Discussion for article #239328
Every time someone told me how there was no mention of the Right to Vote in the Constitution, I wanted to slap them.
It’s mentioned several times.
So, maybe the Obama Administration had better get their lawyers to argue that point.
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Voting… Ha! How pre Trump…
I am where I am today only because men and women like Rosanell Eaton refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality.
And this is precisely WHY the GOP is trying to over-turn or gut the VRA - they never want to see another black person in the WH. At least not unless [s]he is a Republican.
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There will never be another candidate black or white, like Obama. He is a once in a lifetime and I am glad he came in my lifetime.
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But then it gets messy and provides room for interpretation by the states. Like who is a voter, where to vote, registration, etc.
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“I am here today…” is precisely why voting rights are being challenged Mr. President.
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Yes, but the right to vote is not general.
So, there is a provision that says the right to vote cannot be denied on account of sex etc.
There is no general “you have a right to vote” statement akin to the freedom of speech. The phrasing suggests limits left and right are okay EXCEPT for the ones specifically provided for in the text. It’s problematic.
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Be sure to read the very long story from the NY Times magazine from July 29 (if a paywall doesn’t prevent it), a comprehensive essay about the long struggle for voting rights, and the president’s response to the essay couldn’t be more appropriate and heartfelt.
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Acknowledging that the right to vote is inherent in the Constitution, Pocan nevertheless called for amending the document and declared: “Nothing in the Constitution explicitly guarantees our right to vote.”
Whether adding such a guarantee would have much impact is debatable. But Pocan’s narrowly constructed claim is accurately stated.
We rate it True.
Yet courts and citizens remain oddly am- bivalent about it; it is common to regard voting as a “privilege,” an incident of citizenship granted to some but not all. The “privilege” over the years has been made dependent on literacy, or long residency in a community, or ability to prove identity, or lack of a criminal past. None of these conditions would be allowed to restrict free speech, or freedom from “unreasonable” searches, or the right to counsel, even though each of those rights is mentioned once in the Constitution. The right to vote of citizens of the United States remains a kind of stepchild in the family of American rights, perhaps because it is not listed in the Bill of Rights, and perhaps because Americans still retain the Framers’ ambivalence about democracy.
For the same reason as the [now defunct] ERA, I, for one, thinks the right to vote also needs to be guaranteed up front by constitutional ammendment to avoid the ambiguity. Ours is, if I remember correctly, one of the few constitutions in the western world that doesn’t explicitly guarantee it.
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I absolutely agree. I just get fed up with people who say it isn’t mentioned. It’s there…but we need a Constitutional Amendment stating flat out that the right to vote shall not be infringed.
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I am where I am today only because men and women like Rosanell Eaton refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality.
Umm, Mr Obama, sir, this is EXACTLY why they won’t restore it.
But I am sure you know that.
GOP won’t do shit. Count on it.
Perhaps Obama should rewrite the letter, making the case that restoring the act will help billionaires reach their true potential and it would help cut taxes, raise corporate welfare and freedom. Sprinkle in “Don’t tread on me!” a few times. Might have a better chance with these clowns.
On a more serious note, we have to retake the Senate and House.
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NOTHING has made racist more virulent than having a black LIBERAL president. The hatred they generate toward him is a stain upon the country.
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“there is a provision that says the RIGHT TO VOTE cannot be denied”
Without reservation it clearly states that voting is a right.
Anything or anyone restricting that right is anti-democracy. I give you the Republican party. I give you racists. I give you rightwing fascists.
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Where does it say “without reservation”? In the 14th Amendment, e.g., where “reservations” are placed regarding when a state can be penalized for voting discrimination? Various amendments that provide specific barriers (e.g., “on account of race” … not “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech” … full stop)?
People under 18 cannot vote. This is a “restriction.” Teens under 18 can speak, practice religion, have abortions without an absolute veto etc. Constitutionally speaking. But, they do not have a right to vote.
Speaking to the choir that the right to vote is essential but the explicit “right to vote” is specific, not general. This is one reason some want a more explicit “right to vote” constitutional amendment like there is a barrier against poll taxes even though the equal protection provision alone arguably makes that redundant. In fact, going by the text, the Electoral College sets up a regime where even today a state legislature can by state law choose the state’s electors for President. No explicit violation of the people’s right to vote there.
I basically agree though not as to the ERA point. There are various issues like the Electoral College, voting in D.C. & the territories etc. that the text itself complicates for which an amendment can address too.