Is this a good idea?
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to announce a proposed amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25.
In an interview Ramaswamy gave to Fox News Digital during his campaign tour of Iowa, the former CEO of Roivant told the publication that he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment raising the age when Americans can vote from 18 to 25 unless a person serves the nation in the military or as a first responder or passes the same citizenship test that immigrants must take to become U.S. citizens.
Ramaswamy plans to announce the proposed constitutional amendment at a rally Thursday (May 11) night alongside Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.
Ramaswamy revealed the announcement would be made in front of a “large audience of… young people in Iowa,” adding that Reynolds would also be in attendance, making Thursday night an opportune time to announce the proposed amendment, which he described as “one of the most… ambitious proposals we’ve rolled out in this campaign.”
He described the proposal as a means to “restore civic duty” in the minds “of the next generation of Americans.”
And, the way his campaign is proposing that’s done is to suggest that those who want to vote at 18, or between 18 to 25, need to fulfill their civic duty “through service to the country — that’s six months of service in either military service or as a first responder, police” or they can vote before the proposed 25 benchmark by “pass[ing] the same civics test an immigrant has to pass… to become a naturalized [U.S.] citizen.”
Those who opt out of service to the country or take the test would have to wait until after the age of 25 to vote. Ramaswamy shared his belief that introducing these restrictions would strengthen civic engagement in America and lead to a more informed electorate