Following the Supreme Court's decision in *Oregon v. Mitchell* (1970), which held that Congress could lower the voting age to eighteen for federal elections but not for state and local elections, the constitutional framework of voter qualifications was left fragmented. Which of the following constitutional actions resolved this conflict by establishing a uniform national standard for the voting age?
- The ratification of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which prohibited both the federal government and the states from denying the right to vote to citizens eighteen years of age or older on account of ageCevap
- BThe ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, which prohibited states from using age or economic status to deny citizens the right to vote in state primaries
- CThe passage of the Voting Rights Act, which utilized the enforcement clause of the Fifteenth Amendment to establish a uniform national voting age of eighteen
- DThe application of the Tenth Amendment's reserved powers clause, which stripped states of their authority to set voter qualifications
Cevap
The ratification of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which prohibited both the federal government and the states from denying the right to vote to citizens eighteen years of age or older on account of age
The correct option identifies the ratification of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. Under the U.S. Constitution, states generally retain the power to set voter qualifications. However, when the Supreme Court ruled in *Oregon v. Mitchell* that Congress could not lower the voting age in state elections via statute, a constitutional amendment was required to override this state authority and establish a uniform voting age of eighteen nationwide.
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Anahtar Kavram
The ratification of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment established a national standard for the voting age, overriding state-level variations and statutory limits.