How can lowering the voting age to sixteen be successfully implemented? A framework of functional, institutional, and relational dimensions of voting age reform

Abstract As an increasing number of democracies commit to lowering the voting age to sixteen, research on the issue has advanced from assessing effects to examining implementation practices. This article contributes to the literature by investigating how voting age reform can be implemented effectively. It does so by proposing a novel multidimensional approach addressing the functional, relational, and institutional barriers to young people’s electoral engagement. To demonstrate this, it draws on original qualitative evidence gathered during the implementation stage of voting age reform at the Welsh Senedd elections of 2021 including interviews with stakeholders throughout the implementation process and focus groups with 80 young people before and after the election. Policy stakeholders recognized the need for a wider policy ecology addressing functional barriers to electoral engagement, but the more challenging relational and institutional barriers identified by young people were largely neglected with significant implications for how young people’s participation is problematized.