By Carol Lucas
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column on gerrymandering, calling it the “grift that keeps on giving.” In fact, I went so far as to suggest that perhaps this is the biggest scam ever conceived to skew the voting process in favor of one party or the other. Foolish me! I should have known that someone out there would find something even more onerous to foist upon the American electorate, and recent news proved just that.
It seems that the winner of the “can-you-top-this” contest is a long-shot Republican who has thrown his hat into the Presidential ring. His name is Vivek Ramaswamy, and he is a pharma CEO. That, alone, should constitute a red flag, someone with close ties to the pharmaceutical industry running our country. But set aside that objection for just a moment.
What this man proposes is to raise the voting age from 18 to 25 years of age. Let me see if I can wrap my brain around this: the party that you represent, Sir, is adamant about giving an 18 year old a gun, no type excluded and few, if any, questions asked. Yet you see validity in keeping those people in the same age bracket out of the voting booths? Furthermore, this same age group is eligible to go into the armed services, but won’t be able to vote?
I indicated my inability to “wrap” my brain around this, and as I was typing, I made a note that the word “warp” is simply an exchange of letter placement in the word wrap. And warped may be the kindest word I can use to describe this attempt to keep a fairly large and active group of citizens from voting.
Where do these people come from? And even more crucial, how can they possibly think ideas like this one will be seen as valid?
At this point, a few statistics are called for, and it took some digging on my part, but they are available for the taking. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution that dropped the voting age to 18 took place under the Nixon administration, although it had been discussed as early as 1941. The amendment “prohibits the states and federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to the citizens of the United States who are at least 18 years old.”
And when ratification was finally completed on July 1, 1971, it was President Nixon, in a ceremony at the White House, who said, “We can have confidence that America’s new voters, America’s young generation, will provide what America needs, not just strength, not just wealth, but a spirit of moral courage.”
If necessary, read again those words from a Conservative, Republican President, and take a moment to ponder where we are right now. It’s apparent that today’s Republican party is not that of yesteryear. Neither is the Democratic, but that is fodder for another time.
The issue facing us now is a man who is running for the Presidency on the notion that he can change the voting dynamic by erasing the 26th Amendment. I fully recognize that the possibility of his attaining the party’s nomination is slim and none. We do know, however, that stranger things have happened in the world of politics.
If you view this through the lens of voter suppression, however, it is not a quantum leap to envision others jumping onto this bandwagon, just as they did with gerrymandering. Imagine the number of citizens kept from voting should this become the law of the land. I can just see the salivating and rubbing of hands, eyes aglow!
Consider this: in the 2020 election, 50% of those in the 18-to-29 age bracket voted. This was an 11 point increase from 2016. And in the 18-19-year-old category, the newest eligible voters, the turnout was 46%. Statistics show that the four states with the highest turnout were New Jersey with 67%; Minnesota with 65%; Colorado with 64%; Maine with 61%. At the bottom of the chart were South Dakota with 32%; Oklahoma with 34%; Arkansas with 35%; New Mexico with 39%. Even the latter can be seen as laudable. And it should be noted that no state saw a decrease in the turnout of this age bracket.
These statistics don’t bode well for Republicans, as most of the votes cast were for Democratic candidates or non-controversial Republicans. One Republican campaign manager was recently quoted as saying, “We are tired of losing,” so you can see how abolishing the 26th Amendment might have some appeal.
Given the maelstrom of contested elections and the condition of our divided country, one could understand why today’s young people might shrug and say, “forget it.” Then again, perhaps this is exactly why they are turning out in record numbers; their future is on the line, and they are savvy enough to know it.
I don’t think we have to look very far to understand why some of the younger generation are going so far as to run for office themselves. They are the generation of “hiding in classrooms” as a result of prolific gun ownership. Sadly, too many saw their friends become victims of this travesty. They are also the generation of kids looking for colleges in states with less strict abortion laws, knowing they could end up living in these states after graduation.
So Mr. Ramaswamy, I suggest that you stick to peddling your pills, and forget about running the country. That same bit of advice goes to other candidates who might see this as a rallying cry. To quote President Nixon, the younger generation possesses “a spirit of moral courage,” and it is this courage that will confront you, should you continue with these bizarre ideas. I might conclude that it is this courage upon which I am placing my hope.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
