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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho was old enough to vote for Jimmy Carter
This was my first presidential election and the last time that Texas went for a Democrat
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Tree Lady
(11,597 posts)Happy to vote for him.
Laffy Kat
(16,408 posts)I've always been proud of that.
maveric
(16,461 posts)Voted for Jimmy.
MineralMan
(146,393 posts)DENVERPOPS
(9,038 posts)do you recall the battle, and the dates, when we had to fight to change the voting age to 18 vs 21????????????
There was a national wave of demonstrations re: if we are old enough at the age of eighteen to go fight for our nation, it is only fair that we are allowed to vote.
It seems that I recall not being able to vote during an election, just before they lowered the age we could vote.........
LeftInTX
(26,114 posts)We were all excited. It's hard to believe it was ratified in July a few months before school had started. I remember where I was when I found out. (In the stairwell). We were all excited and were going "yipee" That's funny how I thought it was "new news". It's funny how I never picked up from TV or anything that this had happened a few months earlier. It's funny how many classmates and I thought this was "new".
We also all knew that the drinking age was gonna be lowered. Maybe we were even more excited about that than voting. LOL
DENVERPOPS
(9,038 posts)It was a horrific time for inequities and injustices.......
The whole war was engineered to give the Military Industrial Complex an un-fathomable amount of profits....period.......
There was a massive drafting of 18Yo's to be sent to VietNam.........If you tried to enlist, to avoid being drafted, you couldn't get into the Air Force or Navy, only the Marines or Army......All the rich kids in our school were able to go to college, and they were exempted from the draft until they graduated........Of course, most of them went into the National Guard or Reserves after they graduated, and neither group was usually called up to go to Nam........
A huge movement was launched to lower the voting age.....and was finally won, and it dropped from 21 to 18.
The lowering of the age to drink in Colorado was only for 3.2 beer.............
Then in 1979 I watched HWBush and Cheney commit Treason to get Reagan installed as President........I have been seriously involved in watching everything political ever since..........
When I think about the title of a book written about the last 45+ years, it would be; WHILE THE NATION SLEPT
ALBliberal
(2,399 posts)Its a point of pride for me.
debsy
(532 posts)I was very proud to have voted for Carter and not Reagan.
ALBliberal
(2,399 posts)Yes having that first presidential vote cast for such a special person has always meant a lot to me. God bless him.
GoCubsGo
(32,124 posts)Jokerman
(3,524 posts)My first straight-ticket vote had Jimmy Carter at the top and my mother as candidate for Clerk-Treasurer.
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,604 posts)I was 21.
mcar
(42,570 posts)Voted for him on his second run, my first Presidential vote. Have voted for the D nominee every time since.
Bundbuster
(3,353 posts)When RayGun beat this great American in the 1980 landslide I exited American society for 10 years, ashamed and appalled beyond repair.
IA8IT
(5,601 posts)and the fact tRump isn't in prison for treason and is the darling of millions of Americans makes my head explode
dweller
(23,814 posts)My 1st Dem victory vote (McGovern in 72 😟 )
✌🏻
BadgerMom
(2,781 posts)PCIntern
(25,792 posts)In Dental School. I think virtually my entire class voted for him with a few typical exceptions.
Ping Tung
(894 posts)I voted for Carter in the general and I now consider him to have been the best president in my lifetime and the most decent president in our history.
tetedur
(825 posts)gademocrat7
(10,717 posts)The Peanut Brigade here in Georgia worked very hard to get the vote out for President Carter.
Doc Sportello
(7,567 posts)First was proudly for George McGovern. Just as proud to vote for Jimmy Carter.
moondust
(20,066 posts)But I then made the mistake of assuming the U.S. electorate had recognized and rejected political corruption after the Nixon debacle. In fact it only got worse.
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Ronald_Reagan_administration
They re-elected that in a 49-state landslide.
And look at 'em now.
I've wondered if they didn't learn from Nixon that they can go ahead and do whatever they feel they need to do to get elected and if it turns out to be illegal or corrupt they can just use the Presidential pardon to get away with it.
Tickle
(2,651 posts)I remember it well
Wednesdays
(17,624 posts)But I definitely voted for him in 1980.
ProudMNDemocrat
(17,130 posts)Proud of my vote as well.
young_at_heart
(3,789 posts)My first was Kennedy.....I was a student at UCSB.
chowder66
(9,168 posts)yellowdogintexas
(22,338 posts)I should add that I lived in Kentucky therefore I could vote at age 18.
LeftInTX
(26,114 posts)Reagan made me realize that Barry Goldwater was alive and well and very dangerous!
I was a few days short of 20 and pretty naive in 1976 and didn't want a Southern Baptist as president. Guess I was kinda prejudiced. (I lived in Wisconsin at the time)
Susan Calvin
(1,677 posts)usaf-vet
(6,320 posts).... to his community, country, and world.
Danmel
(4,964 posts)Was pretty disappointing.
I didn't vote for a winning presidential candidate till I was 32, for Clinton
Nt.
Cuthbert Allgood
(5,031 posts)Retrograde
(10,212 posts)1976 was my first vote in California - we had moved there that summer - and I was surprised that my polling place was in someone's garage. I had intended to vote for him again in 1980, but by the time I left work at 5 he had already conceded. My vote went to the independent, John Anderson (who got points for doing an actual whistle-stop tour on the Peninsula: the only time a presidential candidate came to my town and got to be seen by regular people, IIRC)
peppertree
(21,914 posts)A number of California congressmen - among them his good friend, DCCC chief Jim Corman (San Fernando Valley) - were, as he put it, "fighting for their lives," and O'Neill was afraid that Dem-leaning voters would go home upon hearing of his concession.
Tip was furious - and he was right: it went just as bad as he feared for western Democrats, including Corman.
And that was one of Carter's big shortcomings (as well as virtues): that he seldom gave the politics of his decisions much thought, if thought they were necessary.
a kennedy
(29,986 posts)calguy
(5,378 posts)We're still in our prime senior years.
a kennedy
(29,986 posts)mackdaddy
(1,542 posts)Voted for him in 1980 also but the Iranian hostage crisis and Regan/Bush making a deal to keep the hostages (per the former Iranian president) helped throw the election.
Republicans always cheat.
murielm99
(30,825 posts)GP6971
(31,357 posts)Boomerproud
(8,025 posts)My primary vote in 76 went to Jerry Brown. Proud of my support of Jimmy Carter.
-misanthroptimist
(856 posts)I was 19 and more or less a Rockefeller Republican (minus the drug hysteria). So, I voted for Ford in 1976.
In 1980, I voted for John Andersen.
So, much to my shame, one of the finest men who has ever lived never received a vote from me.
kskiska
(27,055 posts)Voting age was 21 in those days.
Glorfindel
(9,763 posts)brer cat
(24,771 posts)BoomaofBandM
(1,787 posts)Emile
(23,782 posts)relayerbob
(6,580 posts)bluescribbler
(2,144 posts)I voted for Shirley Chisholm in the 1972 Presidential Primary.
KT2000
(20,630 posts)My most profound appreciation was how he responded to the oil embargo. He tried to make us less oil dependent and they turned on him with ridicule. I loved his malaise in America speech too - more ridicule from the talking heads.
haele
(12,735 posts)I was in the military and voted for Carter. Lots of military folks I knew did, because we recognized Reagan as a fraud.
Haele
Magoo48
(4,754 posts)Trueblue1968
(17,286 posts)TheRickles
(2,132 posts)Climate Crusader
(61 posts)Newly moved from Florida to South Carolina and got involved with the local Democrats immediately!
onethatcares
(16,276 posts)never have I voted for the other party, no matter the election
BlueTexasMan
(166 posts)He had had a UFO sighting and said he would tell us what was going on. He didn't. They still haven't. Makes you wonder.
Turbineguy
(37,501 posts)I voted for Carter and never regretted it.
KS Toronado
(17,696 posts)JustAnotherGen
(32,247 posts)When we came back to the states in 1978 - I had this brief period of my dad not screaming at the nightly news for two years.
After that? A solid 4 years of "This wouldn't be happening if Carter was President"
Then - another 4 years of ape shit ballistic because of Reagan.
How different my childhood would have been if people hadn't fallen for Reagan's schtick in 1980.
Deuxcents
(16,653 posts)Glorfindel
(9,763 posts)My first vote for President was LBJ in 1964. I was 19.
chillfactor
(7,602 posts)Carter was the third presidential election I voted in.
mtngirl47
(994 posts)I had just turned 18 the week before, but I had registered early enough...and actually had to vote absentee from my home state instead of Georgia where I was going to college.
Also voted for President Carter in 1980.
Never voted for a Republican---even for dog catcher.
badhair77
(4,265 posts)Couldnt vote in 72 because we had to be 21 to vote back then.
Jeebo
(2,047 posts)I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976. I am proud to say that I have never voted for a Republican for president.
-- Ron
MyOwnPeace
(16,977 posts)Born and raised in an "R" house, I'd been told we couldn't vote for Kennedy because 'the Pope' would run the country. With THAT background I campaigned for Goldwater in '64 (I TOLD you it was an interesting trail!) ((I remember attending a rally for Goldwater on the PITT campus with Clint Walker (Cheyenne) there speaking for him.
My first 'able-to-vote' was in 1968 and true to family form, I voted for NIXON!
HOWEVER, his Vietnam issues quickly turned me against him and I really worked for McGovern in 1972. After Watergate and Nixon's resignation I pulled out my McGovern pin and added a card behind it saying: "I TOLD YOU SO!"
I voted for Carter in '76 and was proud to have him in the White House. Again, because of issues, I did not support him in 1980. I was truly fearful of RayGun and I loved John Anderson ("between Reagan and Carter is not a choice, it's a dilemma!" ).
All of that being said (confessed!) - it's been ALL DEMS ever since - and always will be!
And YES, Jimmy Carter is a truly great and honorable man.
lastlib
(23,520 posts)My freshman year of college. As a political-science class exercise, I attended the county caucus for his candidacy. (Since I wasn't a resident of the county my college was in, I couldn't vote there.) That November, he was the recipient of my first presidential vote.
Again in 1980.
Upthevibe
(8,165 posts)He was my first Presidential vote too...
DoBW
(811 posts)I had no principles: my moral compass swung wildly -- but I have come to know harmony in a 2nd life ( except for TSF and his boot lickers) i know Carter was a good soul & i'm happy there's other old farts on here
ProfessorGAC
(65,825 posts)I turned 20 about 6 weeks before the election.
Ocelot II
(116,412 posts)50 Shades Of Blue
(10,199 posts)Response to 50 Shades Of Blue (Reply #108)
TxGuitar This message was self-deleted by its author.
Fla Dem
(24,088 posts)Silver Gaia
(4,558 posts)It felt so very important to vote because we were the first to be able to vote at 18, and we had fought for it. My vote has always been a sacred duty from that time forward and it has always been cast for Democrats.
So, yes, of course I voted for Jimmy Carter. Both times.
arkielib
(150 posts)Ms. Toad
(34,308 posts)The townspeople were pissed - they assumed any college student voting from their college address was doign so in order to vote to allow alcohol sales within city limits (it was a dry town). I voted from my college address because my vote was more likely to make a difference there, than in my home state. I was right - Ohio went for Carter in '76. Nebraska went for Ford. (And the townspeople were wrong about me, at least, on the other issue: I voted to keep the town dry.)
mummierose
(1 post)marble falls
(58,391 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(146,668 posts)TygrBright
(20,806 posts)ananda
(28,974 posts)..
TBF
(32,239 posts)and also Nixon's resignation. My mom was into politics so we'd talk about stuff like that in the car.
orleans
(34,162 posts)rambler_american
(794 posts)Eugene McCarthy in 1968. I'm old AF.
John Farmer
(97 posts)I also caught a glimpse of JFK when my mom lifted me up.
CarolinaNC
(93 posts)So young and already an activist .....I kept the article....will have to look for it. I was 19 at the time.
wryter2000
(46,277 posts)And did
Marcus IM
(2,350 posts)I was young. I felt hope.
Admire him greatly.
brewens
(13,801 posts)enough votes to qualify for matching campaign funds.
At that time, I thought it smart to encourage third party candidates. I'm not sure that was a good idea.
bagimin
(1,342 posts)how many lives coul have been saved.....
PJMcK
(22,139 posts)I was never prouder until I voted for Obama.
greatauntoftriplets
(175,818 posts)I stood in line for an hour to vote for him in Chicago. That was the only time I've ever had to wait that long. The fact I lived in a solidly Democratic district probably had something to do with it.
Golfnbrew
(49 posts)Fresh out of high school, THRILLED to vote for him!
On a side note, the drinking age was dropped to 19 the next year, lucky me, and raised back to 21 when I turned 21.
twodogsbarking
(10,175 posts)Worked like hell in the morning to watch that at a restaurant. Gin and tonic was $.55.
Premium lunch was maybe $1.50. Probably 10% of today's cost. Jimmy will forever be a favorite.
karynnj
(59,530 posts)First vote was for McGovern.
moonscape
(4,679 posts)gordianot
(15,284 posts)I never missed the opportunity to vote in a national election. I voted for a Democratic candidate every time except for Warren Hearnes whom I despised. Much to my regret I voted for John Danforth who eventually led to Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. My sole vote for any Republican was a youthful mistake. I have never regretted any vote for a Democratic candidate starting with Carter.
Hassler
(3,427 posts)Silent3
(15,546 posts)...the voter registration process well enough to be ready to vote in that election. I turned 18 the month before his second run for the Presidency. I definitely couldn't have voted for Carter in 1976.
NoMoreRepugs
(9,606 posts)Emile
(23,782 posts)Pas-de-Calais
(9,924 posts)Best one until OBama
kellytore
(183 posts)I still have my George's driver's license from 1973 with his autograph as governor of the state.
Omaha Steve
(100,125 posts)Jimmy beat Ford. I was 19 when I voted the first time for Jimmy.
barbtries
(28,852 posts)was 17 in 1972 and I so did not want nixon.
Jacson6
(392 posts)My parents & I all loved Jimmy, Rosalyn & Brother Billy.
AllaN01Bear
(19,410 posts)i remember them saying . jimmy who? that old peanut farmer.
SimplyHadEnough
(48 posts)Me too, I was 25yr's old
byronius
(7,425 posts)fargone
(121 posts)mac56
(17,579 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,889 posts)and it was for Jimmy Carter.
JohnnyLib2
(11,213 posts)dmr
(28,407 posts)I voted when I was 20 back in '72.
irisblue
(33,134 posts)jayschool2013
(2,332 posts)And I didn't. I stupidly voted for John Anderson.
I was an idiot.
peppertree
(21,914 posts)As you no doubt recall, the decision wasn't as clear-cut back then as it would be now in retrospect.
Carter had done of lot good, a lot of heavy lifting - but also made some mistakes in his last year, such as the enactment of selective service (seen by many young people as a veiled draft) and the March 1980 credit controls (which popped the OPEC price bubble - but pushed the economy into a deep recession).
But as you know, that's how he was: he never let politics get in the way of what he felt - right or wrong - needed to be done. Even in an election year!
1980 was, as he put it, "the worst year of my life."
TxGuitar
(4,241 posts)was able to vote for him in 76 and 80. Alas, I was just a mere lad at the time of both elections.
myohmy2
(3,294 posts)...
VGNonly
(7,548 posts)was for Jimmy. I was 19, solid democrat ever since.
A side note, I never had to register for the draft. It was abolished March 1st 1975. I wasn't 18 until Sept. My buddy was born in February, he had to register. It started again in January 1st 1960 for eighteen year olds.
peppertree
(21,914 posts)The fascist dictatorship in power at the time - and nearly all their supporters and apologists at the time - hated Jimmy Carter.
Why? Mainly because Carter and his Secretary of State, Cy Vance, did everything they could to persuade and pressure the dictatorship to stop "disappearing" people.
His every stumble - including the one he had while jogging in '79 - was gloated at in the local media. And his defeat was met with jubilation in right-wing circles, with parties held in Reagan's honor at the mansions of some of the well-to-do.
And then, just two months after Carter left office, Argentina collapsed.
The massive foreign debt bubble, mostly taken on to finance elites' mass dollarizing and offshoring of assets, imploded the economy - as did the dictatorship's "remedies" (which - like Bush in '08 - basically punished society at large for the crisis elites had caused).
Argentina never fully recovered (least of all now - with Trump's mini-me, Milei, wrecking the little that still worked for them).
ArnoldLayne
(2,073 posts)Charlie Chapulin
(180 posts)
the first election I voted in was 1980. I was just shy of turning 20. I knew I couldnt vote for Reagan. And I was so disgusted with the Iran Hostage Crisis, as it was called at the time, that I voted for John Anderson. Learned a big lesson there and wish I could have that one back. Sorry, Jimmy.
Ive often wondered what the world might look like had he and Gorbachev been in power at the same time, instead of the Gipper.
Old Crank
(3,784 posts)and voted for him from Crete.
When I returned Stateside I got to visit Plains georgia with my wife and a friend we were stationed with previously.
Skittles
(153,624 posts)spanone
(136,105 posts)WestMichRad
(1,366 posts)Didnt see the light about rampant republican disinformation until a few years later. Better a bit late than never!
PufPuf23
(8,917 posts)Voted Carter in 76 and 80.
Register GOP to vote for Anderson in CA GOP primary to slow Nixon Reagan. Only non-Democratic vote ever made and knew would vote Democratic in actual election.
Voted Brown in 1980 primary and Carter for POTUS.
Was a Fed employee 1969 (career status 73) to 1985 with US Forest Service. After a Cal BS, Feds paid me to go to two programs that totaled 30 units of grad credit but owed the agency 6 years or had to pay back the cost. Under Reagan, the end of 6 years was quit date. The change in agency was massive and Reagan proceeded to break the USFS planning system and enrich the timber industry. A majority of USFS employees continued to whistle while they worked; many of the managers hired and educated with veteran benefits were resistant to the modernization of environmental laws and working with women and minorities. Reagan systematically deconstructed what had been birthed under Nixon and brought to maturity under POTUS Carter. What occurred became even more apparent to me over the years only to mostly disappear down the memory hole.
POTUS Carter has the best and most enduring heart of any POTUS in my dwindling life.
Skittles
(153,624 posts)I was in the military - I didn't vote because I had not become politically aware yet
wendyb-NC
(3,381 posts)I voted for George McGovern in 1972, when I was 18. That was the year the voting age was changed to 18.
livetohike
(22,193 posts)right after 18 year olds got the right to vote 🙂.
appmanga
(618 posts)...was my first one. I voted for John Anderson, so I understand the disaffection of today's young people when it comes to the major party candidates, and it's the reason I try to persuade them not to waste their vote like I did. I realized a long time ago this country didn't deserve the brilliant and moral visionary President Carter turned out to be. I also realized how he was the person we as a country needed, but could never be wise enough to heed and support.
doc03
(35,553 posts)I voted for a Republican was for McCain in the primary, then dumped him after he picked Caribou Barbie.
peppertree
(21,914 posts)That was one pig they couldn't disguise with lipstick.
demosincebirth
(12,575 posts)walkingman
(7,820 posts)lanlady
(7,142 posts)I hated when that doddering fool Reagan defeated him. I actually left the country in 1981 and did not return until Clinton's first term in office.
LoisB
(7,308 posts)Primary vote was for RFK (the real one).
Beausoleil
(2,885 posts)And my vote went to Jimmy Carter.
Beausoleil
(2,885 posts)And my vote went to Jimmy Carter.
Raine
(30,565 posts)I got to shake Carter's hand when he had a town hall meeting in my city. A moment I'll always remember. ❤️
Different Drummer
(7,742 posts)I turned 18 in 1979 and voted for President Carter in the 1980 election. The fact that he was a fellow Georgian only slightly influenced me.
MaryMagdaline
(6,869 posts)Turned 18 in January 1977. I have never regretted my vote.
MarineCombatEngineer
(12,630 posts)my very first ever vote was in '68, I had turned 21 in Sept. of that year and voted for H. Humphrey, unfortunately, he lost to R. Nixon and the rest is history.
Crunchy Frog
(26,745 posts)so missed being able to vote for him by a few months.
My 1st vote was for Mondale.
TomSlick
(11,209 posts)pfitz59
(10,483 posts)I was 21.
electric_blue68
(15,240 posts)Last edited Fri May 17, 2024, 09:05 AM - Edit history (2)
LLC
(20 posts)Was this!
I was and still am proud to have voted for Jimmy Carter!
samnsara
(17,702 posts)....i was a fierce indy until Newt G.
Evolve Dammit
(16,969 posts)lark
(23,290 posts)nitpicked
(283 posts)But not my first vote (there was a city election before then).
DFW
(54,728 posts)Carter was my second presidential vote. My first was for George McGovern.
I was one for five until Bill Clinton showed up in the 1992 primary season.
Rhiannon12866
(208,393 posts)And I still feel the same way!
jojog
(373 posts)It was Al's first campaign for house in 4th District Tenn.
UpInArms
(51,306 posts)At the age of 19
H2O Man
(73,913 posts)(recommended)
One of the best presidents of my lifetime.
RobinA
(9,941 posts)I voted for Ford. I was never a Carter as president fan. I like the guy, but not as president. I did vote for him in '80, however.