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Advocating for a lower voting age
Senator Harley Kilgore was one of the first senators to be in favor of lowering the voting age. He later got the support of other senators, representatives, and the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Even though he had a lot of support in the government Congress didn't pass the bill. The attempt may have failed but it gained public attention and lead to groups forming in favor of the bill passing.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution -
Georgia the first to lower the voting age
Democratic congressman Jennings Randolph was one of many to help introduce Congress to the new idea of lowering the voting age. This was the first of eleven times that Jennings Randolph would introduce this idea to Congress. In the following year of 1943 Georgia lowered the age from 21 to 18 on all state and local elections.
Source:http://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment -
Old enough to fight old enough to vote
During World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the legal age to be drafted into war to 18. This changed many people's opinions about how the voting age was higher than the age to get drafted. The slogan "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote," became popular among people.
Source:http://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment -
President in favor of change
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to publicly show support for the amendment. In his State of the Union address he said that if we are able to call upon an 18 year old to fight for our country then they should be able to participate in the political decision making that can affect their lives.
Source:http://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment -
President in favor of change cont.
President Eisenhower had many other political leaders in favor for the amendment such as Jennings Randolph who shared the same beliefs as the president.
Source:https://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment -
Vietnam War causes increasing pressure
The Vietnam War brought into light the growing problem. People were seeing 18 year old men drafted into the war and yet not able to vote. This caused protests across the nation and added pressure to the government to pass the bill. Younger people were the main advocates for the passing of the bill, because this issue was affecting them directly and they felt their voices should be heard.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution -
Nixon signs extensions on Voting Rights Act
President Nixon signed an extension to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that said all federal, local, and state elections had to allow 18 year old's to vote. This led to the Oregon vs. Mitchell Supreme Court case. People argued that it was unconstitutional. They said the federal government couldn't pass a law telling the states what their voting age had to be on state and local elections.
Source:https://constitution.laws.com/american-history/constitution/constitutional-amendments/26th-amendment -
Oregon vs. Mitchell
In the supreme court case Oregon vs. Mitchell the Supreme Court was trying to decide if the voting age provisions they had made to the Voting Rights Act were constitutional. They decided that states could leave their legal voting age for local and state elections at 21. All federal elections however had to have separate voter rolls allowing people 18 years old or older to be able to vote.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution -
Confusion and frustration
After Oregon vs. Mitchell the government allowed states to make their own state and local voting ages but have a mandatory 18 year old federal voting age. This caused states more expenses, because they had to have separate voting polls. Many states were getting frustrated with the new laws in place. It was becoming obvious that the federal government would have to make an amendment to solve this problem.
Source:http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/government/26thamendment.htm -
Signing of the 26th amendment
The 26th Amendment was finally approved and signed on July 1, 1971. President Richard Nixon signed the bill making it official nationwide that the minimum voting age for federal elections would be 18 years old. This would be put into effect for the 1972 elections.
Source:http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/37022 -
Opposition to the amendment
The 26th Amendment passed quicker than any other amendment, but it also had it's opposing side. Professor William Carleton argued that 18 year old's weren't mature enough to handle the responsibilities of voting. He along with others argued that the age of soldiers in the Civil War were less than 18 at times so the argument old enough to fight old enough to vote wasn't valid.
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
