Which statement best captures the author's position?
The case against lowering the voting age to sixteen usually rests on maturity: teenagers, it is said, lack the judgement to weigh competing manifestos. Yet the electorate has never been tested for judgement. Nobody proposes quizzing eighty-year-olds on policy before handing them a ballot. If maturity were the true standard, we would need a way to measure it, and any such measure would exclude many adults and include many sixteen-year-olds. The better argument for keeping the voting age at eighteen is administrative: a line must be drawn somewhere, and eighteen is familiar. But administrative convenience is a weak reason to withhold a right from people who pay tax on their earnings and will live longest with the consequences of today's decisions.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: E. The maturity objection is unconvincing and convenience alone does not justify keeping the age at eighteen
- Step 1: The author rejects maturity as a standard, then calls administrative convenience weak.
- Step 2: So the answer is the statement that "The maturity objection is unconvincing and convenience alone does not justify keeping the age at eighteen".
Answer
The maturity objection is unconvincing and convenience alone does not justify keeping the age at eighteen.
Why not the others: The author does not compare average maturity, propose a test, claim teenagers pay more tax, or oppose all familiar rules.
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