Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy proposes a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25 unless Americans serve in the military or pass a civics test.
Ramaswamy is set to announce the proposal during an event with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.
The plan aims to restore civic duty in the minds of the next generation of Americans. Ramaswamy stated that if an 18-year-old wants to vote, they must either serve the country for six months in military service or as a first responder, police, fire, or otherwise or pass the same civics test an immigrant has to pass to become a naturalized citizen.
Ramaswamy's proposal would replace the 26th Amendment, which set the voting age at 18 in 1971 to align the privilege with eligibility for the military draft. The proposal aims to remind young Americans that voting is a privilege with civic duty attached to it. However, placing any hurdle to voting would not be well-received among a swath of the electorate, particularly Democrats rushing in the other direction.
Several liberal-run cities have pushed to lower the voting age to 16 for local elections or allow illegal immigrants to vote in their contests. Republicans often oppose efforts to reduce the voting age, saying it is a naked attempt by liberals to amplify their power among young Americans.
Ramaswamy's plan would spark an entirely new debate. He tried to head off criticism of the plan by telling Fox it was "fundamentally different" from Jim Crow laws that blocked voting from Blacks.
He said there is "no room for funny business like you had in the Jim Crow era." "We literally require people to pass that test to vote today," he said. "If you're an immigrant, I'd say the same thing applies if you're an 18-year-old who graduates from high school [and] who wants to vote." "But you don't have to do it that way," he said. "You could also do it by doing a minimal amount of service to the country."
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