You have to be at least 18 years old to vote in federal and state elections in the United States. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment sets that floor, and no state can raise it.1Congress.gov. Twenty-Sixth Amendment What matters for registration is usually whether you’ll be 18 by Election Day, not whether you’re 18 the day you fill out the form, and several states let you take part earlier in limited ways.
The 18 Rule
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, guarantees that U.S. citizens 18 or older cannot be denied the right to vote on account of age. Before ratification, most states required voters to be 21. Today, 18 is the uniform minimum for federal and state elections nationwide.
Can You Vote in a Primary at 17
Yes, in some places. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections as long as they’ll turn 18 by the date of the general election.2National Conference of State Legislatures. Voting Age for Primary Elections The reasoning is that if you’ll be eligible to vote in November, you should have a voice in choosing who appears on that ballot.
The details vary. Some states extend the rule to all primaries; others limit it to presidential primaries or party-run caucuses. If you’re 17 and want in, check your state’s rules early, because registration and party affiliation deadlines often come weeks before primary day.
Pre-Registering Before 18
Roughly 14 states and D.C. allow pre-registration starting at age 16, and a handful of additional states open registration at 17. Your record sits dormant until you’re old enough to vote, then activates automatically.
Pre-registration is worth doing when it’s available. Signing up while you’re still in high school, when voter drives and civics classes make the process easy, removes a barrier that keeps a lot of first-time voters from showing up later.
Local Elections Below 18
A small number of municipalities have lowered the voting age to 16 for local races only. Takoma Park, Maryland, was the first, in 2013, followed by Hyattsville, Maryland, in 2015. These changes apply only to municipal elections and don’t affect county, state, or federal voting. The practice remains uncommon.
Other Requirements Beyond Age
Turning 18 makes you old enough to vote, but age alone doesn’t make you eligible. The federal voter registration form asks two threshold questions: Are you a U.S. citizen? Will you be 18 by Election Day? Answer no to either and you can’t register with the federal form.3U.S. Election Assistance Commission. National Voter Registration Application Form for U.S. Citizens Every state also requires you to be a resident of the state where you register.
Some states add restrictions. Most prohibit people currently serving a prison sentence for a felony from voting, though the rules for when voting rights come back after a sentence differ significantly by state. A few states also exclude people a court has found mentally incompetent to vote. Because these rules are set at the state level, look up your own state’s specifics if you think a restriction might apply.
Registration Deadlines and the 18-by-Election-Day Rule
A point that trips people up: you often don’t need to be 18 when you register. The National Voter Registration Act requires the federal form to ask whether you’ll turn 18 on or before the election, not whether you’re already 18 at the moment you sign up.4U.S. Department of Justice. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) Most states apply the same standard on their own forms.
Deadlines themselves vary. States without same-day registration generally set their cutoff somewhere between 8 and 30 days before the election. Twenty-three states and D.C. allow same-day registration, so you can register and vote at the same time, even on Election Day itself.5National Conference of State Legislatures. Same-Day Voter Registration If your birthday falls close to an election, knowing your state’s deadline can be the difference between voting and waiting two more years.