05/12/2023 06:55 AM EDT
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Was the 26th Amendment a mistake?
Assemblyman Ned Thomson (R-Monmouth) maybe sort of thinks so. To be clear, Thomson — who turned 18 in 1971, the year the amendment to allow 18-year-olds to vote was ratified — is sympathetic to the main reason for the change: That 18-year-olds could be drafted to fight in Vietnam but couldn’t even vote. And he’s not suggesting we repeal the amendment. He’s just not crazy about it.
“It’s my personal opinion that making it any younger than 21 was probably not the best idea, but I understand the reasoning behind it,” Thompson said during an Assembly State & Local Government Committee hearing Thursday while voting against a bill to let 17-year-olds vote in primary elections if they turn 18 by the general.
“At age 18, I remember myself as well as watching my children and their friends — their social interactions, their responsibilities were more to school, going to college … and not quite frankly being too concerned with what’s going on in politics today, except local possibly,” he said.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Thompson told me that he’s not trying to change the law of the land, but he doesn’t think anyone under 18 should vote. He also recalled being an Assembly aide when New Jersey changed its drinking age from 21 to 18 in the early 1970s, but then changed it back to 21 following a rash of drunk...
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