Ratification of the twenty-sixth amendment

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1973

Author dc:creator

• Yowell, Anne Frazier

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07072010-020149

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43549