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War, Draft and the 26th Amendment

By Joe Miller

[First of all, I wish to make it clear that this piece reflects my personal views. VVAW does not take any formal position relating to party politics, and the organization does not endorse any candidates for public office.]

"Old enough to fight and die, but not old enough to vote!" This was the rallying cry of a significant segment of the anti-war movement during the height of Vietnam Era activism. This election year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first election in which 18-year-olds could vote. The expansion of the voting franchise is always something to celebrate.

I might speak for a lot of vets who served during the Vietnam War, especially in the early years, who never really gave this much thought. Born during or just after World War II, we grew up with the reality of the Selective Service System that required registration at age 18 on the one hand, and the 21-year-old vote restriction on the other. During that time many of us did not think about this apparent contradiction. Nor did we have any awareness of the long history of struggle to attain the vote for eighteen-year-old citizens.

As far back as World War I, veterans who were conscripted into military service during their teenage years cried out: "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote!" Decades later, the children and grandchildren of those veterans fought against fascism in World War II, and repeated the call, leading President Eisenhower to call for an amendment to the Constitution to guarantee 18-year-olds the right to vote. In his 1954 State of the Union message, Eisenhower said, "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. I urge Congress to propose to the States a constitutional amendment permitting citizens to vote when they reach the age of 18."

By the late 1960s, at the height of the war in Vietnam, voting rights activists held marches and demonstrations to draw attention to the hypocrisy of drafting young men who could not vote. In 1970, when Congress passed a bill extending and amending the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it contained a provision that lowered the voting age to 18 in federal, state and local elections. Though Nixon signed the bill into law, he declared that he believed the provision to be unconstitutional, and that it would require a constitutional amendment.

In the 1970 case Oregon v. Mitchell, the US Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of this provision. The Court held that Congress did not have the right to regulate the minimum age in State and local elections, but only in federal elections.

Under this decision, 18- to 20-year-olds would be eligible to vote for president and vice president, but not for state officials. Dissatisfaction with this situation—as well as public reaction to the protests of large numbers of young men facing conscription, but deprived of the right to vote—built support among many states for a Constitutional amendment that would set a uniform national voting age of 18 in all elections.

On March 10, 1971, the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of the proposed amendment.

The text of the Amendment is straightforward: 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.

After an overwhelming House vote in favor on March 23, the 26th Amendment went to the states for ratification. In just over two months—the shortest period of time for any amendment in US history—the necessary three-fourths of state legislatures (or 38 states) ratified the 26th Amendment, and President Nixon signed it into law that July.

Though many expected these new young voters to help choose George McGovern, an opponent of the Vietnam War, Nixon was reelected by an overwhelming margin—winning 49 states—in 1972. After a 55.4 percent turnout in 1972, youth turnout steadily declined, reaching 36 percent in the 1988 presidential election. The 1992 election of Bill Clinton saw a slight rebound, but voting rates of 18- to 24-year-olds remained well behind the turnout of older voters. Many feared that America's young people were squandering their opportunities to enact change.

Then the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama saw a voter turnout of some 49 percent of 18- to 24 year-olds, the second highest in history. The activism and energy that was reflected in this campaign gave new hope that there would be more engagement by young voters in the future.

We have also seen a rise in the fear by conservatives that the youth vote, along with higher levels of participation by racial and ethnic minorities, may mean a stronger Democratic showing in this year's election. Therefore, we see Republican legislatures in state after state passing laws that will suppress the vote of minorities, youth, and the elderly.

Just look at idiot pundit Ann Coulter's 2010 call for the repeal of the 26th Amendment. In her view, "Republicans ought to fight for their own electorate, which at a minimum ought to mean voters with fully functioning brains and the possibility of a tax bill. Not old enough to buy your own health insurance, not old enough to vote." Yeah, right, Ann. Your crew doesn't even want to pay taxes, and "fully functioning" brains? Give me a fucking break!

Let's remind everyone how tough the struggle was to obtain the vote and how important it is to exercise that right! Get out the vote in 2012!

Joe Miller is a VVAW national coordinator.