Click here for updates on House Bill 217 in the 2023 legislative session.
Information from previous sessions can be found here: 2021 , 2022 .
The voting age in most states was 21 until 1971 when the 26th Amendment was ratified, prohibiting states from enacting any minimum voting age higher than 18. This followed an outcry during the Vietnam War when young men 18 and up were drafted to serve in combat. Activist buttons read, “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.”