History Behind: Changing the Voting age to Eighteen

During the 1960s, there was much talk about rather or not to change the voting age from 21 to 18 years of age. This idea was crafted by the military draft during the Vietnam War, where young men between the ages of 18 to 21 were recruited into the U.S. Army to serve in military combat support against Vietnam. To spread the word of changing the age to vote, a catchy slogan was born ("old enough to fight, old enough to vote"). People figured this was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. On June 22, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections.

With Election Day around the corner, youth have the chance to change their futures quicker because of the voting age change. Be informed who supports change for the better and for your communities. Let you voice be heard November 8th.