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Python Program to Check if a Person Is Eligible to Vote

Beginner · Basics

In India, as in most countries, a citizen must be at least 18 years old to vote. This program checks whether a person is old enough and, if not, how many years they still have to wait.

Program

voting_eligibility.py
name = "Kavya" # or: name = input("Enter your name: ")
age = 16 # or: age = int(input("Enter your age: "))
VOTING_AGE = 18
if age < 0:
print("Age cannot be negative")
elif age >= VOTING_AGE:
print(f"{name}, you are {age}, so you are eligible to vote.")
else:
years_left = VOTING_AGE - age
print(f"{name}, you are {age}, so you are not eligible to vote yet.")
print(f"You can vote in {years_left} year(s).")
Output
Kavya, you are 16, so you are not eligible to vote yet.
You can vote in 2 year(s).

How it works

  1. The voting age is stored in VOTING_AGE, so it is easy to change for a country with a different rule.
  2. A negative age is impossible, so it is caught first.
  3. age >= VOTING_AGE is true at exactly 18 as well as above it, which is why >= is used rather than >.
  4. For someone younger, VOTING_AGE - age gives the number of years left to wait.

Other ways to write it

From a date of birth

From a date of birth
from datetime import date
birth_date = date(2008, 11, 25)
on_date = date(2026, 1, 15) # or: date.today()
# Take 1 off if this year's birthday has not come yet
age = on_date.year - birth_date.year
if (on_date.month, on_date.day) < (birth_date.month, birth_date.day):
age -= 1
print("Age on", on_date, "is", age)
print("Eligible to vote" if age >= 18 else "Not eligible to vote yet")
Output
Age on 2026-01-15 is 17
Not eligible to vote yet

Subtracting the years alone would say 18, but the birthday in November has not come yet in January, so the real age is 17.

Checking a list of people

Checking a list of people
people = [("Arjun", 19), ("Meera", 17), ("Rahul", 18), ("Sana", 45)]
for name, age in people:
status = "can vote" if age >= 18 else "cannot vote yet"
print(f"{name} ({age}): {status}")
voters = [name for name, age in people if age >= 18]
print("Eligible voters:", ", ".join(voters))
Output
Arjun (19): can vote
Meera (17): cannot vote yet
Rahul (18): can vote
Sana (45): can vote
Eligible voters: Arjun, Rahul, Sana

Each person is a (name, age) tuple, and the loop unpacks it into two variables.

Try it yourself

Add a check for the minimum age to stand for election to the Lok Sabha, which is 25.

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