A Southern Senatorial bloc defeated a Republican proposal Friday to lower the voting age to 18 in 47 states. Georgia already has set 18 as a minimum voting age.
The measure, a proposed Constitutional amendment requested by President Eisenhower last January, was defeated by a vote of 34 (27 Republicans and seven Democrats) to 24 (all Democrats)--far short of the two-thirds majority required for a Constitutional amendment.
Senator Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.), a state-rights advocate, led the opposition to the amendment. "We've already gone a long way in degrading the power of our states," he said, referring to the recent decision of the Supreme Court outlawing segregation in public schools.
In his January message Eisenhower had asked for the 18-year-old vote. He believed that men who were old enough to fight for their country were old enough to cast ballots. Russell, however, pointed out that ten-year-olds had fought in the Union Army.
Observers believed the measure might have passed under more normal conditions. Friday, Senate attendance was at its usual weekend low, with comparatively few Republicans present in the Capitol Building.
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