GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to raise voting age to 25
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he wants to raise the voting age from 18 to 25 for anyone who is not in public service or can’t pass a basic civics test.
Ramaswamy — a 37-year-old tech entrepreneur — laid out the ambitious new proposal that would require a change to the 26th Amendment, which gives citizens who are 18 and older the right to vote.
“How we want to do it is to say that, if you want to vote as an 18-year-old, between the ages of 18 and 25, you need to either do your civic duty through service to the country,” he told Fox News Wednesday.
“That’s six months of service in either military service or as a first responder, police, fire or otherwise.”
Under the proposal, American citizens under 25 who don’t serve in the military would need to take a test to satisfy the requirements needed to take part in the Democratic process.
Ramaswamy explained: “Or else you have to pass the same civics test an immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen who can vote in this country. At age 25, that falls away.”
The GOP candidate is polling at about 5% in the race of potential challengers for the nomination, ahead of Nikki Haley and Liz Cheney. He remains slightly behind former Vice President Mike Pence.
His proposal would require a two-thirds vote in Congress to amend the Constitution and was part of a plan to restore the importance of civic duty to Americans.
The change could leave thousands stuck between joining public service or not voting at all given that many Americans tend to fail their own citizenship test.
A 2018 survey from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found that about two-thirds of respondents failed the exam.
Some of the questions include writing the name of a Native American tribe that lived in the US or explaining the role of the three branches of government.
Ramaswamy said that the change would let younger Americans know the “true privilege,” of voting after completing a tour of service and become a more informed voter.
“I think that will actually be positive for our civic culture. And I also think that this can be unifying,” he said. “Whether you’re the kid of a billionaire in the Upper East Side of Manhattan or whether you’re the daughter of a single mother in the inner city, it doesn’t matter.
“You have the same requirements to be part of the special group of people at a young age who get to participate in deciding who governs the country.”
Ramaswamy, whose net worth is roughly $600 million, has poured up to “eight figures” of his own money into his 2024 campaign, which he launched in February.
Ramaswamy has gained steam in the race for his bashing against “woke culture and capitalism.”
