An Overview of the 26th Amendment
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What is the 26th Amendment?
“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 the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
The 26th Amendment Defined
Date Proposed
The 26th Amendment was passed on March 23rd, 1971
Date Passed
The 26th Amendment was passed on July 7th, 1971
President of the United States
Richard Nixon was the President of the United States during the ratification of the 26th Amendment
Stipulations of the 26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment was a Congressional activation of the adjustment of the voting age within the United States of America; this Amendment allowed for the national voting age to be adjusted to 18 years of age
The 26th Amendment allowed for the institution of a nation voting age in lieu of the preexisting statutes, which allowed for the variance in the legal voting age taking place on a state-by-state basis
26th Amendment Facts
Prior to the passing of the Amendment, President Nixon had passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which had allowed for the national voting age with regard to Federal and State elections to be set at a mandatory 18 years of age; however, only after its ratification did the 26th Amendment become Constitutional legislature
Upon President Eisenhower addressing the nation in his State of the Union address in 1954, he introduced the elimination of the refusal of suffrage with regard to age parameters
Prior to the passing of the 26th Amendment, only 4 states allowed individuals under 21 years of age the right to vote
States Ratifying the 26th Amendment
1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
9. Georgia
10. Hawaii
11. Idaho
12. Illinois
13. Indiana
14. Iowa
15. Kansas
16. Louisiana
17. Maine
18. Maryland
19. Massachusetts
20. Michigan
21. Minnesota
22. Missouri
23. Montana
24. Nebraska
25. New Hampshire
26. New Jersey
27. New York
28. North Carolina
29. Ohio
30. Oklahoma
31. Oregon
32. Pennsylvania
33. Rhode Island
34. South Carolina
35. Tennessee
36. Texas
37. Vermont
38. Virginia
39. Washington
40. West Virginia
41. Wisconsin
42. Wyoming
States Not Participatory in the Ratification of the26th Amendment
1. Florida
2. Kentucky
3. Mississippi
4. Nevada
5. New Mexico
6. North Dakota
7. South Dakota
8. Utah
Court Cases Associated with the 26th Amendment
Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) – this court case took place in the wake of the Vietnam War; the proceedings resulted in the Supreme Court revoking the permission granted to individual states to determine their respective voting age(s)
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