In 1971, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. This advanced the rights of young people to vote, but they are still prevented from participating fully in the political process.
The federal government, and many states have age of candidacy laws that establish minimum ages for holding a particular office. The required ages specified by the Constitution for federal offices are 25 years old for a House Representative, 30 years old for Senator, and 35 years old for President.
Several countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands, allow all people age 18 and above to hold any office.
An amendment to the Constitution setting a universal age of candidacy at 18 should be passed.