President Richard Nixon signs into law amendments to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that make permanent the ban on racial discrimination in voting and lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 for all federal, state and local elections.
In addition, the changes extend, for five more years, Section 5, which gave the Justice Department extra power to eliminate voting discrimination in mainly Southern states and required states to secure approval of the U.S. attorney general before implementing new voting practices. Section 5 is extended again in 1975 and 1982.