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AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WITH COMMENTARY & ANNOTATIONS
AMENDMENT XXVI:
RIGHT TO VOTE -- AGE QUALIFICATION FOR THE ELECTORAL SUFFRAGE:
REDUCTION OF THE VOTING AGE QUALIFICATION
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.
Amendment XXVI, Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
THE EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD VOTE
In extending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 1970\1\ Congress
included a provision lowering the age qualification to vote in all
elections, federal, state, and local, to 18.\2\ In a divided decision,
the Supreme Court held that Congress was empowered to lower the age
qualification in federal elections, but voided the application of the
provision in all other elections as beyond congressional power.\3\
Confronted thus with the possibility that they might have to maintain
two sets of registration books and go to the expense of running separate
election systems for federal elections and for all other elections, the
States were receptive to the proposing of an Amendment by Congress to
establish a minimum age qualification at 18 for all elections, and
ratified it promptly.\4\
NOTES:
\1\79 Stat. 437, as extended and amended by 84 Stat. 314, 42
U.S.C. Sec. 1971 et seq.
\2\Title 3, 84 Stat. 318, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973bb.
\3\Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970).
\4\S. Rep. No. 26, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. (1971); H.R. Rep. No.
37, 92d Cong., 1st Sess. (1971).
The foregoing commentary and annotations were originally published in a document sponsored by the United States Senate on the
United States Government Printing Office website.
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