By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Next year, Iowans will vote on a proposed amendment that will align the Iowa Constitution with an election-related change made nationally more than five decades ago.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment the U.S. Constitution was ratified, changing the legal voting age in America from 21 to 18. The proposed amendment to Iowa’s Constitution would specify that U.S. citizens who are at least 18 and residents of the state may vote in Iowa elections.

“It also says 17 year olds who will be 18 by the General Election to register to vote and vote in the Primary, so this is how we already run our elections,” Representative Cindy Golding, a Republican from Palo, said during House debate this week. “It puts in our constitution what is already in our code.”

This proposed amendments to the state constitution got final approval from the House and Senate this spring. It means Iowa voters will see the language for proposed amendment on their 2024 election ballots.