On August 18, the Fourth Circuit struck down South Carolina’s law that says all voters age 65 and above may vote early, but younger voters may not vote early unless they won’t be near their home on election day.  Grant v Belangia, 25-1413.  Here is the decision.

The state is now free to either extend early voting with no excuse to all voters, or to prohibit it for all voters.

The decision depends on the 26th Amendment, which outlaws discrimination by age for the voting process, except of course it doesn’t apply to people under age 18.

This is the first time the 26th amendment has been used to strike down a law, since the early 1970’s.