This amendment declares that the right of citizens age 18 years or older to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.” In effect, this amendment gave the right to vote to all citizens of the United States 18 years and older.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is the fourth amendment to specify voting rights (others include the Fifteenth, the Nineteenth, and the Twenty-third Amendments).
The passage of this amendment in June 1971 was encouraged by large-scale protests in the 1960s by students and others regarding the Vietnam War. The amendment responded to the argument that citizens old enough to fight and die for their country should be able to vote. It reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years, and allowed the opportunity for younger people to have a voice in the affairs of government and to share in the political process.
The Voting Rights Act of 1970 lowered the voting age only in national elections. In extending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 1970 Congress included a provision lowering the age qualification to vote in local, state, and federal elections to 18. In a divided decision, the Supreme Court held that Congress was authorized to reduce the age qualification in federal elections, but revoked the application of the provision in other elections as outside congressional authority. Facing the imminent possibility that the states might have to maintain dual registration records as well as bear the expense of running separate federal and state election systems, the states were responsive to Congress’s proposal to establish a minimum age qualification of 18 for all elections and quickly ratified the constitutional amendment.
See also Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.
—Michele Rutledge
World History
