Blue Over Red Lines Vote

Blue field with two circle and one line cutouts exposing red X on a white background.

The 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971, establishing the minimum voting age as 18 for state and federal elections in the United States. Leading up to this momentous event, organizers created buttons, stickers, and other graphics urging voters to “Vote 18” or “Vote Yes 18.” As many slogans claimed "Old enough to fight, Old enough to vote"—highlighting the United States’ Military’s Selective Service or draft age of 18—this button was a call for the voting age to be lowered in tandem. 

Though this may seem like an abstract art design, turn this button to the side and a stylized ‘18’ featuring an ‘X’ in the background is revealed, alluding to the act of voting. This, and similar, images were used regularly by youth voting rights campaigns in the early 1970s, including the Let Us Vote Committee, who are the likely creators of this particular design.