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Speak Up! - View Question #302 |
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Question: Why aren't minors allowed to vote?
Answer: The United States Constitution addresses the age issue of voting in Amendment XXVI (26th) 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.'
Minors can't vote because our Constitution, which is the higest law in the Nation, says they can't. As you can read in the 26th Amendment above, only adults age 18 and older may vote.
Before the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971, people could not vote until they were 21 years old. For more on American Voting rights, see Amendments 12, 14, 15 and 19.
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| 21 thru 25 of 69 comments |
On 03/12/04
john from LA said:
Example of why younger folks thought process is not matured enough to vote:
"Congress should add a new amendment that clearly states that any citizen of the United States of America can vote in a presidential election so it can have an accurate count."
Two year olds should vote??? Put a little thought into these statements.
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On 03/11/04
Caitlyn from KS said:
Robert, from Arizona... I agree with your statement about voting under 18 being illegal. However, I don't agree with the way you degrade the youth, and even the illiterate adults. First of all, our countries education is down the drain. We know this. So, why aren't we doing anything to fix this? Why sit around and complain about not getting to vote, or that it's unfair for the ones that shouldn't be voting at all? Let's get up, learn our politics, and go to Congress about the issue. I think there should be a test. A test on who is allowed to vote. If you pass a certain regiment, then OKAY.
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On 03/03/04
robert from AZ said:
sry linda,
1. kids under the voting age cannot vote because its ILLEGAL!!!
2. Because the constitutions says so
3. Most children arent even hardly educated enough to understand the voting system and what makes a person in public office qualified
4. about 1/4 of adults barely know how to read or write so how could they be educated enough to vote for the president of the united states one of the highest positions of public officials in the country
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On 03/03/04
rob from AZ said:
alison, u mean u learned about the government in grade 6. Voting is not really about understanding government. Its about understanding the most quallified person to lead our country. in my oppinion i think most people vote for Democrat or republicans candidates maily because thats what their parents voted for and not really understanding the political importance of the candidate.
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On 03/01/04
linda from OR said:
I THINK KIDS UNDER 18 SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL THE RIGHTS TO PICK ON WHO OUR PRESIDENT SHOULD BE.
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