23rd amendment 350

The Twenty-Sixth Ammendment

By mjboehm
  • Jennings Randolph introduced federal legislation to lower the voting age.

  • Georgia was first state to lower the voting age to 18

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to publicly voice his support for a constitutional amendment lowering the minimum voting age.

  • In his State of the Union address, Eisenhower declared: "For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons.

  • 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.

  • Fewer than 60 resolutions were introduced in Congress to lower the minimum voting age, but none resulted in any action.

  • In the 1970 case Oregon v. Mitchell, the U.S. Supreme Court was tasked with reviewing the constitutionality of the provision.

  • It was decided that 18 yr olds could vote in national elections

  • the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favor of the proposed amendment.

  • the 26th Amendment went to the states for ratification.

  • Indiana ratified the 26th amendment

  • President Nixon signed the amendment into law