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26th Amendment
Ratified on July 1, 1971
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. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that states could set their own age limits for state elections. Petitioner Oregon was the U.S. state of that name. Respondent Mitchell was John Mitchell in his role as United States Attorney General. Congress had passed an act requiring all states to register citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 as voters. Oregon did not desire to lower its voting age to 18, and filed suit on the grounds that the act was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court found largely for Oregon, in that it found that while Congress could set requirements for voting in federal elections that it did not have the power to set the voting age for state elections.
This amendment was passed during the Vietnam War.The United States was bitterly divided over the war.There were endless protests over the draft—being called up for military service. All males over the age of 18 were eligible for the draft, but the minimum voting age was 21. It was considered unfair that these 18-year-olds were considered old enough to fight and die for their country, but didn’t have the right to vote. The 14th Amendment had guaranteed the right to vote, in non-direct language, to 21-year-old men. This was the basis of the general rule that you had to be 21 to vote.. After much political debate and a Supreme Court case, Congress finally lowered the national voting age to 18. In the 26th Amendment, the minimum age was set at 18 for both state and national elections.
History.
Oregon v. Mitchell
What it says :
