State Constitutions and Youth Voting Rights

Young voters suffer the lowest turnout rates in American elections. One study shows that younger voters face numerous barriers when attempting to cast a ballot, such as work responsibilities, not receiving an absentee ballot in time, inability to find or access their polling place, voter ID problems, or other issues. Many state election laws are a labyrinth of rules and regulations that make it more difficult to vote, especially for younger people. As one report notes, “many young voters are new voters who need to register for the first time and who may be unfamiliar with the process. Young people also tend to move more frequently, which may mean they have to reregister and potentially learn an entirely new set of deadlines and procedures.” These complex rules effectively limit the ability of young people to exercise their fundamental right to vote. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution could have fixed this problem. The Amendment offered immense promise to America’s youth. A thirty-year struggle, which began during World War II, finally culminated in the 1971 amendment to lower the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, enfranchising more than ten million new voters. These young people had been asked to fight in various wars, from World War II to the Vietnam War, and now they were finally allowed to participate in the most important aspect of American democracy. The language of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment does not merely say that eighteen-year-olds can vote; it provides that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.” The word “abridge” suggests that courts should construe the Amendment as prohibiting laws that make it harder for young people to vote or that impose differential voting rules based on age, even if there is not an outright denial. Unfortunately, the federal courts have cabined the reach of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, meaning that, in practice, it does not confer equal voting rights to all individuals regardless of age. Advocates, therefore, need another path to stop laws that make it harder for young people, such as college students, to vote. State constitutions offer a viable theory. A robust reading of state constitutional language can protect young voters against a continual assault on their right to vote. Part I recounts the recent litigation over the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, showing how federal courts have too narrowly construed that amendment. Part II highlights what state constitutions say about youth voting rights and offers a strategy for litigants to invoke these provisions when challenging laws that harm young people. Part III then presents a broader call to action for advocates to focus on state constitutional amendments that can strengthen these provisions or face their potential weakening from those who want to restrict the right to vote