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Show - Right perspective Young must make 'system' work er than against tliem only if the "right people" are voted into the system. And they will only be voted into the system if the students stu-dents work to get them elected. If the provision remains constitutional con-stitutional and goes into effect as scheduled January 1, 19 71, young people should thereafter take advantage of their new voting vot-ing privilege. If it is declared unconstitutional, the Congress should press forward with a constitutional con-stitutional amendment lowering the voting age to give young people a chance to work within the system. In any case, young adults can work now to elect those officials they think will best serve their interests in government. gov-ernment. i cess that is different in each individual. Unfortunately, it is campus unrest un-rest which provides the strongest argument for lowering the voting age. ("Unfortunately" because it should not require violence to waken officials to the need for change.) There are those who argue that the campus unrest just proves youngsters' irresponsibility irrespon-sibility and that they do not have enough good judgment to exercise exer-cise the voting privilege. Others, however, argue that if you would prefer that students work within the system, you must open up the system to them and allow them to vote. If you want them to act like adults, you have to treat them like adults. Down to students In the end, of course, it will be the students who demonstrate which of those arguments is correct. cor-rect. If the violence continues, if students iail to register and vote, if they do not work for the political parties, the extension of the voting privilege will have been for naught. It has always been the case in the past that the young voters have stayed away from the polls. The system will work for young people rath- BY BRIAN MASON By signing the voting rights bill, President Nixon has effectively effec-tively passed the buck from himself him-self to the Supreme Court. Though he sincerely believes the provision giving 18 year-olds the vote to be unconstitutional, he signed the bill anyway, leaving it up to the courts to decide the issue. This was the only thing, politically, he could do. If he had vetoed the bill or even i jet it come into law without his signature, the Democrats could have charged him with appeasing appeas-ing the South at the expense of the blacks and with blocking attempts at-tempts of young people to work within the system. Now, even if Nixon was right, and the provision pro-vision for lowering the voting age is declared unconstitutional the onus does not fall on him. No desire to veto Nixon had no desire to veto that portion of the bill which extends ex-tends the Voting Rights Act of J965 for five years. Under this t, more than a million blacks ye been brought into the elec-h elec-h process. Black office-hold-now number 540 compared with about 100 in 1965. Registration Registra-tion of blacks in the seven states covered by the act increased from 33.1 percent of the voting age population to 59.5 percent. The present bill extends the provisions pro-visions of the Voting Rights Act to cover not just certain southern States, but the entire nation. Nixon hesitated signing the bill, however, for fear that some elections would be held before the consitiutional issue of the lowered voting age was settled. If the bill was then declared un-consitiutional, un-consitiutional, such elections could be held null and void causing grave difficulties. While signing the bill, therefore, Nixon has asked Attorney General Mitchell Mit-chell to file a test case as soon as possible to determine the new law's constitutionality. And he has asked Congress to move along with a Constitutional amendment giving 18 year-olds the vote in case this provision of the act is declared unconstitutional. uncon-stitutional. What will happen? Some people are not sure what the results of franchising between be-tween 10 and 11 million young people will be. It is generally agreed that today's young people are intelligent and generally aware of the world around them. Many, however, would question their judgment because of their lack of experience in the "real world." This "fear," if we can call it that, should not properly apply to all young people. Those who have served in the armed forces and those who are married mar-ried are certainly experiencing the "real world." Maturity, of course, does not suddenly blossom forth once a person reaches a certain birth ate. Any age that is set as the legal voting age must be somewhat some-what arbitrary. It would be difficult diffi-cult to show that a person makes a better voter after he is 21 than he would be when he is 20, or when he is 19, or when he is 18. Maturity is a gradual pro- |
