The Twenty-Sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. Some states allowed 18-year-olds to vote as early as World War II when the draft age was lowered to eighteen. But it wasn’t until the Vietnam War that a constitutional amendment gained nationwide support. In 1971, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment ensured that the soldiers who were drafted to fight would also be able to vote.
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment begins, “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.”
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© Periodic Presidents, PJ and Jamie Creek
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