Raise the Age

The #FightFor18, coming soon to a trending topic near you

There are currently 27 amendments to the US Constitution, covering everything from salaries for Congress to free speech. In 1971, merely 51 years ago, the 38th state ratified our penultimate amendment. Amendment XXVI established the voting age at 18 nationwide.

Nic Cage preparing to steal the Constitution to add to his collection | Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

Our 26th amendment finalized a proposal that had been part of popular discourse since at least 1941 when Senator Harley Kilgore of West Virginia and First Lady Elizabeth Roosevelt called for the voting age to be lowered to 18. You may have noticed that 1941was also the same year as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which preceded the lowering of the draft age to 18 just 11 months later. Vietnam War veterans and peace advocates took up the voting cause throughout the 1960s, once again pointing to the draft age, and were successful in 1971 when North Carolina and Oklahoma tied to become the 38th states in favor of the amen…