Amendment XXVI

Section 1

The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.

Section 2

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

My Opinion: I am glad that this amendment was put in the Constitution. Just turning 18 last year, I now know what it feels like to be a part of history. With citizens being able to go to war at the age of 18, I feel that they should have the right to have a say in who is the leader of our country sending them to war.

26th Amendment

The Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971. The ratification period of 107 days was the shortest in U.S. history. The amendment, which lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, was passed quickly to avert potential problems in the 1972 elections.

The drive for lowering the voting age began with young people who had been drawn into the political arena by the Vietnam War. Proponents argued that if eighteen-year-olds were old enough to be drafted into military service and sent into combat, they were also old enough to vote. This line of argument was not new. It had persuaded Georgia and Kentucky to lower the minimum voting age to eighteen during World War II. The one flaw in the argument was that women were not drafted and were not allowed to serve in combat units if they enlisted in the armed forces.

Nevertheless, the drive for lowering the voting age gained momentum. In 1970 Congress passed a measure that lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen in both federal and state elections (84 Stat. 314).

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, declared part of this measure unconstitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 91 S. Ct. 260, 27 L. Ed. 2d 272 (1970). The decision was closely divided. Four justices believed Congress had the constitutional authority to lower the voting age in all elections, four justices believed the opposite, and one justice, Hugo L. Black, concluded that Congress could lower the voting age by statute only in federal elections, not in state elections.

The Court's decision allowed eighteen-year olds to vote in the 1972 presidential and congressional elections but left the states to decide if they wished to lower the voting age in their state elections. The potential for chaos was clear. Congress responded by proposing the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which required the states as well as the federal government to lower the voting age to eighteen.

My Opinion: By lowering the voting age, in my opinion brings more people out to elections. Younger generations can make or break a election much like it did this previous election with Barack Obama and John McCain. I am also glad that this was not just at a federal level but a state level as well. As many people as possible should have a say in who leads them.

Student Age- Voting/Apathy

My Opinion: I do think that this video makes a good point that if the voting age is lowered, these people should be able to use it. People need to make an educated vote and I'm sure that the argument is if a 16 year old is mature enough? The thing about that is that some are and some are not even close. Many arguments are made in this video and each side is heard which is important to an issue. But personally I do not think that the voting age should be lowered due solely on maturity.