[EL] The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, federal financial assistance for elections administration, and state law restrictions on voting ineligibility based on age

[Mark Scarberry]

I suppose the other point is that states would seem to have the right to
set the qualifications for voters, subject to constitutional limits, such
as the 26th Amendment (prohibiting denial of the right to vote on account
of age for persons 18 or older). But see Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112
(1970) (pre-26th) (no majority opinion but 5 Justices agreeing that
Congress may require states to allow 18 year-olds to vote in elections *for
federal office*).

Mark

[image: Pepperdine wordmark]*Caruso School of Law*

*Mark S. Scarberry*

*Professor of Lawmark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu
<mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>*
Personal: mark.scarberry at gmail.com




On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 10:29 AM Smith, Bradley <BSmith at law.capital.edu>
wrote:

> Robin,
>
> I gather you are wondering if laws setting a minimum age for voting
> violate the Age Discrimination Act. The ADA has been interpreted as
> prohibiting discrimination against those older than age 50, but not against
> those who are younger. The ADA does not prohibit an employer, for example,
> from saying “we don’t hire people under age 30.” See e.g. General Dynamics
> Land Systems, Inc v. Cline, 540 U.S. 581 (2004).
>
>
>
> Brad Smith
>
>
>
> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Robin Chen
> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 25, 2021 11:59 AM
> *To:* law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, federal financial
> assistance for elections administration, and state law restrictions on
> voting ineligibility based on age
>
>
>
>
>
> ** [ This email originated outside of Capital University ] **
>
>
>
> Dear Election Law Listserv,
>
>
>
> "The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits discrimination on the basis
> of age in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance."
>
>
>
> But, isn't election administration a program/activity receiving federal
> financial assistance?
> https://www.eac.gov/payments-and-grants/election-security-funds
> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.eac.gov%2fpayments-and-grants%2felection-security-funds&c=E,1,CIMq3vY6rsPT8XM8f1ElkAHck8pNv1zVJDe_wbU_WGpdKtCu1CNqbSBonsdjw0-WXkZVxggEpN9gurHqsQCMxWxdcET409WoGUQsDHtkzy-d&typo=1>
>
>
> Every state is listed here, and then some.
> https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/paymentgrants/Funding_Chart_ElectionSecurity.pdf
> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.eac.gov%2fsites%2fdefault%2ffiles%2fpaymentgrants%2fFunding_Chart_ElectionSecurity.pdf&c=E,1,-4UKKauBGANj4Phx1c05rePBQoBO8DcEotM0VUjtQ8r8LLgZqYafi5KvJ7M9ob6eaOlh-4hCr7HuqHIQCco6fLFQ-lAPpz8MYk96duX2oLyQXUGBA00,&typo=1>
>
>
>
> Every state _does_ discriminate based on age in the laws about
> qualifications of voters.
>
>
>
> Sorry to ask a naive question, but isn't this problematic?
>
>
>
> I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.
>
>
>
> Kindly,
>
> Robin
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