BUDL EMS Evidence Packet 2013-2014
EMS Evidence Packet 2013-2014
INSTURCTIONS
2
GLOSSARY/KEY TERMS
3
1AC (FIRST AFFIRMATIVE CONSTRUCTIVE)
4
US IS MODELED EXTENSIONS
8
HARMS EXTENSIONS
9
SOLVENCY EXTENSIONS
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ANSWERS TO: VOTING DA
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1NC (FIRST NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIVE)
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VOTING LINES DA
15
2NC (SECOND NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIVE/1NR (FIRST NEGATIVE REBUTTAL) EXTENSION:
TEENAGERS NOT MATURE ENOUGH
17
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
1 BUDL EMS Evidence Packet 2013-2014
Instructions
Disclaimer: This packet is designed to be a tool that can be used to help with debates. This is not the
mandatory template that needs to be used for every debate. On the contrary, in the most ideal world this
would be a tool used by beginner debaters and a starting point for more advanced debaters.
2013 EMS Debate Topic: Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
Affirmative: The affirmative is supposed to affirm the change and that the United States should lower the
voting age to 16. The affirmative should also come up with reasons why that is a good idea. The affirmative
should have evidence to support their argument
Negative: The negative argues against the idea that the United States should lower the voting age to 16. The
negative should come up with reasons why it is not a good idea to lower the voting age. The negative should
have evidence to support their argument.
How to use the Packet in a debate
Affirmative: If you are affirmative you should include the evidence in the “1AC (First Affirmative
Constructive)” in your First constructive speech. In the 2AC the affirmative speaker should refer to evidence
read in the 1AC if they want but they can also read Extensions or Answers to a particular argument. In the
1AR/2AR you should refer to evidence read in the 1AC and 2AC and explain why the arguments you made
should be reasons the judge votes for your side.
Negative: If you are negative you can read the Negative 1NC, the Voting Lines DA 1NC, and/or make
arguments off the top of your head (analytical arguments) against the affirmative. In 2NR and 1NR you
should read 2NC/1NR extensions but priority should be given to answering arguments that the 2AC made.
The 2NR should refer to evidence and explain why the arguments you made should be reasons the judge
should vote for your side.
TIPS
Underlining: The cards are underlined but you can read any part of the evidence you want.
Thought Boxes: These are spaces to write additional things to be included in the speech. You don’t have to
use them or read the questions during your speech.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Glossary & Key Terms
Democracy: a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally—either directly or
through elected representatives.
Enfranchisement: to endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.
Disenfranchise: to deprive of the rights of citizens, especially the right to vote.
Suffrage: the right of voting.
Underrepresented Groups: Groups that have participation rates significantly below the national average.
Voting Age: a voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to
vote in a public election. To vote in national US elections a person must be 18
Comparativists: One that uses a comparative method. When someone uses a method of comparing
options to make decisions.
Majoritarianism: the philosophy or practice according to which decisions of an organized group should
be made by a majority of its members.
Summum Bonum: a Latin expression meaning "the highest good".
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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1AC (First Affirmative Constructive)
First Inherency: Currently there is only one county in the entire United States that lets kids vote
Baltimore Sun 2013 (Timothy Male, member of the Takoma Park City Council and Rob Richie, Executive Director of
Fairvote In Takoma Park, starting the voting habit early
City becomes the first in America to lower the voting age to 16 Accessed Online 6/7/2013 URL:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-06-02/news/bs-ed-voting-age-20130531_1_voting-rights-voting-age-fairvote)
Last week, the Takoma Park City Council voted 6-1 to change its charter to become the first city in America to
lower the voting age to 16. While we are the first city to adopt this policy, we have little doubt that others will
follow. Maryland already has been a national leader in extending voting rights to younger voters when it opened
its primaries years ago to 17-year-olds. That practice has spread to more than 20 states, and the case for a
lower voting age in local elections is similarly strong. The context for action was an accompanying measure
backing an affirmative right to vote in the Constitution and local actions in support of suffrage. A task force will
address why — like many cities, including Baltimore — Takoma Park has local election turnout rates below 20
percent, with large disparities based on age and neighborhood. The city will also establish Election Day voter
registration and extend voting rights to more people with past felony convictions, and may adopt Minnesota's
policy of ensuring that candidates have access to apartment buildings to talk with residents.
Why do you believe it is important for young people to vote?
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Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Harms: 16 and 17 years olds pay taxes, and receive adult jail sentences but have no vote
New York Amsterdam New 2005 (“From playgrounds to voting booths: Kids want to vote”, 7/28/2005, Vol. 96 Issue 31,
p16-16. 1/2p.)
Now is a great time to lower the voting age. Not enough people are voting, and one of the ways you can get 18year-olds to vote is by getting 16-year-olds to vote. Teachers could say, "Here's a voter registration card. This is
really important." A lot of 18-year-olds aren't in school anymore, so there aren't people that can say, "Go out
and vote." The younger you start, the better. People talk about how the youth don't care and aren't involved,
especially in the last election, and I think part of the problem is, we're just ignored. When you're 16, you have a
lot of adult "rights," like paying taxes, driving, enlisting in the Army, serving adult prison terms, but you're not
treated as an adult. Parents are going to have some influence in how teens vote, but even for adults, parents
have some influence in how they vote. I'm a Democrat because my parents are Democrats, because their
parents were Democrats. You always have a way you grew up, the way your parents taught you to think.
People in politics always talk about what's good for schools, and I think to myself, "You've probably never been
in a public school before. You don't know anything about this." 16-year-olds that go to these schools every day
know what's going on in their neighborhoods and in their houses, and they can vote in ways that benefit the
community. The issues that teens are concerned with when they vote, like education and family, would benefit
everyone.
Plan: the United States should lower the voting age to 16.
What would you do if you had the choice to vote?
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Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Voting is an important part of being an American citizen
Tennant 2012 (Natalie Tennant, Secretary of State for West Virginia "We are All West Virginia, A Civics Education
Program")
So you can decide. Why let other people decide what is best for you when you have a voice: the vote. It's your
right. Young people, women and underrepresented groups all fought hard for the right to vote. Even today there
are countries where people are still fighting for the right to vote. Vote in honor of those who can't.
Representation-Does it seem as if politicians don't "get" you? Want politicians in office who represent your
needs and concerns? Then vote. More money... Votes equal cash. Candidates give money to causes you care
about: youth programs, the environment, HIV/AIDS or cancer research, to name a few. Find out where the
candidates stand on these issues and vote for the ones that agree with you. To cancel out someone else's vote.
Whether it's your neighbor, your teacher, or somebody famous -- you probably know someone who is going to
vote the opposite of you. To bust the stereotype! Some adults think, "Young people are lazy, they don't care
about their communities, they don't vote." Prove them wrong. If you don't vote, someone else will. Our
government was designed for citizen participation, so if you don't vote – other people are going to make the
decisions for you. It's your money. The county commissioners, governor, state treasurer, legislators, President
and members of Congress you vote for will decide how to spend your money. Vote for those that agree with your
point of view. Schools matter. You elect local and state school board members who set public education policy
and budgets. You'll need a good job. When you're done with school, you need somewhere to work and you'll
want job training, pay equity, fairness in hiring, and workplace safety. Save the world. The air, the land, the
water, we need them all. It's your backyard. Crime prevention, laws and law enforcement, safe and affordable
homes, traffic patterns, schools, parks and recreation...I don't want other people making my choices for me. I
want to have a voice in the things that affect me!
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
6 BUDL EMS Evidence Packet 2013-2014
The US democracy is modeled around the world; other countries will follow our lead
Petrou 2009 (Michael, PhD in History from Oxford, Maclean’s, March 9, Proquest)
That fact that American efforts to promote democracy abroad will likely be restrained doesn't necessarily mean they
will be less effective, only less forceful. "There is a strong line of argument that the best way Americans can spread
democracy around the world is to be the best model of a working democracy that we possibly can, and that model
is often undermined by our quasi-imperial international efforts that lead to doings like Guantánamo and Abu
Ghraib," says Peter Beinhart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview with Maclean's. "We
will be most effective at spreading democracy by focusing on things that make American democracy work best." By
this argument, improving America's economy may also embolden democracy's proponents in the developing world
by demonstrating the economic advantages of political freedom.
Are their other good things about America that other countries in the world should model?
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Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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US is Modeled Extensions
US democracy is modeled internationally
Lijhpart 2000 Arend, Former President of the American Political Science Association, Democracy in the Twenty-First
Century: Can We Be Optimistic?, http://www.nias.knaw.nl/en/new_3/new_1/new_2/18Uhlenbeck.pdf
I strongly believe that my native country provides the better model for viable and vital democracy. But, of course,
the American model is the much more visible and better known model – and strongly advocated as the ideal model
by many of my fellow American citizens. A good, although admittedly extreme, illustration is Steven G. Calabresi’s
(1998, 22) statement that the American constitution “has proved to be a brilliant success, which ... parliamentary
democracies all over the world would do well to copy”. He gives most of the credit for the economic and military
prowess of the United States to the American form of government, and continues: “The rest of the world is quite
rightly impressed with us, and it is thus no accident that the United States of America has become the biggest
single exporter of public law in the history of humankind. Almost wherever one looks, written constitutions,
federalism, separation of powers [that is, the presidential system], bills of rights, and judicial review are on the
ascendancy all over the world right now – and for good reason. They work better than any of the alternatives that
have been tried.” I agree with Calabresi that the American model has been extremely influential and also that parts
of it – the concise written constitution, federalism, bill of rights, and judicial review – have been beneficial. But, of
course, I strongly dissent from his praise for presidentialism (see also Ackerman 2000). A curious omission from
Calabresi’s list is the majoritarian electoral system, but I confidently assume that he favours this feature of the
American model, too – and I dissent just as strongly.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Harms Extensions
Lowering the voting age will increase turn out at the polls
Baltimore Sun 2013 (Timothy Male and Rob Richie In Takoma Park, starting the voting habit early
City becomes the first in America to lower the voting age to 16 Accessed Online 6/7/2013 URL:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-06-02/news/bs-ed-voting-age-20130531_1_voting-rights-voting-age-fairvote)
One of the best reasons for a lower voting age relates to turnout. Most of our young people have lived here for a
long time. Because studies show conclusively that both voting and not voting are habit-forming, providing a "first
vote" opportunity for those more settled in their community is particularly important. The fact that those given a
first chance to vote at 18 participate in higher rates than those unable to vote until 19 helps explain why studies
show that Austria — one of several nations recently lowering the voting age to 16 — has experienced a significant
turnout boost among for first-time voters.
International studies show that those under 18 cast votes reflecting their views just as well as older voters. In
reality, age is an arbitrary factor on which to base limits on the rights and responsibilities associated with
adulthood. Before they turn 18, Maryland teens can drive, work, pay taxes, have consensual sex, obtain a
federal student loan, earn a pilot's license and join the military. Final council passage came after months of
public input. The testimony of so many young people was particularly persuasive: They have earned the right to
be treated with the same respect as any other potential voter, and government will be accountable to more of
our residents.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Solvency Extensions
16 and 17 years old pay taxes so they should have a vote
New York Amsterdam New 2005 (“From playgrounds to voting booths: Kids want to vote”, 7/28/2005, Vol. 96 Issue 31,
p16-16. 1/2p.)
Before I joined the National Youth Rights Association, I was a good student. I was informed about world events,
but I didn't like politics. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I met kids trying to lower the voting age —
something I'd never thought of — and I was just blown away. Once I realized I could do something, I got so much
more involved with politics. I wrote letters to my legislators. I went to Sacramento for a committee hearing about
a bill that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they're going to be 18 during the election. I work, I
have a job, and I pay federal income tax, but I don't know where it's going, and I don't have a say in how much
they take from me. When the Boston Tea Party happened, when the colonists poured the tea into the harbor,
they were fighting against taxation without representation. Eighty percent of teenagers in America work, and
teenagers pay $9.7 billion a year in sales taxes alone. That's a lot of kids. That's a lot of money. I wish I had the
chance to have a say in what was going on in Berkeley because I've lived here my whole life. I think any
teenager would appreciate that chance. Democracy is the founding principle of America. If some of us are given
a vote, and others aren't, how is that good democracy? Expanding the vote will make democracy even better and
richer. How can expanding the vote be bad?
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Answers To: Voting DA
Obama is already working on a commission to fix voting line problems.
CNN 2013 (CNN Staff Writer, March 28th 2013 "Obama forms commission on long lines to vote")
Taking steps to make good on a pledge from his State of the Union Address, President Obama signed an
executive order Thursday that establishes a bipartisan panel to address long lines at polling stations and other
voter irregularities. "When any Americans – no matter where they live or what their party – are denied that right
simply because they can't wait for five, six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals,"
Obama said during the State of the Union. "We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it. And so
does our democracy." The new panel will be led by two leading election lawyers from each party, Benjamin
Ginsburg and Robert Bauer. Ginsburg has served as counsel to the Republican National Committee and most
recently to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign while Bauer is the former White House counsel under President
Obama.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Negative 1NC
Solvency take out: Lowering the voting age to 16 years old will justify constantly lowering the age
and hurting democracy
Wing and Clayton 2013 (Tak Wing Chan Matthew Clayton, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of
Warwick, POLITICAL STUDIES: 2006 VOL 54, 533–558 “Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and
Empirical Considerations”)
Suppose we retain an age-based qualifying condition for voting. At what age should we set it? Consider an
argument for lowering the voting age to sixteen, which runs as follows. Eighteen-year-olds should have the vote.
The competence of sixteen-year-olds is only insignificantly lower than that of eighteen-year-olds. Therefore,
sixteen-year-olds should have the vote. Suppose we accept the normative premise that eighteen-year-olds
should have the vote. Suppose we grant, in addition, that there is only an insignificant difference in competence
between sixteen and eighteen-year-olds. Still, we might resist the conclusion that sixteen-year-olds ought to be
enfranchised. The argument is weak, because, for all we know, we could use the same argument repeatedly until
we have enfranchised six-year-olds, which would be absurd. A series of insignificant changes can amount to a
significant change, and we ought to identify a suitable stopping point so that we can achieve the benefits of
enfranchising those who would enhance our democracy, without jeopardizing that good by continuing
incrementally to extend the franchise. And, we might insist on that stopping point even when there is no
significant extra loss of political competence by lowering the voting age further.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Solvency Take out: Other countries do not model US protections – they cherry pick and choose
precedents
Anderson 5 Kenneth, Professor of Law, http://www.policyreview.org/jun05/anderson.
The second caution goes directly to the agenda of those hoping to use comparative constitutionalism as a way of
advancing a politically progressive agenda otherwise blocked by democratic majoritarianism. Much of the U.S. civil
liberties tradition is an unabashed outlier with respect to the rest of the world — the Miranda warning and the
exclusionary rule, Roe, and many other protections far less obvious. There is nothing in pragmatism that promises a
particular vision of political progress, and, indeed, there is little if anything in pragmatism that argues for liberty or
equality as such. Alford correctly says that pragmatism is hardly capable of sustaining the full freight of the
comparativist agenda. Pragmatic decisions that enhance civil liberties are rare, and they frequently offer a rationale
for curtailing rather than advancing constitutional rights. . . . Devoid of a summum bonum, pragmatism is not
prescriptive to the degree that most comparativists would like it to be.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Harms Takeout: 16 and 17 years olds are not mature enough to vote
Wolf 2013 Calvin Wolf Educator and Writer, May 15, 2013 "Town Lowering Voting Age to 16 Should Think Twice" Yahoo
Voice- Legal accessed June 11, 2013 url: voices.yahoo.com/town-lowering-voting-age-16-think-twice12139283.html?cat=17
First of all, many 16- and 17-year-olds are still very impressionable and lack independence and social
seasoning. If we do not allow teenagers under the age of 18 to engage in sexual relationships with older
individuals based on this lack of social seasoning, why let them vote instead? Either we must concede that 16year-olds are not yet mature enough to vote in public elections or we must meaningfully discuss lowering the age
of other regulated activities, including sexual relationships and tobacco usage, to 16. We cannot say "they are
mature enough to vote" but continue to say "they are not mature enough to ____________." Look for 16- and
17-year-old teens in Takoma Park to begin challenging lots of other statutes soon!
At what age do you think you’ll be mature enough to vote?
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Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Voting Lines DA
Uniqueness: Voting lines are long currently and polling centers are at capacity around the county
Wing 2013 (Nick Wing, staff writer "2012 Voting Lines Study show Minorities Faced Longer Average Wait times to
cast ballots)
A new report by Charles Stewart III, a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
shows that non-white voters faced longer average wait times at the polls than white voters did in November. The
study points out that the findings don't suggest discrimination on an individual basis, but rather a failure by
precincts with high levels of minority voters, typically in urban areas, to appropriately address the issue of long
lines. For example, the difference in wait times between black and white voters in the same zip code was less
than a minute on average. According to Stewart, this worrisome demographic trend is just one sign of an
overburdened national voting infrastructure that hasn't been improved, despite its highly publicized
shortcomings. While nationwide average wait times dropped between 2008 and 2012 -- from 17 minutes to 13
minutes -- respondents who said they waited for over an hour to vote experienced average wait-times of 110
minutes in 2012, a slight uptick from 2008.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Link: The plan wants to add 16 and 17 years olds to the voting population
Internal Link: Long Lines lead to people leaving- 201,000 people alone left in Florida
Powers and Damron 2013 (Scott Powers and David Damron, Writers for the Orlando Sentinel January 29, 2013,
"Analysis: 201,000 in Florida didn't vote because of long lines"
Analyzing data compiled by the Orlando Sentinel, Ohio State university professor Theodore Allen estimated last
week that at least 201,000 voters likely gave up in frustration on Nov. 6, based on research Allen has been
doing on voter behavior. His preliminary conclusion was based on the Sentinel's analysis of voter patterns and
precinct-closing times in Florida's 25 largest counties, home to 86 percent of the state's 11.9 million registered
voters. "My gut is telling me that the real number [of voters] deterred is likely higher," Allen said. "You make
people wait longer, they are less likely to vote." Around the state, nearly 2 million registered voters live in
precincts that stayed open at least 90 minutes past the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time, according to Sentinel
analysis of voting data obtained from county elections supervisors. Of those, 561,000 voters live in precincts
that stayed open three extra hours or longer. And two of the five counties with the worst lines were in Central
Florida. In Orange and Osceola counties, as many as 48 percent of those who cast votes on Election Day live in
precincts that closed at least 90 minutes late, the analysis showed.
The impact: Lowering the voting age when the lines are long already means even more people will not get to vote
What do you think could happen if the voting lines are even longer because of 16 and 17 year olds
voting?
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Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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2NC/1NR Extension: Teenagers Not Mature enough
16 and 17 year olds are not mature enough to overcome pressure and intimidation form their
parents
Wolf 2013 Calvin Wolf Educator and Writer, May 15, 2013 "Town Lowering Voting Age to 16 Should Think Twice" Yahoo
Voice- Legal accessed June 11, 2013 url: voices.yahoo.com/town-lowering-voting-age-16-think-twice12139283.html?cat=17
Third, these younger voters may be vulnerable to voter intimidation from friends and family. Voters age 18 and
over have greater ability to protect themselves from coercion or intimidation. An 18-year-old "black sheep" in an
overbearingly liberal or conservative family can, if the situation gets extreme enough, move out. A 16- or 17year-old, by contrast, may be legally prevented from signing an apartment lease or leaving the family home. They
cannot drop out of school without parental consent or easily secure full-time employment, either. For better or
worse, 16-year-olds are often still squarely under family protection (and coercion). I worry about parents overly
influencing their teens' votes.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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Harms take out: Voter turnout does not matter kids voting might hurt democracy
Wing and Clayton 2013 (Tak Wing Chan Matthew Clayton, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of
Warwick, POLITICAL STUDIES: 2006 VOL 54, 533–558 “Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and
Empirical Considerations”)
Ultimately, level of turnout is not the issue. What matters is quality of turnout. If it is likely that those sixteenyear-olds who would use their vote would be competent voters, then a low turnout among this group would not,
other things being equal, be a cause for concern. The worry about extending the franchise is not that sixteen and
seventeen-year-olds would not use their vote, but that too many of them would vote and do so incompetently, in
a way that would be detrimental to our democracy.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
18 BUDL EMS Evidence Packet 2013-2014
Raising the voting age is a waste of time and energy instead we should focus on ways to make sure 18 years olds
are able to actually vote.
Cheng, 2012 (Jenny Chenh, Lecturer in law @ Vanderbilt Law School, New York Times “Leave the Voting Age Alone” May
28 2012 access 10)
The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, establishes 18 as the minimum voting age for both state and federal
elections. Like all lines that divide legal childhood from adulthood, the voting age is essentially arbitrary. Indeed,
in modern America 18-year-old voting has become unmoored from one of its more important original
justifications, which was matching the minimum age for draft eligibility (itself also an arbitrary line). Despite this,
raising or lowering the voting age, as some groups have suggested, seems a waste of time at best. The American
colonies mostly set their voting ages at 21, reflecting British common law. This requirement went largely
unchallenged until World War II, when several members of Congress proposed amending the Constitution to
lower the age to 18. Between 1942 and 1970 federal legislators introduced hundreds of such proposals, but the
issue lacked momentum until the late 1960s, when a confluence of factors — including the escalating war in
Vietnam — pushed 18-year-old voting closer to the surface of the national political agenda. The 26th
Amendment itself was the culmination of some creative political maneuvering by Congressional advocates, with
a crucial assist from the Supreme Court in Oregon v. Mitchell. As a historical matter, the significance of the
soldier-voter link has been somewhat overstated. The amendment's passage was propelled by a small group of
federal legislators whose motivations and rationales were considerably more complex than commonly thought.
Still, the Vietnam-era slogan, "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote," was unquestionably a powerful claim,
encompassing deeply embedded ideas about civic virtue, adulthood and fairness. Tying voting to soldiering was
always problematic, though, and it is even more so today. The contemporary U.S. military is an all-volunteer
force and only a small fraction of Americans ever serve. Selective Service registration applies only to males and
the possibility of an actual draft is remote. Yet there is no life moment to which the voting age might be more
obviously tethered, and any bright-line rule will inevitably seem unfair to some. Interest in improving young
adults' political participation would be better focused on attacking barriers like residency requirements that
exclude college students and voter ID laws that disfavor young and mobile voters, sometimes egregiously.
Tennessee's new law, for example, specifically disallows students, but not university employees, from using state
university ID cards at the polls. More broadly, young Americans suffer from the same challenges to meaningful
representation and governance that plague our democracy at all levels. The voting age is the least of their
problems.
Resolved: The United States should lower the voting age to 16
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