1. Cultice, Wendell W., Youth’s Battle for the Ballot: A History of Voting Age in America (New York, 1992), 24–25.Google Scholar

2. Regarding the passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, see Keyssar, Alexander, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (New York, 2009)Google Scholar; Kyvig, David E., Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amendment of the Constitution, 1776–1995 (Lawrence, KS, 1996)Google Scholar; as one of the many accomplishments of Governor Arnall, see Bartley, Numan, The Creation of Modern Georgia (Athens, 1983)Google Scholar; Cook, James F., The Governors of Georgia, 1754–2004, 3rd ed. (Macon, 2005)Google Scholar; Mickey, Robert W., “The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America: Smith v. Allwright and the Abolition of the White Primary in the Deep South, 1944–1948,” Studies in American Political Development 22 (2008): 143–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Novotny, Patrick, This Georgia Rising: Education, Civil Rights, and the Politics of Change in Georgia in the 1940s (Macon, 2007)Google Scholar. As a footnote explaining how the denominator term is calculated in studies on voter turnout, see McDonald, Michael and Popkin, Samuel, “The Myth of the Vanishing Voter,” American Political Science Review 95 (2001): 963–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Springer, Melanie J., How the States Shaped the Nation: American Electoral Institutions and Voter Turnout, 1920–2000 (Chicago, 2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. See Keyssar, The Right to Vote; and Springer, How the States Shaped the Nation.

4. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, Lowering the Voting Age to 18: A Fifty-State Survey of the Costs and Other Problems of Dual-Age Voting, 92nd Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, DC, 1971), 5.

5. See Karlan, Pamela S., “Ballots and Bullets: The Exceptional History of the Right to Vote,” University of Cincinnati Law Review 71 (2003): 1345–72Google Scholar; Keyssar, The Right to Vote; Thomas H. Neale, “The Eighteen-Year-Old Vote: The Twenty-Sixth Amendment and Subsequent Voting Rates of Newly Enfranchised Age Groups.” Report prepared for Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 20 May 1983.

6. Keyssar, The Right to Vote, 225. Notably, on 12 August 1969, twenty-five years later, Representative turned U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph (D-WV) introduced the joint resolution that ultimately resulted in the adoption of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.

7. New York Times, “Mrs. Roosevelt Asks a Voting Age of 18,” 22 January 1943, 14.

8. See, Augusta Chronicle, “Franchise for Youth.” 30 June, 1943, 4; Ralph McGill, “One Word More,” Atlanta Constitution 7 March 1943, 10B; New York Times, 1943. “Educator Favors 18 as Voting Age,” 10 January 1943, 41; New York Times, “Legislature Bars Bill to Vote at 18,” 25 March 1943, 23; New York Times, “Lower Voting Age Resought in State,” 21 January 1944, 12; New York Times, “Edison Calls on Jersey to Set 18-Year Vote Age,” 10 June 1944, 3; New York Times, “Would Lower Jersey Vote Age,” 13 October 1943, 44.

9. Neale, “The Eighteen-Year-Old Vote," 6.

10. Kentucky Session Acts, 1954, Senate Bill 13.

11. Hawaii attempted to further lower its voting-age requirement—from 20 to 18—twice between 1959 and 1971.

12. Unfortunately, state-level public opinion data on the subject is not available during this period.

13. Doris W. Jones, “Lowering the Minimum Voting Age to 18 Years: Pro and Con Arguments,” Report prepared for Library of Congress, Congressional Reference Service, 8 June 2956, 63.

14. See Karlan, “Ballots and Bullets”; Keyssar, The Right to Vote; Neale, “The Eighteen-Year-Old Vote."

15. McDonald, Laughlin, A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia (Cambridge, 2003), 2.Google Scholar

16. Key, V. O., Southern Politics in State and Nation (New York, 1949)Google Scholar.

17. Vote totals for gubernatorial general elections in 1920, 1928, and 1930 were not available; however, it was noted that the Democratic candidate won without opposition; see Moore, John L., Preimesberger, John P., and Tarr, David R., eds., Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (Washington, DC, 2001).Google Scholar

18. Smith v. Allwright (1944), 321 U.S. 649, decided 3 April 1944.

19. Georgia Laws, 1943. General Public Law 28, Amendments to Constitution as Proposed.

20. State enlistment rates were also examined by race, since support for the reform could have had racial dimensions during the Jim Crow era. Interestingly, 7.4 percent of Georgia’s white population was enlisted in the army, which is higher than the mean (5.7 percent); whereas 4.5 percent of Georgia’s black population was enlisted, which is substantially lower than the mean (7.9 percent). This suggests that the discussion and implications of Table 4 are not dependent on race. Unfortunately, the army records do not provide casualty breakdowns by race, so a comparison was not possible for that measure.

21. Savannah Morning News, “Senate Approves Voting Age Drop,” 12 February 1932, 1.

22. Atlanta Constitution, “Better Voters,” 5 March 1942, 10; Atlanta Constitution, “Dear Buddy,” 14 February 1943, 14A.

23. E. C. Sanders, “Letter to the Editor: The Voting Age,” Savannah Morning News, 26 July 1943, 3.

24. Atlanta Constitution, “18-Year-Olds to Get Ballot, Arnall Predicts,” 7 February 1943, 5B.

25. Augusta Chronicle, “State May Call General Election,” 13 February 1943, 1.

26. Jim Little, “Measure Allowing Youths to Vote Expected to Pass,” Atlanta Constitution, 12 February 1943, 8.

27. J. A. Gardner, “Letter to the Editor: Votes for Youth,” Savannah Morning News, 31 July 1943, 3.

28. C. M. Ledbetter, “Letter to the Editor: A Childish Proposal,” Savannah Morning News, 31 July 1943, 3.

29. Savannah Morning News, “Senate Approves Voting Age Drop,” 12 February 1943, 1.

30. Atlanta Constitution, “Better Voters,” 5 March 1942, 10.

31. Savannah Morning News, “Senate Approves Voting Age Drop,” 12 February 1943, 1.

32. Athens Banner Herald, “Governor Arnall in Appeal to House to Pass Vote Bill,” 3 March 1943, 1.

33. J. B. Pool, “Letter to the Editor: Youthful Voters,” Augusta Chronicle, 2 May 1943, 6.

34. Savannah Morning News, “The Voting Age in Georgia,” 15 February 1943, 6.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. Augusta Chronicle, “A Future Vote,” 25 February 1943, 4.

38. Augusta Chronicle, “Bill to Reduce State’s Voting Age Is Defeated,” 3 March 1943, 1.

39. Augusta Chronicle, “Two Viewpoints on Proposal to Let Young Georgians Vote,” 5 March 1943, 6.

40. Savannah Morning News, “An Ill-Advised Proposal,” 5 March 1943, 6.

41. New York Times, “Legislature Bars Bill to Vote at 18,” 25 March 1943, 23.

42. Ralph McGill, “One Word More.” Atlanta Constitution, 4 March 1943, 8.

43. Jim Little, “Measure Allowing Youths to Vote Expected to Pass,” Atlanta Constitution, 12 February 1943, 8.

44. Augusta Chronicle, “Bill to Reduce State’s Voting Age Is Defeated,” 3 March 1943, 1.

45. Augusta Chronicle, “On Youngsters Voting,” 3 March 1943, 4.

46. Anthony Bascom, “Letter to the Editor: Eighteen-Year-Old-Voters,” Savannah Morning News, 22 July 1943, 8.

47. Savannah Morning New, “Kill This Fanatical Proposal,” 1 August 1943, 6.

48. McDonald, Laughlin, A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia (Cambridge, 2003), 50.Google Scholar

49. Savannah Morning News, “Senate Approves Voting Age Drop,” 12 February 1943, 1.

50. D. E. Boozer, “Letter to the Editor: On Youngsters Voting,” Augusta Chronicle, 5 March 1943, 6.

51. Ralph McGill, “One Word More,” Atlanta Constitution, 4 March 1943, 8.

52. Lyndon Baines Johnson, “Special Message to the Congress: To Vote at Eighteen—Democracy Fulfilled and Enriched,” 27 June 1968, in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson: 1968–69 (Washington, DC, 1968), 101.

53. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 240.

54. Novotny, This Georgia Rising, 127.

55. Henderson, Harold Paulk, The Politics of Change in Georgia (Athens, 1991), 51.Google Scholar

56. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation, 106.

57. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 242.

58. Bullock, Charles S. III, Buchanan, Scott E., and Gaddie, Ronald Keith, The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia’s Progressive Politics (Athens, 2015), 43.Google Scholar

59. Ibid.

60. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 242.

61. Ibid.

62. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 48.

63. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 241.

64. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation, 119.

65. For more on the effects of the county unit system in Georgia, see Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation; Brooks, Defining the Peace; Mickey, “The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America,”143–82; and Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy. For more on the race between Arnall and Talmadge, see Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995; Novotny, This Georgia Rising; and Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy.

66. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 9.

67. Brooks, Defining the Peace, 6.

68. Patton, Randall L., “A Southern Liberal and the Politics of Anti-Colonialism: The Governorship of Ellis Arnall,” Georgia Historical Quarterly 70 (1990): 609.Google Scholar

69. Ibid., 610.

70. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 244–45.

71. Ellis Gibbs Arnall, Inaugural Message to the General Assembly, 12 January 1943.

72. According to Article 13, sec. 1, para. 1 of the 1877 Constitution of Georgia: “Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or General Assembly and if the same shall be agreed to by two-thirds of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon. It shall be the duty of the Governor to cause every such amendment or amendments to be published in one newspaper in each Congressional District, to be chosen by the Governor, for two months previous to the time of holding the next general election. When any such amendment to the Constitution is proposed, it shall be the duty of the Governor, in preparing the form of ballot for the next general election, to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the voters for ratification or rejection by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments. The returns of such general election shall be certified to the Secretary of State. If the certificate of the Secretary of State shall show that a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly voting upon any such amendment voted in favor of the ratification of the same, the Governor shall, by his proclamation to be issued within ten days from the date of the election, so declare, and such amendment shall become a part of the Constitution of this State. If the result of said election, as so certified, shall be against the ratification of such an amendment, the Governor shall so declare by a similar proclamation, and the same shall not become a part of the Constitution. If more than one amendment to the Constitution is proposed at the same time, they shall be separately published as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately.”

73. Typically, a “strong governor” state is one in which the governor plays several important roles in managing the state and, in some cases, has greater powers than the other branches of government. Georgia seems to fit this classification. As stipulated in Article V, Section I of the Georgia Constitution: the governor was Commander-in-Chief; had the power to grants pardons and stop the execution of those sentenced to death; issue writs of election to fill all vacancies in the Senate and the House of Representatives; offer information to the General Assembly on the State of the Commonwealth and recommend for their consideration such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient; convoke the General Assembly on extraordinary occasions; fill vacancies due to death, resignation, or otherwise; veto power on all bills passed by the General Assembly before it become laws, subject to override by two-thirds of each house; approve every vote, resolution, or order, to which the concurrence of both houses may be necessary, except on a question of election or adjournment; require information in writing from Constitutional officers, department heads, and all State employees, on any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices or employment.

74. Roy Harris also served as Speaker under former Governor Rivers (Talmadge’s predecessor), and had spent more than half a century in Georgia politics. He played a prominent role in Arnall’s election and was labeled a “kingmaker” for his ability to place candidates he supported in the governor’s mansion. Harris appeared to be a strong supporter of Arnall’s initial agenda as he believed that “bureaus and other government agencies in this state and many others had been encroaching on authority constitutionally put in the legislatures” (Augusta Chronicle, “Augustan Leads Georgia House for Third Term,” 13 January 1943, 1).

75. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 242.

76. In addition to his attacks on the state university system, Talmadge was also unpopular with the public and the legislature for his unscrupulous behavior in reorganizing the state government and extending the powers of the governor while he was in office. Arnall’s efforts to decrease the power of the governor can be viewed as another example of his commitment to correct Talmadge’s misdoings.

77. Atlanta Constitution, “18-Year-Olds to Get Ballot, Arnall Predicts,” 7 February 1943, 5B.

78. Atlanta Constitution, “Lower Voting Age Passes Committee,” 10 February 1943, 1.

79. For the full text of the bill, see Appendix A. The language was identical in the Senate and the House.

80. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 56.

81. Georgia General Assembly, Journal of the Senate, 11 February 1943, 357–58.

82. Jim Little, “Measure Allowing Youths to Vote Expected to Pass,” Atlanta Constitution, 12 February 1943, 8.

83. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 56.

84. Georgia General Assembly, Journal of the House, 2 March 1943, 912–15.

85. Athens Banner Herald, “Governor Arnall in Appeal to House to Pass Vote Bill,” 3 March 1943, 1.

86. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 57.

87. Georgia General Assembly, Journal of the House, March 1943, 942–45.

88. Augusta Chronicle, “Teen Age Voting Measure Passed,” 4 March 1943, 1.

89. Georgia Constitution Article XIII, sec. I, chap. 2–86.

90. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 59.

91. Little, “Election in July on Lowering Vote Age Seen,” Atlanta Constitution, 1 February 1943, 1.

92. Ibid.; Augusta Chronicle, “State May Call General Election,” 13 February 1943, 1; Augusta Chronicle, “Arnall Contest Winners Named,” 5 July 1943, 7.

93. See, for example, Augusta Chronicle, “Bill for Youth Voting Approved,” 12 February 1943, 1; Little, “Election in July on Lowering Vote Age Seen,” Atlanta Constitution, 13 February 1943, 1; Augusta Chronicle, “Assembly Faces Full Calendar,” 22 February 1943, 8; Augusta Chronicle, Teen Age Voting,” 27 July 1943, 4.

94. Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia, 87.

95. Arnall, Report on the Proposed Amendments, 1 August 1943.

96. Ibid.

97. Ibid.

98. Ibid.

99. For more on the vote, see Cultice, Youth’s Battle for the Ballot; and Henderson, The Politics of Change in Georgia.

100. Georgia Official and Statistical Registers, 1945.

101. Augusta Chronicle, “Cross Section of State’s Vote Shows Amendments Ratified,” 4 August 1943, 1; Augusta Chronicle, “Proposals Given Large Majority in Light Voting,” 4 August 1943, 1.

102. Georgia Official and Statistical Registers, 1945.

103. Savannah Morning News, “National Teen Age Vote to Be Sought,” 4 August 1943, 2. Savannah Morning News, “A Nation-Wide Proposal.” 5 August 1943, 6.

104. Augusta Chronicle, “U.S. Action Predicted to Lower Voting Age,” 5 August 1943, 1; Augusta Chronicle, “Teen-Age Voting Spreads,” 24 January 1944, 4.

105. Interestingly, in the U.S. Congress, the question only reached the floor of either chamber once prior to 1970. In his 1954 State of the Union Message, President Eisenhower urged Congress to propose to the states a constitutional amendment permitting citizens to vote when they reached the age of 18. In 1954, responding to the President’s plea, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman William Langer (R-ND) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 53 in the 83rd Congress. Senator Langer’s resolution was brought to the floor of the Senate for consideration on 21 May 1954, where a coalition of liberal Democratic and moderate Republican senators supported the proposed constitutional amendment, but they were unable to obtain the required two-thirds majority. The bill failed passage by a margin of 34 “yeas” to 24 “nays,” and 37 senators not voting.

106. Athens Banner Herald, “Governor Arnall in Appeal to House to Pass Vote Bill,” 3 March 1943, 1.

107. Augusta Chronicle, “Old Enough to Vote,” 9 January 1954, 4.

108. Patton, Randall L., “A Southern Liberal and the Politics of Anti-Colonialism: The Governorship of Ellis Arnall,” Georgia Historical Quarterly 70 (1990): 616.Google Scholar

109. See, for example, Harvey, Anna, Votes Without LeverageGoogle Scholar (New York, 1998), about women’s voting rights; and Keyssar, The Right to Vote regarding the extension of the right to vote more broadly.

110. See, for example, Clemens, Elisabeth S., and Cook, James M., “Politics and Institutionalism: Explaining Durability and Change,” Annual Review of Sociology 2 (1999): 369–404Google Scholar; Miroff, Bruce, “Entrepreneurship and Leadership,” Studies in American Political Development 17 (2003): 204–211CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sheingate, Adam D., “Political Entrepreneurship, Institutional Change, and American Political Development,” Studies in American Political Development 17 (2003): 185–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

111. Sheingate, “Political Entrepreneurship, Institutional Change, and American Political Development,” 185.

112. Ibid., 186.

113. Augusta Chronicle, “Old Enough to Vote,” 9 January 1954, 4.

114. McDonald, Laughlin, A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia (Cambridge, 2003), 50.Google Scholar

115. Cultice, Youth’s Battle for the Ballot, 217.

116. There was some chance that Arnall was in line for federal office. Of this, Mickey notes that “at one point he may have been on a short-list for vice president in 1944” and that “he tied himself to Roosevelt and Henry Wallace, one of the party’s leading race progressives, and offered a seconding speech for Wallace at the 1944 convention.” Robert W. Mickey, “The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America,” 173; for more on Arnall’s future political ambitions, see Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy; and Brooks, Defining the Peace.

117. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 3.

118. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation, 127.

119. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 104.

120. Ibid., 75.

121. Novotny, This Georgia Rising, 124.

122. Savannah Morning News, “An Ill–Advised Proposal,” 5 March 1943, 6.

123. Arnall, Ellis Gibbs, The Shore Dimly Seen (Philadelphia, 1946), 52.Google Scholar

124. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 119.

125. Ibid., 18.

126. Patton, “A Southern Liberal and the Politics of Anti-Colonialism,” 599.

127. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754–1995, 238.

128. For more on this, see Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy; and Brooks, Defining the Peace.

129. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation, 128.

130. Ibid.

131. Mickey, “The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America,” 171.

132. Ibid.

133. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation, 128.

134. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 35.

135. Ibid., 2.

136. Arnall, The Question of Uniform Suffrage at the Age of Eighteen, Testimony to the House Judiciary subcommittee, 20 October 1943.

137. This was also the argument Arnall made about eradicating the poll tax, expecting itto only advantage poor whites given the constraints of the white primary system. For more on the eradication of the white primary in Georgia following the Smith decision, see Mickey, “The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America,” 143–82.

138. Johnson, Kimberley, Reforming Jim Crow: Southern Politics and Society in the Pre-Brown Era (New York, 2010), 104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

139. Patton, “A Southern Liberal and the Politics of Anti-Colonialism,” 618.

140. King v Chapman (1945), 62 F. Supp. 639, decided 12 October 1945.

141. For more on this, see Melanie J. Springer, “Where is ‘the South’? Assessing the Meaning of Geography in Politics.” American Politics Research 47 (2019): 1100–1134.

142. Moore, Preimesberger, and Tarr, eds., Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections.

143. Kleber, John E., “Lawrence W. Wetherby,” in Kentucky’s Governors, edited by Harrison, Lowell H. (Lexington, KY, 2004), 194.Google Scholar

144. Wetherby, Lawrence W., “Vote for Eighteen-Year Olds,” in The Public Papers of Governor Lawrence W. Wetherby, 1950–1955, edited by Kleber, John E. (Lexington, KY, 1955), 64.Google Scholar

145. Cultice, Youth’s Battle for the Ballot, 55.

146. Key, Southern Politics in State and Nation.

147. Interestingly, given the record speed at which the Twenty-Sixth Amendment became law, only one hundred days after passage by Congress, Georgia was not among the first necessary thirty-eight states to take action. This does not seem to have had much to do with the state’s perspective on the law, but rather the fact that the amendment was to be addressed during the state’s special legislative session already scheduled in October 1971. Further, even though the 26th had already been ratified by enough states to become national law, Georgia also ratified it, as expected (mostly symbolically) on 4 October 1971.

148. See, for example, Brooks, Defining the Peace; Frydl, The GI Bill; Sparrow, Warfare State; and Winkler, Allan M., Home Front U.S.A.: America During World War II (Arlington Heights, IL, 1986)Google Scholar.

149. Bullock, Buchanan, and Gaddie, The Three Governors Controversy, 63.

150. Brooks, Defining the Peace, 4–5.

151. Ibid., 10.

152. Winkler, Home Front U.S.A., 2; see also Sparrow, Warfare State; and Frydl, The GI Bill.

153. Frydl, The GI Bill, 70.