Teacher's edition.

• Author: Zack, Ian

When Americans go to the polls this month, most of your students will watch from the sidelines. But with several other nations having extended the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds, there's talk again of lowering the voting age in the U.S. for the first time since the ratification of the 26th Amendment. Our article explores whether such a change is practical given the poor youth turnout in most presidential elections.

Not all young people are politically active, but we found two who are: In side-by-side essays, they make the case for supporting either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama on November 6.

We conclude our pre-election coverage with "A Heartbeat Away," a look at the evolving role of the vice presidency, a job once mocked by vice presidents themselves but now vested with real power.

In Afghanistan, we...