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Home Constitution Amendment XXVI
26th Amendment

Voting Age Lowered to 18

Ratified July 1, 1971

In Plain English

Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 nationwide. Driven largely by the Vietnam War-era argument — captured in the slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote" — that draft-age young men who could be sent to war deserved a say in who sent them.

Full Text
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.

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