Voting age
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In the United States, citizens attain the right to vote at the age of 18. The minimum voting age was established by the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified in 1971; consequently, states are prohibited from adopting higher minimum voting ages. However, some states permit 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they will turn 18 by the time of the subsequent general election, and some jurisdictions allow individuals younger than 18 to vote in local elections.
Policymakers, pundits, and citizens continue to debate about what the proper voting age should be. Proponents of lowering the voting age argue that 16-year-olds should be permitted to vote because decisions made by the government affect them as well, and that allowing younger individuals to vote would foster greater voter participation later in life. Meanwhile, those who advocate for maintaining the current voting age voice concerns about the ability of younger individuals to make mature, well-informed decisions at the polls and argue that younger voters could be targeted by campaigns or exploited.
Background
History
On November 11, 1942, the United States Congress approved legislation lowering the military draft age from 21 to 18. At this time, however, the minimum voting age was 21 in every state. This discrepancy became the source of considerable debate at the state and federal levels. Proponents of lowering the voting age to 18 argued that it was unfair to call upon individuals to serve in the military without granting them the right to vote. Others, meanwhile, argued that a significant number of 18-year-olds might lack the maturity and decision-making skills required to make informed decisions at the polls.[1][2]
In 1943, Georgia became the first state in the nation to lower its voting age to 18. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower voiced his support for lowering the voting age. "For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons." Debate continued throughout the 1960s as the nation's military involvement in Vietnam intensified. In 1970, the United States Congress amended the Voting Rights Act to lower the voting age nationwide to 18. President Richard M. Nixon signed the amended bill into law, though he argued that Congress did not have the unilateral authority to lower the voting age nationwide. "Although I strongly favor the 18-year-old vote, I believe–along with most of the nation's leading constitutional scholars–that Congress has no power to enact it by simple statute, but rather it requires a constitutional amendment.[2]
Four states—Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Texas—filed suit against the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the 1970 amendments to the Voting Rights Act. The case ultimately came to the United States Supreme Court. On December 21, 1970, the high court issued its ruling in the case, Oregon v. Mitchell, finding that Congress could only regulate voting ages for federal elections, not state and local elections. Justice Hugo Black penned the majority opinion:[3]
| “ | Our judgments today give the Federal Government the power the Framers conferred upon it, that is, the final control of the elections of its own officers. Our judgments also save for the States the power to control state and local elections which the Constitution originally reserved to them and which no subsequent amendment has taken from them. The generalities of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment were not designed or adopted to render the States impotent to set voter qualifications in elections for their own local officials and agents in the absence of some specific constitutional limitations.[4] | ” |
| —Hugo Black | ||
26th Amendment
In light of this ruling, the United States Congress moved to adopt a constitutional amendment establishing a nationwide minimum voting age of 18. On March 10, 1971, the United States Senate approved the 26th Amendment unanimously. The United States House of Representatives followed suit on March 23, 1971, approving the amendment with near-unanimous support. On July 1, 1971, North Carolina became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, meeting the three-fourths requirement required for ratification. The amendment subsequently became law. The full text of the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution is printed below:[2]
| “ | Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.[4] |
” |
| —United States Constitution | ||
Support and opposition
Arguments in support of voting under the age of 18
Sixteen- and 17-year-olds are mature enough to vote and deserve a say in determining political and policy positions on issues that affect them and will affect their lives
According to Common Cause:[5]
| “ | Sixteen- and 17-year-olds are able to drive a car, hold employment, pay taxes and represent the next generation of leaders. They have ignited social movements, but they are often ignored and unable to leverage their political power because they do not have the ability to vote. Lowering the voting age would help young people achieve greater political representation and allow them to engage in advocacy efforts with the extra power of being a voter.
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” |
In an op-ed published in the New York Times, Laurence Steinberg wrote that "the skills necessary to make informed decisions are firmly in place by 16. By that age, adolescents can gather and process information, weigh pros and cons, reason logically with facts and take time before making a decision. Teenagers may sometimes make bad choices, but statistically speaking, they do not make them any more often than adults do."[6]
According to the National Youth Rights Association: "People under 18 are contributing and active members of society. Millions of [them] are employed and volunteer in our communities. Many people under 18 also have 'adult' responsibilities – such as being the primary caregiver for an ailing family member, running a business, and making substantial financial contributions to our households.[7]
High-school-age students are well positioned to be informed voters and allowing them to vote would contribute to developing voting habits for life
According to a lesson plan from the Center for Civic Education: "Proponents state that voting is more likely to develop as a habit for sixteen year olds as they are generally in a stable environment and most recently exposed to civics education through their high school experience."[8]
According to the National Youth Rights Association: "Lowering the voting age will establish new voters when people are less likely to be moving as a result of attending college or leaving their families. People under 18 tend to have stronger roots in their community, often having lived in the same area for many years and established connections to their school, family and friends, and other community groups. This gives [them] an awareness and appreciation of local issues. "[7]
Knowledge and experience are not a requirement to vote anywhere in the United States and denying 16- and 17-year-olds the ability to vote based on maturity or experience is arbitrary
In the abstract to their paper "American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote," Daniel Hart and Robert Atkins wrote: "Analyses of national survey data demonstrate that by 16 years of age—but not before—American adolescents manifest levels of development in each quality of citizenship that are approximately the same as those apparent in young American adults who are allowed to vote. The lack of relevant differences in capacities for citizenship between 16- and 17-year-olds and those legally enfranchised makes current laws arbitrary, denying those younger than age 18 the right to vote."[9]
According to the National Youth Rights Association: "Even though young people can be as politically informed as older people, there is no requirement that either group have any political knowledge at all. In fact, whenever tests have been used to register voters, it has always been about preventing certain groups of people from having political power rather than making sure the electorate is as informed as possible."[7]
Arguments in opposition to voting under the age of 18
Individuals under the age of 18 are not mature enough and do not have enough life experience to cast an informed vote
In an article in The Federalist, Robert Tracinski wrote:[10]
| “ | What happens to young people as they move toward 21 and beyond is not necessarily that they gain more knowledge of history, economics, or political philosophy, but that they start to gain firsthand experience of living independently. They see more politicians come and go, get a little more perspective, have a few run-ins with actual used-car salesmen and perhaps gain a better ability to spot a con artist. They have more opportunity to come out from the under the tutelage of parents and teachers and think for themselves. ... All of these milestones and life experiences materially change one’s attitudes toward taxes, regulation, education, law enforcement, morality, and personal responsibility in a way that hasn’t happened yet for 16-year-old kids who often enough don’t yet take responsibility for cleaning their own rooms. These children are much more likely to look at politics in a way that is flippant, superficial, and motivated more by a desire to impress their peers than by considered thinking.[4] | ” |
David Davenport, a research fellow emeritus at the Hoover Institution Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said: "My concern is if 16-year-olds were allowed to vote on any kind of broad scale, what we'd actually be doing is bringing the least politically informed, the least politically experienced, the least mature in terms of making long-term judgments and trade-offs, directly into and potentially affecting our voter turnout and results."[11]
In an op-ed published in the San Diego Tribune, Damian Media wrote: "Having high schoolers vote in state and federal elections could have a negative impact on politics and legislation. We will have some teens voting for fun and not taking the elections seriously. Some even say we should raise the voting age — because even at 18 years old, young adults aren’t ready for the responsibility of electing our next mayor, governor or president of the United States of America."[12]
Allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote exposes them to exploitation and undue influence from targeted campaign activities
In the paper, More than the Vote: 16-Year-Old Voting and the Risks of Legal Adulthood, Katherine Silbaugh wrote:[13]
| “ | [I]t is not the vote itself, but the protection from campaigning that illuminates the function of the age of majority. The age of majority screens the way that institutions, businesses, adults, and governments communicate with minors and screens conflicts with the rights of campaigns and candidates to access voters. ... In ways far too numerous to recount, the age of majority serves as a framework for filtering interests and influence from pressuring or exploiting adolescents until they turn 18.[4] | ” |
In the same paper, she wrote:[13]
| “ | Consider a new strain on that adolescent development: a set of interested third parties eager to exploit the plasticity of adolescence. Given a brand new cohort of voters, still minors living at home, parents will not be the only, or even the main, entities guiding the development of political identity. All campaigns will contemplate the best way to reach teenagers and influence their political development. Their efforts will constitute core political speech protected by the First Amendment. To protect minors from exploitation by interested entities, we have limited the ability of the military to recruit them and of commercial interests from holding them to their contracts. Yet, in adopting 16-year-old voting, we invite organized interests to campaign to them and to participate in the formation of their political identities.[4] | ” |
Lowering the voting age to 16 contravenes norms around adolescence and could lead to 16-year-olds being treated as adults in other arenas
In the paper More than the Vote: 16-Year-Old Voting and the Risks of Legal Adulthood, Katherine Silbaugh wrote:[13]
| “ | The perception of 16-year-olds as adult voices that will emerge in a Vote16 world will spill into other spheres as it did when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, and that impact will be difficult for advocates to calibrate. The perception of juvenile capacity has been shown to influence policy makers. One study of the outsized adultification of children of color found that 'adultification may serve as a contributing cause of the disproportionality in school discipline outcomes, harsher treatment by law enforcement, and the differentiated exercise of discretion by officials across the spectrum of the juvenile justice system.[4] | ” |
And:[13]
| “ | In legal and social thought, seeing 16- and 17-year-olds as possessing adult capacities risks a tendency to hold them responsible for adult decision-making in the criminal justice system; in disciplinary mechanisms at school; and as they navigate a transition to independent finances, housing, and employment as they age out of the foster care system.[4] | ” |
Voting under 18
- See also: Voting under age 18
Voting under 18 in primaries
As of November 2025, laws in 22 states and D.C. permitted 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the time of the next general election to participate in state, congressional, and presidential nominating contests. Laws in several of these states either required these voters to vote a special ballot, or prohibited them from casting a vote on certain parts of a primary ballot, such as a public question or ballot measure.
| State | Permitted | Statute | Year enacted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Democratic presidential primaries only[14] | ||
| Colorado | Yes | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1–2–101 | 2019 |
| Connecticut | Yes | Conn. Const. art. 6, § 11 | 2008 |
| Delaware | Yes | Del. Code Ann. tit. 15, § 1701 & § 3110 | 1972 |
| District of Columbia | Yes | D.C. Code Ann. § 1-1001.02 | 2009 |
| Illinois | Yes | 10 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/3-6 | 2013 |
| Indiana | Yes | Ind. Code § 3-7-13-2 | 1995 |
| Iowa | Yes | Iowa Code § 48A.5 | 2017 |
| Kentucky | Yes | Ky. Rev. Stat. § 116.055 | 1974 |
| Maine | Yes | Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 21-A, §111-A | 2004 |
| Maryland | Yes | Md. Code Ann., Elec. Law § 3-102 | 1972 |
| Mississippi | Yes | Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-11 | 1997 |
| Nebraska | Yes | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 32-110 | 1994 |
| New Jersey | Yes | N.J. Rev. Stat. § 19:4-1.2 | 2024 |
| New Mexico | Yes | N.M. Stat. Ann. § 1-4-2 | 2016 |
| North Carolina | Yes | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-59 | 1992 |
| Ohio | Yes | Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3503.011 | 1981 |
| Rhode Island | Yes | R.I. Gen. Laws § 17-1-3 | 2023 |
| South Carolina | Yes | S.C. Code Ann. § 7-9-20 | 1997 |
| Utah | Yes | Utah Code Ann. § 20A-2-101 | 2018 |
| Vermont | Yes | Vt. Const. ch. II, § 42 | 2010 |
| Virginia | Yes | Va. Code Ann. § 24.2-403 | 1993 |
| Washington | Yes | Wash. Rev. Code § 29A.08.174 | 2020 |
| West Virginia | Yes | W. Va. Code § 3-2-2 | 1994 |
| Wyoming | Democratic primaries[15] |
Voting at 16 in local elections
In four states — California, Maryland, New Jersey, and Vermont — at least one jurisdiction in the state had a minimum voting age of 16 for some or all local elections as of November 2025. In some of those jurisdictions, 16- and 17-year-olds could only vote in school board elections.
| State | Jurisdictions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| California | Berkeley,[16] Oakland[16] | School board elections only |
| Maryland | Cheverly,[17] Chevy Chase,[18] Greenbelt,[19] Hyattsville,[20] Mount Rainier,[21] Riverdale Park,[22] Somerset,[23] Takoma Park[24] | |
| New Jersey | Newark[25] | School board elections only |
| Vermont | Brattleboro[26] |
As of November 2025, two jurisdictions — Albany, California, and College Park, Maryland — had approved but not implemented voting for 16- and 17-year-olds in local elections. Voters in Albany approved the change when they voted to pass Measure V 64% to 36% in November 2024. In College Park, the city council voted 5-3 on September 30, 2025, to allow younger voters in local elections.[27]
See also
- Voting policies in the United States
- Voting under age 18
- Early voting
- Absentee voting
- Online voter registration
- Same-day voter registration
- Voter identification laws by state
Footnotes
- ↑ History, "This Day in History: November 11, 1942," accessed December 1, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 History, "The 26th Amendment," accessed December 1, 2025
- ↑ Legal Information Institute, "Oregon v. Mitchell," December 21, 1970
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Common Cause, "Lowering the Vote Age," accessed November 3, 2025
- ↑ The New York Times, "Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16," March 2, 2018
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 National Youth Rights Association, "Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age," accessed November 3, 2025
- ↑ Center for Civic Education, "Lowering Voting Age Lesson - Overview," accessed November 3, 2025
- ↑ JSTOR, "American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote, Daniel Hart and Robert Atkins," accessed November 3, 2025
- ↑ The Federalist, "Why It’s Time To Raise The Voting Age Back To 21," February 27, 2025
- ↑ NBC News, "Push to lower the voting age gains traction across the states," June 24, 2018
- ↑ The San Diego Tribune, "Why California should definitely not lower voting age to 17," June 23, 2017
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Boston University School of Law, "More than the Vote: 16-Year-Old Voting and the Risks of Legal Adulthood Authors," October 2020
- ↑ Alaska Democratic Party, "Draft Delegate Selection Plan for the 2024 Democratic National Convention," accessed November 7, 2025
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with the Wyoming Democratic Party," July 31, 2025
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Berkeley Public Schools, "Historic First for California: 16- and 17-Year-Olds in Berkeley and Oakland Able to Vote for School Board in November 2024," August 7, 2024
- ↑ The Town of Cheverly, "Voter Information," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Town of Chevy Chase, "Election Procedures," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ The City of Greenbelt, "Election Information," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ City of Hyattsville, "Voter Information," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Mount Rainier, Maryland, "Voter Eligibility," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Riverdale Park, Maryland, "Qualifications of Voters," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Town of Somerset, Maryland, "Charter Section 83-21 Voters," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ City of Takoma Park, "Voter Registration," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, "Vote 16 Newark," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Town of Brattleboro, Vermont, "Voting FAQs," accessed October 27, 2025
- ↑ Vote16USA, "College Park City Council lowers voting age to 16 for city elections," October 1, 2025
