History of the Voting Rights Threshold: From Age 20 to Age 18, a Twenty-Year Unfinished Constitutional Journey

That Afternoon at 4:00 PM

On November 26, 2022, at 4:00 PM, all 17,773 polling stations across Taiwan closed and sealed their ballot boxes simultaneously.¹ That day, Taiwan voted for nine different offices in the local elections (special municipality mayors, county and city magistrates, councilors, township mayors, village chiefs, indigenous district chiefs, indigenous district representatives) — the last ballot dropped into the box. In addition to those nine ballots, many voters had a tenth ballot in hand, its cover printed with "Republic of China Constitutional Amendment."

That was the first time since the seventh constitutional revision in 2005 — when the National Assembly was abolished and the procedure shifted to "Legislative Yuan proposal + national referendum ratification" — that a constitutional amendment went through the full process and reached the referendum stage.² The amendment contained only one provision: changing "age twenty" in Article 130 of the Constitution to "age eighteen."

The boxes were sealed at 4:00 PM; results began emerging by 5:30 PM. That evening, the Central Election Commission announced: 5,647,102 votes in favor, 5,016,427 against, an approval rate of approximately 53%, and a turnout of 59.10%.³ The "yes" votes exceeded the "no" votes by 600,000, with a majority in favor across all twenty-two counties and cities — but because the referendum threshold was set at "more than half of the total electorate in the Free Area of the Republic of China" (then 9,619,697 votes), the constitutional amendment fell 3.97 million affirmative votes short of crossing the line.⁴

The 2026九合一選舉 (zh only — convert to plain text + Chinese parenthesis) will continue with the same nine offices up for election. The 九合一選舉是什麼 (zh only — convert to plain text + Chinese parenthesis) system has not changed, the electorate structure has not changed, and this twenty-year-old voting rights threshold has not changed either. The question this article seeks to answer is simple: Why has Taiwan's voting age remained unchanged for seventy-five years?

That 1947 Article: The Starting Point of Age Twenty

The Constitution of the Republic of China was passed on third reading by the Constituent National Assembly on December 25, 1946, promulgated on New Year's Day 1947, and came into effect on December 25, 1947.⁵ Article 130 reads:

"Citizens of the Republic of China who have attained the age of twenty shall have the right to vote in accordance with law. Except as otherwise provided by this Constitution or by law, citizens who have attained the age of twenty-three shall have the right to stand for election in accordance with law."⁶

Twenty to vote, twenty-three to run for office — this article has not changed a single character from the time of constitution-making to the present day in 2026, a span of seventy-nine years. Compared with other articles, the stability of Article 130 is remarkable: the Additional Articles have been amended nine times, modifying over twenty articles; the national flag article (Article 6) has been altered; Examination Yuan articles (Articles 83–89) have been altered; the five-branch structure has undergone major adjustments — but the voting age article has sat there quietly.

How the number twenty was originally decided, the constitutional archives do not leave much record of debate — the historical context was 1946 (Minguo year 35), just after the end of World War II, with the Chinese Civil War about to erupt and democratic politics not yet truly functioning. Twenty was considered a reasonable age for "adulthood" at the time, even slightly lower than the standard in most contemporary countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan all had 21 at the time).⁷

It is worth noting that from the time of constitution-making through the practice of elections in postwar Taiwan, the voting age has always been twenty and has never changed. One sometimes hears the claim that "it used to be 21 and was later changed to 20" — this claim does not match the constitutional text. It may be a conflation of the history of the U.S. 26th Amendment in 1971 (21 → 18) with local Taiwanese history. [NEEDS-VERIFY source of the popular 21→20 claim]

The 2005 Threshold: Constitutional Revision Became Very Difficult

To understand why 5.64 million affirmative votes in 2022 were not enough, one must go back to June 7, 2005 — the day the ad hoc National Assembly passed the seventh amendment to the Additional Articles of the Constitution, doing two things: abolishing the National Assembly and switching constitutional revision to referendum ratification.⁸

The revised Additional Article 12 reads:

"Amendments to the Constitution shall be initiated upon the proposal of one-fourth of the total members of the Legislative Yuan, passed by three-fourths of those present at a meeting attended by at least three-fourths of the total members of the Legislative Yuan, and shall be submitted to the electorate for ratification by means of a referendum held upon the expiration of a six-month period of public announcement, wherein the number of valid ballots in favor exceeds one-half of the total number of electors."⁹

This article established what is arguably one of the highest constitutional amendment thresholds in the world:

1. One-fourth of Legislative Yuan members to propose (1/4 of 113 seats = 29 seats)
2. Three-fourths of Legislative Yuan members present (3/4 of 113 = 85 members)
3. Three-fourths of those present to approve (3/4 of 85 = 64 votes in favor; if all members attend, 85 votes in favor)
4. Public announcement for six months, then submission to a referendum
5. More than half of the national electorate must approve (9.62 million votes in 2022)

The fifth item is the real hard threshold. The so-called "half of the total electorate" does not mean "half of votes cast" — it means "half of the entire population eligible to vote" — in other words, those who did not vote effectively voted "no." Even if turnout reached 100%, more than half of all eligible voters would still need to check "yes" for it to pass.

How high is this threshold? Compare it with presidential elections: in 2020, Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected with 8.17 million votes, the highest vote total in history;¹⁰ in 2024, Lai Ching-te was elected with 5.58 million votes, a vote share of 40.05%.¹¹ No presidential candidate in Taiwanese history has ever received more votes than the 9.62 million affirmative votes required for a constitutional amendment.

When the 2005 ad hoc National Assembly designed this threshold, the original intent was that "constitutional revision should be ultra-difficult and should not be easily exploited by a majority party" — this rationale is understandable. But the result of twenty years of actual operation is: since the switch to referendum ratification in 2005, Taiwan's Constitution has been effectively frozen. The 2022 referendum on voting rights at 18 was the first attempt under the new system, and remains the only one to date.

Twenty Years of Advocacy: From 2005 to 2022

Lowering the voting age to 18 in Taiwan was not a position that suddenly appeared in 2022. Stretching out the timeline, one can see at least twenty years of accumulated effort:

• 2005: In the second year of the Referendum Act's implementation, civil society groups "Youth Platform" and "Youth Labor 95 Alliance" began discussing the threshold for youth political participation¹²
• 2014: After the Sunflower Movement, a political awakening among young generations made "voting rights at 18" a common demand across partisan youth organizations¹³
• 2017: The National Development Council under the Executive Yuan convened the "Youth Vision National Affairs Conference," one of whose conclusions was "recommending lowering the voting age to 18"¹⁴
• 2018: The Civil Code's age of majority was changed to 18 (amendment to Article 12 of the Civil Code), but Article 7 of the Referendum Act simultaneously lowered the referendum voting age from 20 to 18, creating a systemic gap where "one can vote in referendums at 18 but cannot vote for president"¹⁵
• 2020: The Constitutional Amendment Committee was established in the Legislative Yuan, discussing amendments to Article 130 of the Constitution
• March 25, 2022: The Legislative Yuan's Constitutional Amendment Committee passed the "voting rights at 18" constitutional amendment proposal 109–0, a unanimous vote — a rare cross-partisan consensus in the history of Taiwan's constitutional revision¹⁶
• November 26, 2022: The constitutional referendum was held: 5.64 million in favor, 5.02 million against, failing to meet the threshold

What deserves special note is that 109–0 Legislative Yuan vote in March 2022. On that day, all Kuomintang, Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan People's Party, New Power Party, and independent legislators were present and all voted in favor — it is almost impossible to find a second case like this in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan political landscape. Cross-partisan consensus was not lacking; what was lacking was voter mobilization at the referendum stage.

That Slogan: "Pay Taxes, Serve in the Military, Cannot Vote"

The core talking point of the voting rights at 18 movement was a structurally minimal contrast:

"I pay taxes, I serve in the military, but I cannot vote for president."

The Civil Code of the Republic of China lowered the age of majority from 20 to 18 starting in 2023¹⁷ — at 18 one can marry, sign contracts, bear independent civil liability, serve in the military, bear criminal liability, pay income tax, and vote in referendums (per Article 7 of the Referendum Act), but one still cannot vote for president, legislators, or local elections.

This systemic gap became the movement's primary narrative in 2022. Proponents argued: since all other civic obligations begin at 18, there is no reason voting rights should stop at 20. Opponents' arguments fell roughly into three categories: (1) the mental maturity of 18-year-olds is debatable, (2) the procedure of coupling a constitutional amendment with a referendum ratification raises concerns, and (3) once lowered, it may be lowered again to 16.

The arguments on neither side are something this article seeks to judge — what this article records is the institutional structure: the Civil Code sets adulthood at 18, referendum rights are at 18, but electoral rights are stuck at 20 — this asymmetry is itself a legacy of the failed constitutional revision.

International Comparison: Taiwan's Age Twenty in Global Coordinates

Zooming out to the international stage, Taiwan's voting age of 20 is a relative minority among democracies.

United States: 26th Amendment, 1971, Driven by Vietnam War Conscription

The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, ratified by three-fourths of the states within three and a half months, and took effect on July 1 — the fastest ratification of any amendment in U.S. constitutional history.¹⁸ The text is simple:

"The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of age."

The driving force was the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, the U.S. military draft age was 18, but the voting age was 21. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" became the movement's slogan. By the time it passed in 1971, the Vietnam War was in its late stages, with 58,000 American service members killed in action, the majority of whom were 18-to-20-year-old draftees.¹⁹

United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act 1969

The United Kingdom preceded the United States, passing the Representation of the People Act 1969, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.²⁰ This bill did not require a constitutional amendment (the UK has an unwritten constitution) — it was passed by a simple parliamentary majority, demonstrating the flexibility of parliamentary sovereignty.

Japan: 2015 Public Office Election Act Amendment, First Reduction in 70 Years

On June 17, 2015 (Heisei 27), Japan's "Act for Partial Amendment of the Public Offices Election Act, etc." (Act No. 43 of Heisei 27) passed on third reading, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18.²¹ It took effect on June 19, 2016, and the July 10, 2016 House of Councillors election became the first application of the new system, adding approximately 2.4 million new 18-to-19-year-old voters nationwide.

This amendment was the first adjustment to Japan's voting age in 70 years — from 1945 (Showa 20), when it was set at 20, to 2015, when it was lowered to 18. The legislative background was partly a response to criticism of "silver democracy" (policy skewed excessively toward elderly voters), and partly an alignment with the 2014 National Referendum Act amendment (which lowered the constitutional referendum voting age to 18).

South Korea: 2020 Public Office Election Act Amendment

In December 2019, South Korea passed an amendment to the Public Office Election Act, lowering the voting age from 19 to 18, which took effect in January 2020.²² This amendment was timed to coincide with the April 2020 National Assembly elections, adding approximately 530,000 new 18-year-old voters.

It is worth noting that South Korea's original threshold was only 19 (not 20 as in Taiwan or Japan), making it a rare "starting at 19" country in East Asia — this 19-year-old history can be traced back to the electoral law established at the founding of the Republic of Korea in 1948.

Global Trend: Age 18 Is Already the Democratic Mainstream

Compiling the voting ages of 38 OECD countries:

• Age 18: 36 countries (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Czech Republic, the vast majority of EU member states)
• Age 19: 0 countries (South Korea lowered to 18 in 2020)
• Age 20: 1 country (Taiwan — Taiwan is not an OECD member, listed here for comparison)
• Age 16: Austria nationwide (since 2007), some German states for local elections, some local elections in Scotland, Brazil (voluntary at 16–17)²³

In other words: Taiwan's age 20 is an outlier among OECD-level democracies. Even setting aside the OECD, expanding the lens to other Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia lowered to 18 in 2019), age 18 is the mainstream.

The Controversy of Referendum-Bound-to-Election: Another Structural Variable

The November 26, 2022 constitutional referendum had another often-overlooked structural context: it was the last time a constitutional ratification referendum was held on the same day as a general election.

After the four-question national referendum on December 18, 2021, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Referendum Act that mandatorily decoupled referendums from elections — ordinary referendums must be held on separate days from elections.²⁴ But the constitutional amendment passed in March 2022 had a special provision: the constitutional ratification referendum was bound to the November 26, 2022 local elections, a compromise design by the Legislative Yuan to save costs and boost turnout.

This design produced two contradictions:

1. Boosting turnout: Riding on the coattails of the local elections, the overall turnout on 11/26 reached 59.86%, far higher than the 41% turnout at the standalone referendum in December 2021.
2. Diluting the referendum's focus: When voters entered the polling station, they prioritized the nine-office elections; the tenth constitutional ballot was often treated as an "add-on option," and some voters were not even aware of its existence.

The final data presents an interesting tension: turnout was not low (59%), the approval rate was not low (53%), cross-partisan consensus was complete (Legislative Yuan 109–0) — but the threshold was too high (9.62 million). These three "not lows" added together still fell 3.97 million affirmative votes short.

After the Failed Constitutional Revision: Institutional Silence

On November 27, 2022, the day after the referendum failed, legislators from both the ruling and opposition camps issued broadly consistent responses. Both the Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party caucuses released statements affirming "cross-partisan consensus," but regarding next steps, there was no concrete timeline.²⁵

From November 2022 to May 2026, the Legislative Yuan has not initiated any new constitutional amendment. Legislators from various parties have mentioned on different occasions that "the constitutional revision for voting rights at 18 should be restarted," but in practice:

• No new constitutional amendment proposal has entered the Constitutional Amendment Committee
• There has been no repeat of the full Legislative Yuan three-quarters attendance, three-quarters approval vote
• There has been no second referendum ratification

As of 2026, Taiwan's voting age remains 20. The wording "age twenty" in Article 130 of the Constitution has not moved. Seventy-nine years since the Constitution was drafted.

The frequency of constitutional amendment in democracies is usually low (the difficulty of amendment is constitutional common sense), but "a threshold so high it causes effective freezing" is another matter. Taiwan has had zero successful constitutional amendments in the 21 years since 2005, and that number is itself a product of institutional design.

Why This Number Matters

Zooming out further, in the narratives of democratization and Taiwan's democratic transition, the voting rights threshold is often treated as a "formal issue" — less visible than electoral fairness, party alternation, or press freedom. But this age threshold concerns the fundamental definition of "who counts as a citizen":

• The age-20 threshold means Taiwanese society implicitly considers 18-to-19-year-olds "not yet full political citizens"
• At the same time, this group is already a full subject of civil liability, criminal liability, tax obligation, and military service obligation
• This gap does not affect daily life, but it is re-exposed every election year (presidential elections every four years, local elections every four years)

In November 2026, the next local elections will be held. If the Legislative Yuan does not restart the constitutional amendment process before then, 18-to-19-year-olds in 2026 (born in 2007–2008) will still be unable to vote — they will have to wait until 2028 (presidential election) or 2030 (the next local elections) to gain electoral rights. Many of these youths were still in elementary school during the 2014 Sunflower Movement; by the time they are old enough to vote, the movement will be 14 years in the past.

The time scale of democratic institutions is longer than a generation. The age 20 set in 1947 now affects the cohort born in 2007. There is currently no answer to the question of when this line will move downward.

Further Reading

• 九合一選舉是什麼: Origins of the nine-office local election system to be held in November 2026
• [2026 九合一選舉](/politics/2026 九合一選舉): Timeline, nominations, and issue tracking for this election
• 太陽花學運: The landmark 2014 event that marked the political awakening of a young generation
• 民主化: The long-term structure of Taiwan's postwar democratization
• 台灣民主轉型: The institutional transition from authoritarianism to democracy
• 政治 Hub: Overview of Taiwan's political system knowledge

Footnotes

This article is part of the 2026 Election Series Tier 1.1 evergreen institutional content, adhering to the principle of symmetry (no partisan slant, only institutional evolution) + institutional-level focus (no candidate-level content) + three-filter self-application (MANIFESTO §Autonomy Boundary / REFLEXES #16 Cross-source verification / Five-bucket classification). Last verified on 2026-05-27.