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26th amendment
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Jenning Randolph
The democratic congress man from West Virginia, Jennings Randolph, wanted to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. He introduced this bill to Congress 11 times. He had faith in the youth of america and strongly believed they should be aloud to vote at age 18. -
Georgia lowered age
In 1943 Georgia became the first state to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. Before this there was a youth voting rights movement. The movement started after Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the draft age to 18. The movement was what influenced Georgias decision. The commom slogan for the movement was "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote." -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower had a state union address. In it he said he believed that if if the people of ages 18 through 21 can fight in our wars then they should be able to participate in the political process. He was the first President to publicly voice his opinion about lowering the age to 18. -
Resolutions introduced to congress
Atleast 60 resolutions were introduced to the Congress in 1969. They were all introduced after the youth voting rights activists had many marches and demonstrations to draw the attention of lawmakers. They were trying to show the lawmakers that it was wrong to let men fight in the war but not let them vote. Even though there were over 60 resolutions introduced none of them them changed anything. -
voting rights act was extended
President Richard Nixon signed to extend the voting act of 1965. The voting rights act required all stated to have the voting age at 18. Even though the law said every state had to have the voting age at 18, the amendment was made to make sure no state could get around the law. -
Oregan Vs. Mitcell
Oregon did not agree with having the voting age at 18. They thought it was unconstitutional. Although congress agreed with Oregan it was decided to lower the voting age. -
Senate voted
The day the Senate voted 94-0 to propose an amendment that would change the voting age from 21 to 18. The 26th amendment would garuntee that the voting age could not be higher then age 18. -
Amendment was passed
The 26th amendment was passed by congress on March 23, 1971. The House of Representavtives voted 401-19 in favor of the amendment. The argument to get the amendment passed was saying it was unfair that 18 year olds are old enough to fight and die for our country but not old enough to vote for things dealing with our country. The amendment also allows states to make the voting age 17 or 16 if they choose to. -
39th state ratified
on June 30th Ohio became the 39th state to ratify the amendment. Even though they ratified it on the 30th the official ratifacation did not take effect untill July first. -
Amendment was ratified
The 26th amendment was ratified July 1, 1971. It was the shortest amount of time any proposed amendment had been ratified in. The ratifying process only took a total of 107 days. It was ratified so fast to avoid problems after the 1972 presidential election.
