2003.05.21
2003.05.21
did you know that you don’t have the right to vote according to the constitution of the united states?
you don’t have the constitutional right to vote for your congressional representatives in the house or senate unless your state legislature determines you have that right:
The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
(Article One, Section Four, US Constitution)
you don’t have the constitutional right to directly vote for the president. the “popular election” makes it seem so, and much is made of the “popular election”, but it is ultimately and legally moot:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
(Article Two, Section One, Paragraph Two, US Constitution)
a few people might say, “what about the 19th amendment?†it may seem that the 19th amendment says you have the right to vote:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
(Amendment 19, US Constitution)
however, amendment 19 merely states that in says that in a place where individual citizens are allowed to vote, ALL citizens of legal age are allowed to vote. you can’t just have men vote, or whites, or straight people. if a place (specifically a state) were to say that *no one* is allowed to vote then it’s a moot point; the 19th amendment does not apply.
“we’re a democracy!” you cry. “we have the right to vote; we always have and always will.”
no, we do not have the right to vote. we are allowed to vote because our state legislatures allow us to vote. if a state had passed laws (or passes a new law) which said that you were not allowed to vote, then that would be the law and there is nothing the US constitution could do about it. facinating.
most states declare openly that you, as a citizen of the state you reside in, have the right to vote. louisiana is a good example:
Every citizen of the state, upon reaching eighteen years of age, shall have the right to register and vote, except that this right may be suspended while a person is interdicted and judicially declared mentally incompetent or is under an order of imprisonment for conviction of a felony.
(Article 1, Section 10, Paragraph A, State Constitution of Louisiana)
texas has an interesting manner of explaining you have the right to vote in their state:
Section 1 - CLASSES OF PERSONS NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE
(a) The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State: (1) persons under 18 years of age; (2) persons who have been determined mentally incompetent by a court, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make; and (3) persons convicted of any felony, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make.
(b) The legislature shall enact laws to exclude from the right of suffrage persons who have been convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes.Section 2 - QUALIFIED ELECTOR; REGISTRATION; ABSENTEE VOTING
(a) Every person subject to none of the disqualifications provided by Section 1 of this article or by a law enacted under that section who is a citizen of the United States and who is a resident of this State shall be deemed a qualified voter; provided, however, that before offering to vote at an election a voter shall have registered, but such requirement for registration shall not be considered a qualification of a voter within the meaning of the term “qualified voter” as used in any other Article of this Constitution in respect to any matter except qualification and eligibility to vote at an election.
(b) The Legislature may authorize absentee voting.
(c) The privilege of free suffrage shall be protected by laws regulating elections and prohibiting under adequate penalties all undue influence in elections from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper practice.(Article Six - Suffrage, State Constitution of Texas)
very wordy. looks like it would be easy to find some legal loopholes. california’s right to vote is stated with simplicity and bluntness:
A United States citizen 18 years of age and resident in this State may vote.
(Article Two, Section Two, State Constitution of California)
every state i have looked at (i did not have time or inclination to look at every single one) had articles declaring a citizen’s right to vote, worded either as “vote” or “elect” or “suffrage”. every state also had some limitations -as the texas example above gives- of some exceptions to your having a right to vote.
this would make it appear we have the right to vote, and for practical purposes we do. this is, however, guaranteed by the states, not the federal government. it is conceivable that a state could write its constitution so that you do not have the right to vote. it is conceivable that there could be a state in the union in which a citizen has no right to vote. “we’re a democracy!” you cry again.
no, we’re not. we are a republic, at least in as much as we are anything. nowhere in the constitution does it say we are a democracy. nowhere, in fact, does it say we are anything other than a union. it does say that the constitution will guaruntee the states a republican form of government:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
(Article Four, Section Four, US Constitution)
please note that the clever wording of this belies whether it is the states or the federal government that shall be a republican form of government. is the constitution telling the states, “hey, the federal government will be in a republican form,†or is it saying, “hey, if you want to be a state in this union you have to have a republican form of government.”
the definition of a republic is vague. it could be defined as, “a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them”), however, a republic is also, “a political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president” (or a governor in the case of states) (quoted definitions from DICTIONARY.COM). so which is it? one in which a country/state is led by someone who is NOT a monarch but in which the people have no say in the governing of the country? or is it a country/state that is led by people chosen by the people?
if it is the latter, then we have to deal with the equally vague term, “the people.†while the united states has a very broad definition of “the people†who are allowed to vote (thus participate in the detirmination of their representatives), we see that in some other countries only the men may vote, or only people of a particular ruling party or class. these governments are also democracies (elections are held). they could also be republics. the could also be nominal dictatorships.
obviously i find all of this very interesting. who ever really thinks that america, land of the free and home of the brave, could be the land of the unfree, completely supported by the constitution? if someone had the balls and wherewithall to get each state to rescind a citizen’s right to vote. of course someone will point out that i am wrong i’m sure, but i’m reading the constitution which is the supreme law and fairly clear (aside from that republican form of government bit).
Categorized: rights
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