ByBen Lenhart
1. No Right to Vote in the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees many rights, including the right to free speech and freedom of religion. But neither when passed in 1788, nor as it exists today in 2019 (with its 27 amendments) does the Constitution contain an express right to vote. While lacking this guarantee, the Constitution has a lot to say about voting, with the word “vote” appearing more than 40 times in the Constitution. Where voting rights have been established by other means (see below) the Constitution forbids denying that right to citizens based on race or color (15th Amendment), or sex (19th Amendment), or the failure to pay a poll tax (24th Amendment), or age for anyone 18 or older (26th Amendment).In other words, today when the right to vote exists, it has to be available without discrimination.
2. Did the Founding Fathers “Forget” the Right to Vote? At first glance, it seems that way. How could such an important right—perhaps the most important right—fail to be included in the Constitution? The answer is two-fold.
First, the battle over ratification of the Constitution, from 1787-88, was fought between the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist, with the latter demanding that power should largely remain with the states, and not with the federal government. As with many issues, the Constitution compromised on this issue, giving the states the power to manage elections, but allowing Congress to step in if needed. Article 1, Section IV states: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” In other words, the Founding Fathers deliberately decided to leave with the states the power to establish the “rules of the road” for voting and elections, and today all 50 States recognize a right to vote.
Second, the Founders saw voting (as least for white males) as so central to the very idea of America that they believed no state would dare to deny its citizens the right to vote. To make sure of this, Article IV of the Constitution states that “the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” Since citizens hold ultimate power in a republic, if a state denied all of its citizens the right to vote, that would be a denial of a republican form of government. If such a denial occurred, the “Guarantee” clause would open the door to Federal intervention.
3.Early Voter Discrimination. In the early decades of our nation, the franchise was generally limited to property-owning white males. For example, Georgia limited suffrage to white males owning at least 50 acres of land. Delaware required at least 40 dollars of property in order for white males to vote. And Connecticut only allowed those white males to vote who owned land worth an annual rent of $2 or livestock worth $40.
4. The Long Fight for Full Voting Rights. The struggle for full voting rights in America has been long, difficult, and bloody, and remains ongoing. After the Civil War, Jim Crow and Black Codes tried to reverse the 15th Amendment, which had promised that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” A key goal of the long Civil Rights movement was to hold America to that promise. The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major step toward that goal and banned many techniques—such as literacy tests, property requirements, or moral character tests—that had been used to prevent Americans from voting. After an epic struggle, women finally gained the Constitutional right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. Poll taxes and other anti-voting measures were eventually banned. The right to vote in America has come a very long way, and now more than 240 million Americans enjoy this essential right.
5.Obstacles to Voting Today. Despite huge success in the fight to extend suffrage, major obstacles to voting remain, including overly stringent voter ID laws; requiring registration far in advance of an election; limited or non-existent absentee voting; difficult procedures for obtaining required voter IDs; and purging registered voter lists shortly before an election. Preventing voter fraud is often cited as the reason for these laws, and while most agree this is a valid goal, most also agree that this goal must be pursued in a way that does not infringe on American’s fundamental right to vote. The courts have not been not shy in striking down “voter fraud prevention” laws that go too far in this area.
6. Census. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution mandates a census every 10 years. The 2020 Census powerfully impacts voting. The census results will (a) determine the number of representatives that each state gets to have in Congress, (b) impact the number of electors that each state has in the Electoral College for the Presidential election, and (c) influence the amounts that each state receives in various federal aid programs. In a headline-grabbing case (Department of Commerce v. New York) decided just a few months ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration could not add a citizenship question to the Census. Rejecting the government’s rationale for adding the question, the court found that “the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the Secretary gave for his decision.” The court also observed that while it usually deferred to the government in this area, “we are not required to exhibit a naiveté from which ordinary citizens are free.” The upshot: the main 2020 census form will not contain a citizenship question.
7. Gerrymandering. Named after Vice President Elbridge Gerry, gerrymandering is the practice of created oddly-shaped voting districts usually with the goal of helping the party that draws up the map or harming that party’s opponents. One gerrymandering technique is to try to draw lines—even if they meander all over the state—to ensure that the favored party has a majority of the electorate in as many districts as possible. Gerrymandering can be particularly harmful to minority groups. Gerrymandering sometimes violates the “one person one vote” principle because it can give more weight to some votes (for example votes of the favored party in districts gerrymandered to give the favored party a slight majority in multiple districts) and less weight to others (for example those votes in a district that has been packed with nearly 100 percent of the opposing party).
8. Right to Vote in Virginia. Unlike the Federal Constitution, the Virginia Constitution expressly grants Virginians the right to vote (Article 1) and sets out rules for who can vote and how elections are to be conducted (Article 2). These constitutional provisions are supplemented by state and local laws. While Virginia and other states have the freedom to set their own voting rules, those local rules can be (and often have been) struck down if they violate the Federal Constitution or Federal voting laws.
9.Washington, DC Voting Rights. In 1961, DC residents gained limited voting rights with the passage of the 23rd Amendment, which gave DC three electoral votes in presidential elections. Of course, DC still lacks direct voting representation in Congress, although a Constitutional amendment has been proposed to give DC its own voting congressman and senators.
10. Conclusion. The other rights that we prize as Americans cannot exist without the right to vote. But the right to vote is meaningless if we don’t use it—only 53 percent of those eligible voted in the 2018 Congressional elections. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black put it this way: “No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.”
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato (429-347 BC)
THE PATRIOT
"FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY"
and is protected speech pursuant to the "unalienable rights" of all men, and the First (and Second) Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, In God we trust
Stand Up To Government Corruption and Hypocrisy
Knowledge Is Power And Information is Liberating: The FRIENDS OF LIBERTY BLOG GROUPS are non-profit blogs dedicated to bringing as much truth as possible to the readers.
Knowledge Is Power And Information is Liberating: The FRIENDS OF LIBERTY BLOG GROUPS are non-profit blogs dedicated to bringing as much truth as possible to the readers.
NEVER FORGET THE SACRIFICES
BY OUR VETERANS
Note: We at The Patriot cannot make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information.
The Patriot is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with the mission to Educate, protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights.
Support the Trump Presidency and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT REGISTERED HERE WHERE THE BUCK STOPS!
GUEST POSTING: WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE PUBLISHED ... DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?
Knowledge Is Power - Information Is Liberating: The Patriot Welcome is a non-profit blog dedicated to bringing as much truth as possible to the readers.
Big Tech has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers' newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share with your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you
Please share… Like many other fact-oriented bloggers, we've been exiled from Facebook as well as other "mainstream" social sites.
We will continue to search for alternative sites, some of which have already been compromised, in order to deliver our message and urge all of those who want facts, not spin and/or censorship, to do so as well.
Keep on seeking the truth, rally your friends and family and expose as much corruption as you can… every little bit helps add pressure on the powers that are no more.
Keep on seeking the truth, rally your friends and family and expose as much corruption as you can… every little bit helps add pressure on the powers that are no more.
"Yet, while denial might placate those who do not prefer to confront unpleasant facts, truth does not mold itself to the wishes and desires of the willfully ignorant." Unknown
Those Who Don't Know The True Value Of Loyalty Can Never Appreciate The Cost Of Betrayal.
No comments:
Post a Comment