The Twenty-Sixth Amendment -- 18-year-old voting age

In the 1960s, tens of thousands of American youth enlisted or were drafted and went to fight in the Vietnam War. Across the nation, even more young people actively opposed U.S. military intervention in Vietnam. No matter which side of the issue they were on, all of America's 18- to 20-year-olds had something in common: they were not allowed to vote.

Although young people led the campaign to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, many older Americans agreed that if you were old enough to die for your country, you were old enough to help choose the leaders who determined America's foreign policy. When the Twenty-Sixth Amendment was proposed in 1971, it took only two months for the necessary 38 states to ratify it. This was the fastest ratification of a constitutional amendment in American history.

Millions of newly enfranchised voters took advantage of their right to vote in the 1972 elections, but, sadly, the turnout rate among younger voters has steadily declined over the past three decades. In the 2000 presidential election, barely more than one-third of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds cast a vote.

In recent years, campaigns such as MTV's "Rock the Vote" have attempted to reverse this trend and get young people more involved in the political process. We certainly encourage you to vote and participate in other ways!