How did the Twenty Sixth Amendment contribute to increased equality in the United States?

A. By outlawing segregation based on race

B. By ensuring that the poor and wealthy pay the same tax rates

C. By allowing 18-year-old citizens to vote in all states

D. By guaranteeing women equal rights under the law

The correct answer is C.

The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971, the quickest ratification of an amendment in history.

Congress lowered the national voting age to 18 in a 1970 bill that extended the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court subsequently held in the case of Oregon v. Mitchell that Congress could not lower the voting age for state and local elections. Shortly after that ruling, Congress proposed and the states ratified the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which constitutionally enshrined voting rights for individuals between 18 and 21 years old.