Constitutional Amendment XXVI:
Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen 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: Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the minimum age for the military draft age to 18, at a time when the minimum voting age was set at 21.
In the late 1960s, with the United States embroiled in a long, costly war in Vietnam, youth voting rights activists held marches and demonstrations to draw lawmakers’ attention to the hypocrisy of drafting young men and women who lacked the right to vote. In 1969, no fewer than 60 resolutions were introduced in Congress to lower the minimum voting age, but none resulted in any action.
“Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” became a common slogan for the youth voting rights movement.
Supreme Court Decision on the 26th Amendment
In the 1970 case Oregon v. Mitchell, the U.S. Supreme Court was tasked with reviewing the constitutionality of the provision. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority decision in the case, which held that Congress did not have the right to regulate the minimum age in State and local elections, but only in federal elections. Under this verdict, 18- to 20-year-olds would be eligible to vote for president and vice president, but not for state officials up for election at the same time. Dissatisfaction with this situation built support among many states for a Constitutional amendment that would set a uniform national voting age of 18 in all elections.
Passage, Ratification, and Effects of the 26th Amendment
On March 10, 1971, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favor of the proposed amendment (changing the voting age from 21 to 18 in ALL elections). After an overwhelming House vote in favor on March 23, the 26th Amendment went to the states for ratification. In just over two months–the shortest period of time for any amendment in U.S. history–the necessary three-fourths of state legislatures (or 38 states) ratified the 26th Amendment.
Over the next decades, the legacy of the 26th Amendment was a mixed one: After a 55.4 percent turnout in 1972, youth turnout steadily declined, reaching 36 percent in the 1988 presidential election. Voting rates of 18- to 29-year-olds have moved that number back up to roughly 52% of eligible voters as of 2020.