View source for Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

{{short description|1971 amendment granting suffrage to 18-year-old citizens}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{US Constitution article series}}
The '''Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI)''' to the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] establishes a nationally standardized minimum age of 18 for participation in state and federal elections. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and three-fourths of the states ratified it by July 1, 1971.

Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during the mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment.

The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s and was driven in part by the [[Conscription in the United States|military draft]] held during the [[Vietnam War]]. The draft conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the [[United States Armed Forces]], primarily the [[U.S. Army]], to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 26th Amendment |url=https://www.history.com/topics/the-26th-amendment |website=[[History (American TV network)|History]] |date=November 27, 2019 |access-date=July 30, 2020}}</ref> This means young men could be required to fight and possibly die for their nation in wartime at 18. However, these same citizens could not have a legal say in the government's decision to wage that war until the age of 21. A youth rights movement emerged in response, calling for a similarly reduced voting age. A common slogan of proponents of lowering the voting age stated "old enough to fight, old enough to vote".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-28 |title="Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote": The WWII Roots of the 26th Amendment |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/voting-age-26th-amendment |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref>

Determined to get around inaction on the issue, congressional allies included a provision for the 18-year-old vote in a 1970 bill that extended the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965|Voting Rights Act]]. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] subsequently held in the case of ''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]]'' that Congress could not lower the voting age for state and local elections. Recognizing the confusion and costs that would be involved in maintaining separate voting rolls and elections for federal and state contests, Congress quickly proposed and the states ratified the Twenty-sixth Amendment.

== Text ==
{{quote box|'''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.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |title=Reduction of Voting Age: Twenty-Sixth Amendment |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2002/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2002-9-27.pdf}}</ref>
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==Background==
{{see also|Conscription in the United States|Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War}}
The framers of the U.S. Constitution did not establish specific criteria for national citizenship or voting qualifications in state or federal elections. Before the Twenty-sixth Amendment, states had the authority to set their own minimum voting ages, which was typically 21 as the national standard.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vaughn |first=Vanessa E |title=DOMESTIC AFFAIRS: Twenty-Sixth Amendment |publisher=Defining Documents: The 1970s |pages=145–147}}</ref>

An effort to reduce the age limit to 18 nationally began to gain serious traction during World War II. The age limit was not reduced nationally during the war due to a variety of factors including: a perceived lack of maturity, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] not regarding youth suffrage as an important issue and most members of Congress believed it would interfere in the rights of states with regards to setting their own rules about voting.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=Russell James |url=https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2418&context=etd |title=The Twenty-Sixth Amendment |publisher=University of Mississippi |year=2016 |pages=10, 46, 47, 58 & 59 |type=Dissertation (Doctor of Philosophy)}}</ref> Senator [[Harley Kilgore]] began advocating for a lowered voting age in 1941 in the [[77th Congress]].<ref name="Neale, Thomas H. 2010">Neale, Thomas H., "Lowering the Voting Age was not a New Idea", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 35.</ref> Despite the support of fellow senators, representatives, and First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], Congress failed to pass any national change. However, public interest in lowering the voting age became a topic of interest at the local level. In 1943 and 1955 respectively, the Georgia and Kentucky legislatures approved measures to lower the voting age to 18.<ref>Neale, Thomas H., "Lowering the Voting Age was not a New Idea", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 36–37.</ref> President Harry S. Truman did not publicly indicate whether he supported lowering the voting age to 18 years old.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=Russell James |url=https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2418&context=etd |title=The Twenty-Sixth Amendment |publisher=University of Mississippi |year=2016 |pages=178 & 179}}</ref>

President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], in his 1954 [[State of the Union]] address, became the first president to publicly support prohibiting age-based denials of [[suffrage]] for those 18 and older.<ref>Dwight D. Eisenhower, ''Public Papers of the Presidents'', January 7, 1954, p. 22.</ref> During the 1960s, both Congress and the [[State legislature (United States)|state legislatures]] came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the [[Vietnam War]], in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were [[Conscription in the United States|conscripted]] to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering the voting age. The slogan traced its roots to [[World War II]], when President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] lowered the military draft age to 18.

In 1963, the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation, in its report to President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]], encouraged lowering the voting age. Johnson proposed an immediate national grant of the right to vote to 18-year-olds on May 29, 1968.<ref>University of California–Santa Barbara, The American Presidency Project, {{cite web |title=Commencement Address at Texas Christian University |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commencement-address-texas-christian-university}}</ref> Historian Thomas H. Neale argues that the move to lower the voting age followed a historical pattern similar to other extensions of the [[Suffrage|franchise]]; with the escalation of the war in Vietnam, constituents were mobilized and eventually a constitutional amendment passed.<ref>Neale, Thomas H., "Lowering the Voting Age was not a New Idea", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 38.</ref>

Those advocating for a lower voting age drew on a range of arguments to promote their cause, and scholarship increasingly links the rise of support for a lower voting age to young people's role in the civil rights movement and other movements for social and political change of the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last=De Schweinitz |first=Rebecca |title=If we could change the world: young people and America's long struggle for racial equality |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-8078-3235-6 |oclc=963537002}}</ref> Increasing high-school graduation rates and young people's access to political information through new technologies also influenced more positive views of their preparation for the most important right of citizenship.<ref name=":0" />

Between 1942, when public debates about a lower voting age began in earnest, and the early 1970s, ideas about youth agency increasingly challenged the caretaking model that had previously dominated the nation's approaches to young people's rights.<ref name=":0" /> Characteristics traditionally associated with youth—idealism, lack of "vested interests", and openness to new ideas—came to be seen as positive qualities for a political system that seemed to be in crisis.<ref name=":0" />

In 1970, Senator [[Ted Kennedy]] proposed amending the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] to lower the voting age nationally.<ref>Kennedy, Edward M., "The Time Has Come to Let Young People Vote", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 56–64.</ref> On June 22, 1970, President [[Richard Nixon]] signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[University of California, Santa Barbara]] |title=Statement on Signing the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970 |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-voting-rights-act-amendments-1970 |publisher=presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> In his statement on signing the extension, Nixon said:
{{blockquote|Despite my misgivings about the constitutionality of this one provision, I have signed the bill. I have directed the Attorney General to cooperate fully in expediting a swift court test of the constitutionality of the 18-year-old provision.<ref>Richard Nixon, ''Public Papers of the Presidents'', June 22, 1970, p. 512.</ref>}}

Subsequently, [[Oregon]] and [[Texas]] challenged the law in court, and the case came before the Supreme Court in 1970 as ''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Educational Broadcasting Corporation |title=Majority Rules: ''Oregon v. Mitchell'' (1970) |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/majority3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418011859/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/majority3.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2012 |publisher=[[PBS]] |year=2006}}</ref> By this time, four states had a minimum voting age below 21: Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska, and Hawaii.<ref>18 for [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[Kentucky]], 19 for [[Alaska]] and 20 for [[Hawaii]]</ref><ref>Neale, Thomas H. [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f7c9/0f8fb698968e03f7ce5e3b45288dffcce08f.pdf?_ga=2.9103740.8501588.1595383614-666024312.1595383614 The Eighteen Year Old Vote: The Twenty-Sixth Amendment and Subsequent Voting Rates of Newly Enfranchised Age Groups]. 1983.</ref>

===''Oregon v. Mitchell''===
During debate of the 1970 extension of the Voting Rights Act, Senator [[Ted Kennedy]] argued that the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] allowed Congress to pass national legislation lowering the voting age.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oregon v. Mitchell |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/400/112 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |access-date=June 3, 2019}}</ref> In ''[[Katzenbach v. Morgan]]'' (1966), the Supreme Court had ruled that if Congress acted to enforce the 14th Amendment by passing a law declaring that a type of state law discriminates against a certain class of persons, the Supreme Court would let the law stand if the justices could "perceive a basis" for Congress's actions.<ref>Graham, Fred P., in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 67.</ref>

President Nixon disagreed with Kennedy in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the House minority and majority leaders, asserting that the issue was not whether the voting age should be lowered, but how. In his own interpretation of ''Katzenbach'', Nixon argued that to include age as a possible parameter of discrimination would overstretch the concept, and voiced concerns that the damage of a Supreme Court decision to overturn the Voting Rights Act could be disastrous.<ref>Nixon, Richard, "Changing the Voting age will Require a Constitutional Amendment", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 70–77.</ref>

In ''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]]'' (1970), the Supreme Court considered whether the voting-age provisions Congress added to the Voting Rights Act in 1970 were constitutional. The Court struck down the provisions that established 18 as the voting age in state and local elections. However, the Court upheld the provision establishing the voting age as 18 in federal elections. The Court was deeply divided in this case, and a majority of justices did not agree on a rationale for the holding.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tokaji|first=Daniel P.|title=Intent and Its Alternatives: Defending the New Voting Rights Act|journal=Alabama Law Review|year=2006|volume=58|page=353|url=https://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2058/Issue%202/tokaji.pdf|access-date=July 29, 2015}}</ref><ref>''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]]'', {{ussc|400|112|1970}}, pp. 188–121</ref>

The decision resulted in states being able to maintain 21 as the voting age in state and local elections, but being required to establish separate voter rolls so that voters between 18 and 21 years old could vote in federal elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.learner.org/workshops/civics/workshop2/readings/youthvoting.html|title=Making Civics Real: Workshop 2: Essential Readings|work=Annenberg Learner|access-date=October 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608190456/http://www.learner.org/workshops/civics/workshop2/readings/youthvoting.html |archive-date=June 8, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Opposition===
Although the Twenty-sixth Amendment passed faster than any other constitutional amendment, about 17 states refused to pass measures to lower their minimum voting ages after Nixon signed the 1970 extension to the Voting Rights Act.<ref name="Neale, Thomas H. 2010"/> Opponents to extending the vote to youths questioned the maturity and responsibility of people at the age of 18. Representative [[Emanuel Celler]] of New York, one of the most vocal opponents of a lower voting age from the 1940s through 1970 (and Chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee for much of that period), insisted that youth lacked "the good judgment" essential to good citizenship and that the qualities that made youth good soldiers did not also make them good voters.<ref name=":0">{{citation |last=de Schweinitz |first=Rebecca |title=The Proper Age for Suffrage |work=Age in America |publisher=NYU Press |date=May 22, 2015 |pages=209–236 |isbn=978-1-4798-7001-1 |doi=10.18574/nyu/9781479870011.003.0011}}</ref>

Professor William G. Carleton wondered why the vote was proposed for youth at a time when the period of adolescence had grown so substantially rather than in the past when people had more responsibilities at earlier ages.<ref>Carleton, William G., "Teen Voting Would Accelerate Undesirable Changes in the Democratic Process", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 47.</ref> Carleton further criticized the move to lower the voting age, citing American preoccupations with youth in general, exaggerated reliance on higher education, and equating technological savvy with responsibility and intelligence.<ref>Carleton, William G., "Teen Voting Would Accelerate Undesirable Changes in the Democratic Process", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 48–49.</ref> He denounced the military service argument as well, calling it a "cliche".<ref>Carleton, William G., "Teen Voting Would Accelerate Undesirable Changes in the Democratic Process", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), p. 49.</ref> Considering the ages of soldiers in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], he asserted that literacy and education were not the grounds for limiting voting; rather, common sense and the capacity to understand the political system grounded voting-age restrictions.<ref>Carleton, William G., "Teen Voting Would Accelerate Undesirable Changes in the Democratic Process", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 50–51.</ref>

[[James J. Kilpatrick]], a political columnist, asserted that the states were "extorted" into ratifying the Twenty-sixth Amendment.<ref>Kilpatrick, James J., "The States are being Extorted into Ratifying the Twenty-sixth Amendment", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 123–127.</ref> In his article, he claims that, by passing the 1970 extension to the Voting Rights Act, Congress effectively forced the States to ratify the amendment lest they be forced to financially and bureaucratically cope with maintaining two voting registers. [[George Gallup]] also mentions the cost of registration in his article showing percentages favoring or opposing the amendment, and he draws particular attention to the lower rates of support among adults aged 30–49 and over 50 (57% and 52% respectively) as opposed to those aged 18–20 and 21–29 (84% and 73% respectively).<ref>Gallup, George, "The Majority of Americans Favor the Twenty-sixth Amendment", in ''Amendment XXVI Lowering the Voting Age'', ed. Engdahl, Sylvia (New York: Greenhaven Press, 2010), pp. 128–130.</ref>

==Proposal and ratification==
[[Image:26th Amendment Pg1of1 AC.jpg|190px|thumb|right|The Twenty-sixth Amendment in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]]]

===Passage by Congress===
{{see also|Presidency of Richard Nixon#Constitutional amendments}}
Senator [[Birch Bayh]]'s subcommittee on constitutional amendments began hearings on extending voting rights to 18-year-olds in 1968.<ref>{{cite news |last=Graham |first=Fred P. |title=Voting Age of 18 Is Supported By Four Senators at a Hearing |work=The New York Times |date=May 15, 1968 |pages=23}}</ref>

After ''Oregon v. Mitchell'', Bayh surveyed election officials in 47 states and found that registering an estimated 10{{nbsp}}million young people in a separate system for federal elections would cost approximately $20{{nbsp}}million.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sperling |first=Godfrey Jr. |title=Bayh peers into dual-voting thicket: Fraud possibilities weighed 'Intolerable burden' |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=February 13, 1971}}</ref> Bayh concluded that most states could not change their state constitutions in time for the 1972 election, mandating national action to avoid "chaos and confusion" at the polls.<ref>{{cite news |last=MacKenzie |first=John P. |title=Bayh Favors Amendment To End Vote-at-18 'Chaos'|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 13, 1971|pages=A2}}</ref>

On March 2, 1971, Bayh's subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee approved the proposed constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18 for all elections.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amendment on Vote at 18 Gains a Step |agency=United Press International |work=The Chicago Tribune |date=March 3, 1971 |pages=C1}}</ref>

On March 10, 1971, the [[United States Senate|Senate]] voted 94–0 in favor of proposing a constitutional amendment to guarantee the minimum voting age could not be higher than 18.<ref>Senate, Journal of the Senate, 92nd Congress, 1st session, 1971. S. S.J. Res. 7</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=House Gets 18-Vote After Senate OKs It|agency=Associated Press|publisher=The Evening Press (Binghamton, New York)|date=March 11, 1971|pages=12}}</ref> On March 23, 1971, the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] voted 401–19 in favor of the proposed amendment.<ref>House, Journal of the House, 92nd Congress, 1st session, 1971. H. S.J. Res. 7</ref><ref name="HronikaBelgrade">{{cite book |editor= Milutin Tomanović |date=1972 |title=Hronika međunarodnih događaja 1971 |trans-title=The Chronicle of International Events in 1971 |url= |language=sh |page= 2608 |location=[[Belgrade]] |publisher=[[Institute of International Politics and Economics]] |isbn=}}</ref>

===Ratification by the states===
Having been passed by the [[92nd United States Congress]], the proposed Twenty-sixth Amendment was sent to the state legislatures for their consideration. Which state was the first to officially ratify the amendment was a matter of dispute: the Minnesota legislature approved the amendment at 3:14 p.m. [[Central Standard Time|CST]] (4:14 p.m. [[Eastern Standard Time|EST]]), minutes before [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|U.S. Senate president pro tempore]] [[Allen J. Ellender]] officially approved the federal law at approximately 4:35<ref name=wilmington>Schamdeke, John, and Jack Nolan. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431206/ "18-year-old vote passes House, is sent to states"], ''[[Wilmington Morning News]]'', March 24, 1971, pages 1 and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431285/ 2].</ref> or 4:40&nbsp;pm. EST.<ref name=minneapolis>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431072/ "State Ratifies Vote Amendment"], ''[[Minneapolis Tribune]]'', March 24, 1971, page 14A.</ref> Legislators in Delaware, which ratified the amendment at 4:51&nbsp;pm, argued that Minnesota's ratification was invalid because the amendment had not yet been sent to the states.<ref name=wilmington/><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120915032/ "State Cries 'Foul' In Ratifying Race"], ''[[Wilmington Evening Journal]]'', March 24, 1971, pages 1 and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431476/ 2].</ref> The [[Parliamentarian of the United States Senate|U.S. Senate parliamentarian]] ruled that Minnesota acted prematurely, but the legality of its ratification of the amendment was never officially challenged.<ref name=wilmington/>

Ratification was completed on June 30, 1971, after the amendment had been ratified by thirty-eight states. Which state was the 38th to ratify and thus put the amendment into effect has also been disputed. Contemporaneous reports agree that Ohio's House of Representatives cast the decisive vote on the evening of June 30, and that Alabama and North Carolina had ratified the amendment earlier in the day.<ref name=cincinnati/><ref name=charlotte>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136433407/ "18-Year-Old Vote Now Law; N.C., Ohio Ratify Amendment"], ''[[Charlotte Observer]]'', July 1, 1971, pages 1A and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136433457/ 2A].</ref> As of 2013, however, the [[United States Government Printing Office|Government Printing Office]] states that North Carolina did not complete its ratification of the amendment until July 1, at which time it became the 38th state to ratify.<ref name=CUSA>{{cite web|title=The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Centennial Edition, Interim Edition: Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 26, 2013|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2013/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|access-date=April 13, 2014|location=Washington, DC|page=44|year=2013}}</ref> Additionally, Alabama governor [[George Wallace]] claimed that his state was the 38th to ratify, because he did not sign the ratification resolution until after North Carolina and Ohio completed their ratifications; however, the approval of the governor is not required to ratify an amendment.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136433316/ "Wallace says Alabama was key to ballot"], ''[[Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune]]'', July 2, 1971, front page.</ref>

# Minnesota: March 23, 1971 (4:14 p.m. EST)<ref name=minneapolis/>
# Delaware: March 23, 1971 (4:51 p.m. EST)<ref name=wilmington/>
# Tennessee: March 23, 1971 (5:10 p.m. EST)<ref name=hartford>Morse, Charles F. J. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431806/ "Legislature Ratifies 18-Year-Old Vote"], ''[[Hartford Courant]]'', March 24, 1971, pages 1 and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136431928/ 2].</ref>
# Washington: March 23, 1971 (5:42 p.m. EST)<ref name=hartford/>
# Connecticut: March 23, 1971 (5:53 p.m. EST)<ref name=hartford/>
# Hawaii: March 24, 1971
# Massachusetts: March 24, 1971
# Montana: March 29, 1971
# Arkansas: March 30, 1971
# Idaho: March 30, 1971
# Iowa: March 30, 1971
# Nebraska: April 2, 1971
# New Jersey: April 3, 1971
# Kansas: April 7, 1971
# Michigan: April 7, 1971
# Alaska: April 8, 1971
# Maryland: April 8, 1971
# Indiana: April 8, 1971
# Maine: April 9, 1971
# Vermont: April 16, 1971
# Louisiana: April 17, 1971
# California: April 19, 1971
# Colorado: April 27, 1971
# Pennsylvania: April 27, 1971
# Texas: April 27, 1971
# South Carolina: April 28, 1971
# West Virginia: April 28, 1971
# New Hampshire: May 13, 1971
# Arizona: May 14, 1971
# Rhode Island: May 27, 1971
# New York: June 2, 1971
# Oregon: June 4, 1971
# Missouri: June 14, 1971
# Wisconsin: June 22, 1971
# Illinois: June 29, 1971<ref name=CUSA/>
# Alabama: June 30, 1971
# North Carolina: June 30, 1971<ref name=charlotte/>
# Ohio: June 30, 1971<ref name=cincinnati>Wheat, Warren. [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/136432742/ "18-Year-Old Vote In - Ohio Does It], ''[[Cincinnati Enquirer]]'', July 1, 1971, front page.</ref>

Having been ratified by three-fourths of the States (38), the Twenty-sixth Amendment became part of the Constitution. On July 5, 1971, the [[Administrator of General Services]], [[Robert Lowe Kunzig|Robert Kunzig]], certified its adoption. President Nixon and Julianne Jones, Joseph W. Loyd Jr., and Paul S. Larimer of the "Young Americans in Concert" also signed the certificate as witnesses. During the signing ceremony, held in the [[East Room]] of the [[White House]], Nixon talked about his confidence in the youth of America:

{{blockquote|text = As I meet with this group today, I sense that we can have confidence that America's new voters, America's young generation, will provide what America needs as we approach our bicentennial, not just strength and not just wealth but the 'Spirit of '76' a spirit of moral courage, a spirit of high idealism in which we believe in the American dream, but in which we realize that the American dream can never be fulfilled until every American has an equal chance to fulfill it in their own life.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks at a Ceremony Marking the Certification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-ceremony-marking-the-certification-the-26th-amendment-the-constitution |website=The American Presidency Project |access-date=29 April 2023 |location=University of California, Santa Barbara |language=en }}</ref>}}

The amendment was subsequently ratified by 5 more states, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 43:<ref name=CUSA/>

: 39. Oklahoma: July 1, 1971
: 40. Virginia: July 8, 1971
: 41. Wyoming: July 8, 1971
: 42. Georgia: October 4, 1971
: 43. South Dakota: March 4, 2014<ref>{{cite web |title=Senate Joint Resolution 1 |url=https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/5605 |website=South Dakota Legislature |publisher=SD Legislative Research Council |access-date=29 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429012042/https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/5605 |archive-date=April 29, 2023|location=Pierre, South Dakota |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref>

No action has been taken on the amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah.

==See also==

* [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (1870, extending vote rights to non-white men)
* [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (1920, extending vote rights to women)
* [[Representation of the People Act 1969]] (legislation in the United Kingdom with equivalent effect)

==References==

{{Reflist|colwidth=33em}}

===Further reading===
* Caplan, Sheri J. ''Old Enough: How 18-Year-Olds Won the Vote & Why it Matters''. Heath Hen, 2020. {{ISBN|978-1-7354-9300-8}}.

==External links==
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt26toc_user.html CRS Annotated Constitution: Twenty-sixth Amendment]
* [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1649365 Eric Fish, The Twenty-sixth Amendment Enforcement Power]

{{US Constitution}}
{{Voting rights in the United States}}
{{Suffrage}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twenty-Sixth Amendment To The United States Constitution}}
[[Category:1971 in American law]]
[[Category:1971 in American politics]]
[[Category:Amendments to the United States Constitution|26]]
[[Category:History of voting rights in the United States]]
[[Category:History of youth]]