Editing Birch Bayh (section)

==== Lowering the voting age to 18 ====
[[File:Senator Birch Bayh addresses a group of students.jpg|thumb|Bayh speaking on a college campus, ca. 1970s.]]As a state legislator in the 1950s, Bayh unsuccessfully worked to lower the voting age in Indiana. He continued his effort in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he also met opposition. In 1970, a new provision was added to the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], lowering the voting age to 18 in all federal, state, and local elections. Then with the 1971 ''[[Oregon v. Mitchell]]'' decision, the Supreme Court ruled that state and local elections did not have to abide by the lowered voting age, though there would have to be dual elections in the 47 states where the lower federal voting age was not valid. Faced with another constitutional crisis, Bayh's subcommittee quickly began hearings on an amendment to lower the voting age to 18. What became the [[Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] passed through Congress within weeks of the Supreme Court's decision, and was ratified by the states within months.<ref name="Cruikshank" /> 
As such, Senator Bayh is the only person since the Founding Fathers to have drafted more than one amendment to the United States Constitution.<ref name="Goodheart" />