This map shows the states and the dates they ratified the 26th Amendment. When Congress convened in early 1971, the issue of youth suffrage was at the top of the agenda due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) which held that the states set the voting age for state and local elections while Congress could set the federal voting age. This “dual-age” voting system, combined with voting ages of 18, 19, 20, and 21 across the states and territories, created an untenable situation for equality and fairness, as well as election administration. The procedure for amending the US Constitution is challenging. A two-thirds majority must vote in favor in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and three-quarters of the states are needed to ratify. In March 1971, the Senate and House debated and voted on the proposed amendment to set the national voting age at 18. Pragmatic and principled arguments proved persuasive, and the amendment received unanimous approval in the Senate and a 401 to 19 vote in the House. “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” had passed Congress. On March 23rd, the amendment went to the states. The speed of ratification was unprecedented. Within three months, the required three-quarters (thirty-eight out of fifty states) had ratified. Vying for first place, five states—Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington—ratified the same day Congress approved it. Later, the states of Alabama, Ohio, Oklahoma, and North Carolina competed for the 38th spot. The cascade of support for youth voting rights halved the record set by the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1803-1804. By July 1, 1971, the 26th Amendment was the law of the land.
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Sources: Notable state and federal actions on youth suffrage compiled from Legislative History of the Constitutional Amendment Lowering the Voting Age to Eighteen: 26th Amendment, 1971; Jennifer Frost, “Let Us Vote!” Youth Voting Rights and the 26th Amendment (New York: New York University Press, 2021; Jenny Diamond Cheng, “Uncovering the Twenty-Sixth Amendment,” PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008); Wendell W. Cultice, Youth’s Battle for the Ballot: A History of the Voting Age in America (Westport: Greenwood, 1992); Ballotpedia. Note: due to volume of state and federal actions on youth suffrage, project maps and timelines are not comprehensive.
See interactive map below