Declaring that lowering the voting age to 18 is “a giant stride forward in the strengthening of the democratic system,” the American Jewish Committee has urged President Nixon to sign into law the voting rights package bill passed by the House of Representatives. The AJCommittee stated that “by enabling an estimated 11 million young Americans to cast ballots for the first time, this piece of legislation will do much to bring young people into the mainstream of the political decision-making process.” The AJC, in a statement by its president, Philip E. Hoffman, also gave approval to the central purpose of the bill, which extends for five years the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill was passed Wednesday.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.