Twenty-Sixth Amendment Pros And Cons

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Voting Rights and Draft of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment
Has one ever questioned why eighteen-year-olds have the right to vote? The Twenty-Sixth Amendment was established in the year of 1971 due to the draft of eighteen-year-olds into the military who were still unable to vote. This amendment in the Constitution states that those who are eighteen years of age or older shall have the right to vote, and it will not be denied. At that time the age to vote was set at twenty-one. (“Twenty-Sixth Amendment”) The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age to eighteen, has increased voter participation in the general population.
Prior to the 1970’s, eighteen-year-old men were being drafted into World War II and had not been given the right to vote. According to research, states were permitted to lower the age to vote, but it was not required for them to do so. (“The 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution”) Franklin D. Roosevelt, President in the 1930’s, had already noticed that changes would be needed in the future by voicing the quote, “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” (qtd. in “The 26th Amendment”). Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the …show more content…
Benson and Morley wrote that the court case in 1970, Oregon v. Mitchell, gave the authority to lower the age to vote in federal elections, but did not have the power to lower the age for state and local elections. According to research, Georgia was the first state to lower their voting age from twenty-one to eighteen for state and local elections in 1943. (“The 26th Amendment”) According to Ann Coulter, ObamaCare showed that young people were not adults until they reached the age of twenty-six because most eighteen-year-olds were still in the home of their parents and some did not even have a job, which led to the new motto: “Not old enough to buy your own health insurance, not old enough to
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