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NAACP newsletters, Fort Madison Branch, Fort Madison, Iowa, 1969
Page 003
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-3- ASK about OUR HEAD START PROGRAM, see what changes are proposed for it, and if they will REALLY serve the needs of those for whom it was designed!!! These programs and others which are being changed or discarded at the whim of politicians, are very important...but, this fact WILL NOT be recognized until voters inform their elected representatives in Congress, how they feel. Just as it is a duty of citizenship to vote--it is the responsibility of the voter to let his or her legislator know how they feel!! WRITE TO WASHINGTON -- TODAY!!! Your Senators can be reached at the Senate Office Building and your Representatives at the House Office Building --both in Washington, D. C. STATEMENT BY ROY WILKINS ON LOWERING OF THE VOTING AGE "Any sound expansion of the electorate is to be welcomed. Throughout its 60 year history, the NAACP has consistently worked for expansion of the vote." Early in this century we campaigned in behalf of women's suffrage. Our efforts to eliminate barriers to voting by Negro citizens and the propertyless are even more well-known. There is no evidence that the age of 21 will automatically confers electoral wisdom upon an individual. Young people, 18 years of age now have virtually full legal liability in all of the states. They assume major responsibilities in life and death in combat with our armed forces. It is difficult to see how in all justice they can be denied their manifest wish to join in settling the burning issues of the day at the ballot box" "The hour has come to take the next great step in the march of democracy. We should now extend the right to vote to more than ten million citizens unjustly denied the right" -President Lyndon Baines Johnson, June 27, 1968 "It is not because they are old enough to fight but because they are intelligent enough to cast an informed ballot. The new generation is far more educated and knowledgeable than its predecessor...I strongly favor extension of the franchise to 18 year olds." -President Richard Nixon, May 6, 1968 "By every relevant standard young men and women today are ready and willing to assume the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship by age 18. The indefensibly immature behavior of a scant fraction of our youth must not obscure this fact, or penalize the vast majority of American youth capable of exercising citizenship responsibility." -Governor Nelson Rockefeller, February 22, 1969 "I have long been in favor of legislation to lower the voting age to 18. Young people in American today have a vast responsibility. Many are raising families. And are employed in positions where their earnings and taxes make a significant contribution to the economy. Others are defending our nation at home and abroad, are contributing their talents as volunteers in Vista and the Peace Corps, and other service organizations. In most stages, young people are held legally responsible for purposes of contracts and before courts of law. Finally, large numbers of your young people are in institutionsof learning where they study the issues closely, and are in a position to inject new ideas and a new spirit of participation in our government and our economy. For all of these reasons, our young people deserve a voice, and a vote, in the counsels of the nation." -Senator Edward Brooke University of Iowa Libraries. Iowa Women's Archives
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-3- ASK about OUR HEAD START PROGRAM, see what changes are proposed for it, and if they will REALLY serve the needs of those for whom it was designed!!! These programs and others which are being changed or discarded at the whim of politicians, are very important...but, this fact WILL NOT be recognized until voters inform their elected representatives in Congress, how they feel. Just as it is a duty of citizenship to vote--it is the responsibility of the voter to let his or her legislator know how they feel!! WRITE TO WASHINGTON -- TODAY!!! Your Senators can be reached at the Senate Office Building and your Representatives at the House Office Building --both in Washington, D. C. STATEMENT BY ROY WILKINS ON LOWERING OF THE VOTING AGE "Any sound expansion of the electorate is to be welcomed. Throughout its 60 year history, the NAACP has consistently worked for expansion of the vote." Early in this century we campaigned in behalf of women's suffrage. Our efforts to eliminate barriers to voting by Negro citizens and the propertyless are even more well-known. There is no evidence that the age of 21 will automatically confers electoral wisdom upon an individual. Young people, 18 years of age now have virtually full legal liability in all of the states. They assume major responsibilities in life and death in combat with our armed forces. It is difficult to see how in all justice they can be denied their manifest wish to join in settling the burning issues of the day at the ballot box" "The hour has come to take the next great step in the march of democracy. We should now extend the right to vote to more than ten million citizens unjustly denied the right" -President Lyndon Baines Johnson, June 27, 1968 "It is not because they are old enough to fight but because they are intelligent enough to cast an informed ballot. The new generation is far more educated and knowledgeable than its predecessor...I strongly favor extension of the franchise to 18 year olds." -President Richard Nixon, May 6, 1968 "By every relevant standard young men and women today are ready and willing to assume the rights and responsibilities of full citizenship by age 18. The indefensibly immature behavior of a scant fraction of our youth must not obscure this fact, or penalize the vast majority of American youth capable of exercising citizenship responsibility." -Governor Nelson Rockefeller, February 22, 1969 "I have long been in favor of legislation to lower the voting age to 18. Young people in American today have a vast responsibility. Many are raising families. And are employed in positions where their earnings and taxes make a significant contribution to the economy. Others are defending our nation at home and abroad, are contributing their talents as volunteers in Vista and the Peace Corps, and other service organizations. In most stages, young people are held legally responsible for purposes of contracts and before courts of law. Finally, large numbers of your young people are in institutionsof learning where they study the issues closely, and are in a position to inject new ideas and a new spirit of participation in our government and our economy. For all of these reasons, our young people deserve a voice, and a vote, in the counsels of the nation." -Senator Edward Brooke University of Iowa Libraries. Iowa Women's Archives
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