A Sheffield councillor has shared her views on the government’s new bill to extend the voting age to 16 and 17-year-olds.
Coun Elle Dodd, Chair of Governance, said: “It will allow millions of young people across the country to have their own voices heard.”
The Representation of the People Bill 2026 is currently being debated in Parliament and, if successful, would be the biggest change to the electorate since 1969, which brought England in line with Scotland and Wales.
If the bill passes, Coun Dodd and her team will expand the work they already do with schools across Sheffield to promote democracy and governance, encouraging lifelong participation in voting.
Coun Dodd said: “I hope they all get out and vote and feel motivated.
I am not worried that young people don’t know what to do.”
The bill aims to engage young people in democracy, “empowering them to participate in society” as they have the lowest voting turnout across age groups.
The government will bring in better voter ID requirements where voters would only require a bank card to prove their identity.
They are also bringing in a trial that will allow local authorities to use automatic voter registration where Dodd believes this will be helpful for students as they move around and have to re-register.
The proposed bill has received mixed reactions across social media, with one Reddit user saying that “16 year olds don’t know anything about the world. This is not a good thing for the long term stability of the country.”
However, many have come out in support of the bill with another Reddit user saying that 16-year-olds “have the same variance in maturity and responsibility as adults”.
Coun Dodd has been a long standing advocate for lowering the voting age since she was 16 and says that schools already do a lot of good teaching on the electoral system.
She said: “I think if we give them the chance to vote they’ll take that opportunity and I hope they’ll prove me right.”
To become law, the bill must be approved by both MPs and peers which is a process that could take months.