GOP presidential candidate wants to unconstitutionally raise voting age to 25
Biotech millionaire and fringe 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy this week proposed adding a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25 unless citizens pass a civics test or enlist for six months of public service.
"We want to restore civic duty to the in, in the mindset of the next generation of Americans. And how we wanna do it is to say that if you wanna vote as an 18-year-old between the age of 18 and 25, you need to either do your civic duty through service to the country," Ramaswamy said aboard his campaign vehicle.
"That's six months of service in either military service or in a first responder, including police, fire, or otherwise. Or else you have to pass the same civics test that an immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen who can vote in this country. At age 25, that falls away," Ramaswamy continued. "So in a nutshell, what we're proposing is a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age to 25."
The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution decrees that "the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."
Regardless, Fox News Outnumbered anchor Kayleigh McEnany felt that Ramaswamy's idea was workable — although she did not mention that his own staff threw cold water on the idea, per Politico.
"You know, Kaylee," she said to cohost Kaylee McGhee White, "apparently, according to Politico, he'd been mulling this over for a while. He got a really positive reception to suggesting it from a lot in the immigrant community who actually came up to him and apparently, that quote 'sealed the deal.'"