Topic: Voting Age Eligibility Checker

Description: This program takes a user's age as an input and determines whether they are legally eligible to vote (minimum age of 18). If they are eligible, it welcomes them to the electoral system. If they are not, it calculates exactly how many years they must wait before they can register.

Why: This program teaches students the basics of **comparison operators** (>=) and **arithmetic operations** within conditional blocks. It introduces the concept of structural data branching—where the program performs entirely distinct calculations based on a variable's state.

Program Code

Copy and run the following Python code to see the eligibility system in action:

def check_voting_eligibility():
    print("=============================")
    print("  VOTING ELIGIBILITY SYSTEM  ")
    print("=============================")
    
    VOTING_AGE = 18
    
    try:
        # Capture and sanitize user age input
        user_age = int(input("Enter your age: ").strip())
    except ValueError:
        print("\nError: Please enter a valid whole number for age.")
        return

    # Check condition constraints
    if user_age < 0:
        print("\nInvalid Input: Age cannot be a negative number.")
        
    elif user_age >= VOTING_AGE:
        print("\n-----------------------------")
        print("    REGISTRATION STATUS      ")
        print("-----------------------------")
        print("Status  : ELIGIBLE TO VOTE")
        print("Message : You are legally old enough to participate in elections.")
        print("-----------------------------")
        
    else:
        # Calculate remaining years to eligibility
        years_waiting = VOTING_AGE - user_age
        print("\n-----------------------------")
        print("    REGISTRATION STATUS      ")
        print("-----------------------------")
        print("Status  : NOT ELIGIBLE")
        print(f"Message : You must wait {years_waiting} more year(s) to register.")
        print("-----------------------------")

# Execute the registration check
check_voting_eligibility()

Expected Console Output Examples

Example 1 (Eligible Voter Profile):

=============================
  VOTING ELIGIBILITY SYSTEM  
=============================
Enter your age: 21

-----------------------------
    REGISTRATION STATUS      
-----------------------------
Status  : ELIGIBLE TO VOTE
Message : You are legally old enough to participate in elections.