"part of the compulsory curriculum in schools. The ""Representation of the People Act 1969"" lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, with effect from 1970 and remained in force until the ""Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013"" which allowed 16 year olds to vote for the first time, but only in Scotland and only in that particular referendum. The Scottish Parliament reduced the voting age to 16 for its own and Scottish local elections in 2015. Men in military service who turned 19 during the first world war were entitled to vote in 1918 irrespective of their age as part"
"of the ""Representation of the People Act 1918"" which also allowed some women over the age of 30 to vote. The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 brought the voting age for women down to 21. The reduction of the voting age to 16 in the United Kingdom was first given serious consideration on 15 December 1999, when the House of Commons considered in Committee an amendment proposed by Simon Hughes to the ""Representation of the People Bill"". This was the first time the reduction of a voting age below 18 had ever been put to a vote"
"it was registered at the Court of Guernsey on 19 December. It came into force immediately, and the voting age was accordingly reduced in time for the Guernsey general election, 2008. Alderney and Sark, each part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, have autonomy in deciding the question. Both have yet to favour a reduction to 16. In the United States, the debate about lowering voting age from 21 to 18 began during World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War, when most of those subjected to the draft were too young to vote, and the image of young men"
"for women was reduced from 30 to 21 for local elections In 1960, members of the Garda Síochána were allowed to vote; the 1923 electoral act had carried forward the previous ban on RIC and DMP members voting for parliament, though they could vote in local elections. In 1972, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution reduced the voting age to 18. In 1985, UK citizens gained the right to vote in Dáil elections, reciprocating Irish citizens' right to vote in UK elections under the Ireland Act 1949. The Ninth Amendment of the Constitution was passed in 1984 to allow for"
"voting age was lowered to 18 in 1969. Reform Bills The Reform Bills were a series of proposals to reform voting in the British parliament. These include the Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884. The bills reformed voting by increasing the electorate for the House of Commons and removing certain inequalities in representation. The bill of 1832 disfranchised many boroughs which enjoyed undue representation and increased that of the large towns, at the same time extending the franchise, and was put through by the Whigs. The bill of 1867 was passed by the Conservatives under the urging of the"
"set at 21 or higher. In the 1970s many countries reduced the voting age to 18. The debate is ongoing in a number of countries on proposals to reduce the voting age to or below 18. In 1890, Law No. 5, 1890, of the South African Republic set a voting age there of 16 years. Before the Second World War of 1939–1945, the voting age in almost all countries was 21 years or higher. In 1946 Czechoslovakia became the first state to reduce the voting age to 20 years, and by 1968 a total of 17 countries had lowered their"
"part in an atmosphere of increased student interest in politics due to the Vietnam War protests. In 2018, Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft expressed the view that there would be benefit in lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 years of age. Becroft's believes this may be one way to counter the trend of youth disengagement from democratic processes and declining levels of voting at the legal age. The argument follows that an important component of engagement is the ability to influence government policy. Peter Fraser's Labour Party passed the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Act 1944, replacing the"
"the voting age remain at 18. On 29 November 2005 the House of Commons voted 136-128 (on a free vote) against a Private Member's Bill for a reduction in the voting age to 16 proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams. Parliament chose not to include a provision reducing the voting age in the Electoral Administration Act during its passage in 2006. On 27 February 2006, the report of the Power Inquiry called for a reduction of the voting age, and of the candidacy age for the House of Commons, to 16. On the same day the Chancellor of the"
"Sixty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India The Sixty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988, lowered the voting age of elections to the Lok Sabha and to the Legislative Assemblies of States from 21 years to 18 years. This was done by amending Article 326 of the Constitution, which concerns elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies. The full text of Article 326 of the Constitution, after the 61st Amendment, is given below: The bill of ""The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988"" was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 13"
"the age of 18. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries voting ages were lowered to 16 in India, Switzerland, Austria, and Morocco. Japan lowered its voting age from 20 to 18 in June 2016. a dispute continued in the Maldives. Around the year 2000, a number of countries began to consider whether the voting age ought to be reduced further, with arguments most often being made in favour of a reduction to 16. The earliest moves came during the 1990s, when the voting age for municipal elections in some States of Germany was lowered to 16. Lower Saxony"
"those offices from 25 to 21. In 2002, Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have reduced the age requirement to serve as a State Representative from 21 to 18. During the early 2000s, the British Youth Council and other groups successfully campaigned to lower age of candidacy requirements in the United Kingdom. The age of candidacy was reduced from 21 to 18 in England, Wales and Scotland on 1 January 2007, when section 17 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 entered into force. In Australia a person must be aged 18 or over to stand for election to"
"text in bold): On 16 February 1972, Brendan Corish, leader of the Labour Party, proposed a constitutional amendment as a private member's bill to lower the voting age to 18. This was opposed by the Fianna Fáil government as it did not wish to hold such a referendum until after the referendum on the proposed Third Amendment on Accession to the European Communities (which was passed on 10 May 1972). On 28 June 1972, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Patrick Hillery moved the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1972 on behalf of the Fianna Fáil government. At second stage,"
"(MLDA) of 21. Between 1970 and 1975, 29 states lowered the MLDA from 21 to 18, 19, or 20. This was primarily due to the passing of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the required voting age from 21 to 18. During the 1960s, both Congress and the state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote (or legally drink) were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the"
"unanimously to reduce the voting age to 16 for elections for the Scottish Parliament and for Scottish local government elections. Moves to lower the voting age to 16 were successful in each of the three British Crown dependencies from 2006 to 2008. The Isle of Man was the first to amend its law, when in July 2006 it reduced the voting age to 16 for its general elections, with the House of Keys approving the move by 19 votes to 4. Jersey followed suit on 4 July 2007, when it approved in principle a reduction of the voting age to"
"to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s, driven in large part by the military draft held during the Vietnam War, as well as the student activism movement. The draft conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the armed forces, primarily the U.S. Army, to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam. A common slogan of proponents of lowering the voting age was ""old enough to fight, old enough to vote."" Congress lowered the national voting age to 18 in a 1970 bill that extended the"
"for women's right to vote was called the Representation of the People Act, 1918, But not for every woman – just women over 30, who had property rights or a university education. The act also gave the vote to all men over the age of 21. When it was passed, because of the criteria around a ‘property qualification’, this meant that just 40% of all the women in the United Kingdom could vote. Meanwhile, property and other restrictions for men were actually abolished, and men in the armed forces were allowed to vote from the age of 21. Upon gaining"
"time to time and sometimes varied across different parts of the country: in England and Wales, registers came into force on 1 November between 1832 and 1842, and 1 January between 1844 and 1915. The 1832 system broke down during the First World War: registers were not revised after 1915, and with many voters serving in the armed forces or relocating in order to take up war work, the registers became very outdated. The passage of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which introduced suffrage for men aged 21 and enfranchised some women from the age of 30, gave"
"the Sixth Reform Act. The United Kingdom general election, 1970 (18 June) is the first in which this Act had effect. Representation of the People Act Representation of the People Act 1969 The Representation of the People Act 1969 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It extended suffrage to 18- to 20-year-olds. Previously, only those 21 or over were permitted to vote. Votes were extended to undergraduate students in their university town following an appeal to the High Court led for the National Union of Students by the Junior Common Room (JCR - official undergraduate student"
"the relevant legal instruments involved. This is a further list, similar to the above but of the dates upon which countries or territories lowered the voting age to 16; unless otherwise indicated, the reduction was from 18. The following are political parties and other campaigning organisations that have either endorsed a lower voting age or who favour its removal. In 2013, the Constitutional Convention was asked to consider reducing the voting age to 17 and recommended lowering it to 16. The then government agreed to hold a referendum, but in 2015 postponed it indefinitely to give priority to other referendums."
"Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1972 is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which lowered the voting age for all national elections and referendums in the state from twenty-one to eighteen years of age. It was approved by referendum on 7 December 1972 and signed into law on 5 January 1973. The Fourth Amendment altered Article 16 which deals with elections to Dáil Éireann (the house of representatives of the Oireachtas). However other provisions of the constitution state that anyone entitled to vote in Dáil elections is also entitled to"
"being forced to risk their lives in the military without the privileges of voting successfully pressured legislators to lower the voting age nationally and in many states. By 1968, several states had lowered the voting age below 21 years: Alaska and Hawaii's minimum age was 20, Kentucky's was 19, and Georgia's was 18. In 1970, the Supreme Court in ""Oregon v. Mitchell"" ruled that Congress had the right to regulate the minimum voting age in federal elections; however, not at local and state level. The 26th Amendment (passed and ratified in 1971) prevents states from setting a voting age higher"
"Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court subsequently held in the case of ""Oregon v. Mitchell"" that Congress could not lower the voting age for state and local elections. Shortly after that ruling, Congress proposed and the states ratified the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which constitutionally enshrined voting rights for individuals between 18 and 21 years old. Senator Harley Kilgore began advocating for a lowered voting age in 1941 in the 77th Congress. Despite the support of fellow senators, representatives, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Congress failed to pass any national change. However, public interest in lowering the vote became a topic"
"Electoral Law Amendment Act, 1958 The Electoral Law Amendment Act, 1958 (Act No. 30 of 1958) was an act of the Parliament of South Africa which reduced the voting age for white voters from 21 to 18. It did not reduce the voting age for black and coloured voters (under the Representation of Natives Act and the Separate Representation of Voters Act respectively) and hence had the effect of further reducing their (already limited) electoral power. The act came into force on 15 September 1958. The next subsequent general election of the House of Assembly was held on 8 October"
"who could vote in their state. At the 1972 federal election, later in the year, the Whitlam Labor government was elected, with Lionel Murphy becoming the new Attorney-General. The Whitlam government lowered the voting age at federal elections to 18 in 1973. The states of Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, which still had a voting age of 21, soon lowered their voting ages to 18 also. The issue of the nature of section 41, which had not been decided in this case, was considered again in 1983 in the case of ""R v Pearson; Ex parte Sipka"". By that time, Lionel"
"under Clause (2) of the said article. State Legislatures that ratified the amendment are listed below: Did not ratify: Sixty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India The Sixty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988, lowered the voting age of elections to the Lok Sabha and to the Legislative Assemblies of States from 21 years to 18 years. This was done by amending Article 326 of the Constitution, which concerns elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies. The full text of Article 326 of the Constitution, after the 61st Amendment, is"
"Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed the creation of life peers which gave the Prime Minister the ability to change the composition of the House of Lords. Between 1832 and 1928, numerous Acts of Parliament repealed voting restrictions and expanded the franchise from just 5% of the adult population to universal suffrage for all male and female adults aged 21 and over. The Representation of the People Act 1969 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. William Ewart Gladstone's UK Midlothian campaign between 1878-80 began the move towards modern political campaigning. In 1912, the House of Lords managed to delay"
"Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971, making it the quickest amendment ever ratified. Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during the mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment. The drive"
"of interest at the local level. In 1943 and 1955 respectively, the Georgia and Kentucky legislatures passed measures to lower the voting age to 18. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his 1954 State of the Union address, became the first president to publicly support prohibiting age-based denials of suffrage for those 18 and older. During the 1960s, both Congress and the state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the Vietnam War, in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to"
"Representation of the People Act 1969 The Representation of the People Act 1969 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It extended suffrage to 18- to 20-year-olds. Previously, only those 21 or over were permitted to vote. Votes were extended to undergraduate students in their university town following an appeal to the High Court led for the National Union of Students by the Junior Common Room (JCR - official undergraduate student body) of Churchill College, Cambridge. Significantly, it did not extend the right to stand for election to Parliament to under-21s. This statute is sometimes known as"
"States Constitution, ratified on July 1, 1971, lowered that age to 18. The primary impetus for this change was the fact that young men were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War before they were old enough to vote. There have been many proposals to lower the voting age even further. In 2004, California State Senator John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) proposed a youth suffrage constitutional amendment called Training Wheels for Citizenship that would give 14-year-olds a quarter vote, 16-year-olds a half vote, and 17-year-olds a full vote. In 2013, Takoma Park, Maryland became the first U.S. city to allow"
"23 to 21. In 1972 there was a minor revision; the main change was a lowering of the voting age to 18. In 1983 the constitution was almost entirely rewritten. Many articles were abolished. Social rights were included, most articles were reformulated (the main exception being article 23 about the still sensitive freedom of education) using a new uniform legal terminology and their sequence was changed. The bill of rights was expanded with a prohibition of discrimination, a prohibition of the death penalty, a general freedom of expression, the freedom of demonstration and a general right to privacy. In 1987"
"Europe, there were demands for education reforms, and reforms of family and criminal law. Also in Luxembourg, voices were raised to demand more participation and emancipation. The student protests of 1968 had given birth to a will to allow more youth participation in political life. Before the early elections of 15 December 1968, the Chamber had declared its intention to revise article 52 of the Constitution concerning political majority. In 1972, the Deputies went through with the revision, lowering the voting age to 18 years, and the age at which one could stand for election to 21 years. In abolishing"
"1961. The act took the form of a series of amendments to the Electoral Consolidation Act, 1946, and was therefore repealed on 1 February 1980 when that act was repealed and replaced by the Electoral Act, 1979. Electoral Law Amendment Act, 1958 The Electoral Law Amendment Act, 1958 (Act No. 30 of 1958) was an act of the Parliament of South Africa which reduced the voting age for white voters from 21 to 18. It did not reduce the voting age for black and coloured voters (under the Representation of Natives Act and the Separate Representation of Voters Act respectively)"