Senedd election.
The Welsh Government also legislated for the enfranchisement of 16- and 17-year-olds in the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act, which received royal assent in 2021. The changes – which included lowering the voting age to 16 for local elections in Wales – were in place for local Welsh elections in 2022, however the age to vote in Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections in Wales remains at 18. The voting age in Wales also remains at 18 for UK general elections.
The voting age in the British Overseas Territories for the United Kingdom Parliamentary elections would be the same as in that part of the realm that lies within the British Isles. However no electoral district has ever been created for any such territory, and British nationals from the territories must first establish residency in an existing electoral district in order to exercise their voting rights in national elections.
Local elected legislatures were established in Virginia in 1619 and Bermuda (originally settled as part of Virginia) in 1620. After the Act of Union 1707, sovereignty remained with the British parliament, which asserted its right to legislate for the colonies, though in practice certain competencies were delegated by the British government to the local governments (varying depending upon the degree of representation in the local government of each colony).
Since the 1960s, most of the remaining colonies have been given elected legislatures similar to Bermuda's (or the Councils that advise the appointed governors, originally made up only of appointees, now include elected members), with the enfranchisement for local elections determined by local legislation (subject, like all local legislation, to the approval of the national government). In Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena (and presumably Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha), and Turks and Caicos Islands the current voting ages for local elections are all 18. There are no permanent inhabitants, and no local legislatures, in British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Under the agreement with Cyprus by which Britain retained the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the British government agreed not to set up and administer "colonies" and not to allow new settlement of people in the Sovereign Base Areas other than for temporary purposes. There is no local legislature, and consequently there are no local elections.
Moves to lower the voting age to 16 were first successful in the three British Crown dependencies from 2006 to 2008. The Isle of Man was the first to amend previous legislation in 2006, when it reduced the voting age to 16 for its general elections, with the House of Keys approving the move by 19 votes to 4.
Jersey followed suit in 2007, when it approved a reduction of the voting age to 16. The States of Jersey voted narrowly in favour, by 25 votes to 21, Vote P63/2007 , States of Jersey, 4 July 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007. and the legislative amendments were adopted. States of Jersey Minutes , 26 September 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2007. The law was sanctioned by Order in Council, ORDERS APPROVED AT THE PRIVY COUNCIL HELD BY THE QUEEN AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE ON 12 December 2007 , Privy Council Office, 20 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2008. Public Elections (Amendment No. 2) (Jersey) Law 2008, Jersey Legal Information Board. Retrieved 15 January 2008. and was brought into force in time for the general elections in late 2008. Public Elections: reduction in voting age to 16 , States of Jersey, 15 May 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
In 2007, a proposal Billet d'État XXII 2007 (October) & Resolutions , States of Guernsey. Retrieved 20 December 2007. for a reduction (in voting age to 16) made by the House Committee of the States of Guernsey, and approved by the States' Policy Committee, was adopted by the assembly by 30 votes to 15. An Order in Council sanctioned the law, and it was registered at the Court of Guernsey. It came into force immediately, and the voting age was accordingly reduced in time for the 2008 Guernsey general election.
In 2022, both Alderney and Sark passed legislation which lowered the voting age to 16 for all elections going forward.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution (passed and ratified in 1971) prevents states from setting a voting age higher than 18. Except for the express limitations provided for in Amendments XIV, XV, XIX and XXVI, voter qualifications for House and Senate elections are largely delegated to the States under Article I, Section 2 and Amendment XVII of the United States Constitution, which respectively state that "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature." and "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures."
Seventeen states permit 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections and caucuses if they will be 18 by election day: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia. Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada allow 17-year-olds to participate in all presidential caucuses, but may not vote in primary elections for other offices. Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Washington, and Wyoming allow 17-year-olds to participate in only Democratic caucuses, but not in the Republican caucus.
All states allow someone not yet 18 to preregister to vote. Fifteen states — California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Washington — and Washington, D.C., allow 16-year-olds to preregister. In Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, and West Virginia, 17-year-olds can preregister. Alaska allows a teen to preregister within 90 days of their 18th birthday. Georgia, Iowa, and Missouri allow 17.5-year-olds to preregister if they turn 18 before the next election. Texas allows someone 17 year and 10 months old to preregister. The remaining states, excepting North Dakota, do not specify an age for preregistration so long as the teen will be 18 by the next election (usually the next general election). North Dakota does not require voter registration.
On 3 April 2019, Andrew Yang became the first major presidential candidate to advocate for the United States to lower its voting age to 16. At 16, Americans do not have hourly limits imposed on their work, and they pay taxes. According to Yang, their livelihoods are directly impacted by legislation, and they should therefore be allowed to vote for their representatives.
In 2018, a bill in the Council of the District of Columbia was proposed to lower the voting age to 16, which would make the federal district the first jurisdiction to lower the voting age for federal level elections. In 2019, Washington D.C., Council Member Charles Allen sponsored a debate on whether or not the city should lower the voting age to 16 for all elections, including the presidential election in the city. Allen gained a magnitude of public support although the measure to lower the age of voting stalled.
Starting in 2024, 16 and 17-year-olds can vote on School Board races in Berkeley, Oakland and Newark.
In Massachusetts, the state has blocked efforts to lower the voting age for local elections to 16 in Ashfield, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Harwich, Lowell, Northampton, Shelburne, Somerville, and Wendell.
The following is an alphabetical list of voting ages in the various countries and territories of the world.
| No elections | ||
| Compulsory between 18 and 70. However, persons 15 years of age are permitted to vote in primary elections if they will be 16 years of age on or before the day of the general election. | ||
| Compulsory | ||
| 31/BNR (XXIII. GP) Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz , ss. 1, 5 and 25, Republik Österreich Parlament (German). Retrieved 1 July 2007. | ||
| 16 in European elections since 2023 | ||
| 16 if employed | ||
| Compulsory for 18 to 70; optional for Illiteracy citizens. Military conscripts cannot vote by law | ||
| Village elections only | ||
| Married persons regardless of age (members of the armed forces and national police cannot vote) | ||
| Universal, compulsory for literate persons ages 18–65, optional for other eligible voters | ||
| 16 for local elections | ||
| As of 2013 Constitution | ||
| Voting age 16 for state elections:
, , , , , and . Voting age 16 for municipal elections: , , , , , , , , , and . German Wikipedia article containing all references for each state. Retrieved 11 October 2014. | ||
| Universal, plus other British citizens who have been residents six months or more | ||
| 17 from July 2016 onwards, was 18 prior. People that turn 17 in the year of the elections can also vote. This means that if a 16-year-old teen was born in the last day of 2005, he/she can vote in an election taking place in 2022. | ||
| US citizens, but do not vote in US presidential elections | ||
| Active-duty members of the armed forces may not vote and are restricted to their barracks on election day. | ||
| Reform (Guernsey) Law, 1948, s. 28(1) ; amended by Reform (Guernsey) (Amendment) Law, 2007 (adopted on 31 October 2007, sanctioned on 12 December and registered and coming into force on 19 December). | ||
| Direct election 18 years of age; universal for permanent residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past seven years; indirect election limited to about 220,000 members of functional constituencies and a 1,200-member election committee drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, and central government bodies. | ||
| 16 if married. | ||
| No threshold for married persons. The military and police cannot vote. | ||
| Changed from 15 to 18 in 2007, returned to 15 in 2009 and returned to 18 in 2011. | ||
| 17 for municipal elections; 17 year olds can also vote in national elections held after their 18th Hebrew calendar birthday. | ||
| Lowered from 21 in 1975 for Chamber of Deputies elections and referendums, and from 25 in 2021 for Senate elections. | ||
| Lowered from 20 in June 2016. The voting age for constitutional referendums was lowered from 20 to 18 in June 2018. Young voters hope to reform Japan’s ‘silver democracy’. The Japan Times. Published 8 July 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2018. Japan lowers minimum voting age for constitutional referendums to 18. The Japan Times. Published 21 June 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018. | ||
| Members of the military have the right to vote, regardless of age. | ||
| Lowered from 19 in December 2019. | ||
| Kosovo. Youthpolicy.org. Retrieved 6 January 2019. | ||
| For those not in the military or police forces; all voters must have been citizens for 20 years; current proposal for reduction to 18. | ||
| All men and women regardless of religion. Excludes convicts, imprisoned citizens, and military/security service personnel | ||
| Compulsory | ||
| Compulsory until the age of 75. A proposal to lower the voting age to 16 was rejected in 2015 in a nationwide referendum (81% "no"-votes). | ||
| Direct election 18 years of age, universal for permanent residents living in Macau for the past seven years; indirect election limited to organizations registered as "corporate voters" (973 are currently registered) and a 300-member Election Committee drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, and central government bodies. | ||
| Lowered from 21 in 2019 however did not take effect until 15 December 2021. | ||
| 18 | ||
| Indigenous inhabitants are US citizens but do not vote in US presidential elections | ||
| However, persons 17 years of age are permitted to vote in parliamentary elections if they will be 18 years of age in the year the election is held. | ||
| Except for members of the military and police. | ||
| Reserved parliamentary seats for women and non-Muslims | ||
| West Bank and Gaza. | ||
| Universal and compulsory until the age of 70; (members of the military and national police could not vote until a Constitutional Reform in 2005 | ||
| For youth councils: 15 to 30 | ||
| Universal with three years' residency | ||
| Island residents are US citizens but do not vote in US presidential elections. 16-year-olds may vote in local elections. | ||
| Naturalized citizens cannot vote. | ||
| Planned lowering of the voting age to 16 (for local elections and for European Parliament elections) is currently underway and has been approved by the Senate in early September 2022. However the government opposes the decision as "unconstitutional". Brought into debate by the Romanian Students' Union in March 2022. | ||
| 16 if employed | ||
| Universal suffrage starting with 24 June 2024 local elections | ||
| 16 for cantonal and municipal elections in the canton of Glarus | ||
| 18 for referendums (since 2017). On November 26, 2022, a constitutional referendum was held in order to lower the voting age from 20 to 18 years. Although a majority of votes were obtained in favor of lowering the voting age, the threshold of half the eligible voters was not reached and the referendum was declared unsuccessful. | ||
| Being a Thai citizen since birth, or at least five years | ||
| With some exceptions | ||
| Перший крок до зриву виборів ( The first step to disrupt the elections), Ukrayinska Pravda (9 April 2012) | ||
| Elections for the Federal National Council are voted on by members of each emirate's electoral college. Electoral college members are selected by the ruler of each emirate, but must be at least 25, and there must be at least 300 members for every seat allocated to each emirate. | ||
| 18 for general elections to the House of Commons, Northern Ireland Assembly and local government elections in England and Northern Ireland.
16 for Scottish Parliament elections, Scottish local government elections, and the Scottish Independence Referendum. 16 for Senedd (Welsh Parliament) elections and Welsh local elections. The government has announced plans to reduce the voting age to 16 for all elections by the next general election. | ||
| However, in many states, persons 17 years of age are permitted to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 years of age on or before the day of the general election. Some municipalities allow 16-year-olds to vote in local elections. | ||
| Less-than sign 80 | Election of the pope is limited to cardinals under 80 | |
| Island residents are U.S. citizens but do not vote in U.S. presidential elections. | ||
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