Ratification of the twenty-sixth amendment

Abstract

A general history of voting requirements, primarily minimum age requirements, was reviewed. Merits of and objections to the eighteen-year-old vote were brought out, as well as individual state action and past Congressional action to lower the voting age. However, the main emphasis of the paper concerned efforts to secure ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which provided that the minimum voting age in all elections be lowered to eighteen. Common Cause, a nonpartisan, citizens' lobby, headquartered in Washington, D.C., was one of the principal organizations which lobbied for the passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment. Their lobbying techniques and approach to individual states were investigated. Their campaign was successful in securing ratification of the amendment. It was also important because it was the first nationwide, state-by-state effort to lobby for ratification of a federal constitutional amendment and because of its effect on the ratification process.