Constitutional Right to Vote Gaining Support

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

A Constitutional right to vote became a political issue after the Supreme Court questioned the idea. Ballot Access News, written by election expert Richard Winger, had the following article, Bill to Put Right to Vote in U.S. Constitution Has Eleven Sponsors So Far, about the progress of the apparently partisan vote:

The proposed U.S. Constitutional amendment, putting the right to vote into the Constitution, now has eleven sponsors. It is HJR 44. The sponsors, all Democrats, are: Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Keith Ellison (Minnesota), Matt Cartwright (Pennsylvania), William Clay (Missouri), Donna Edwards (Maryland), Al Green (Texas), Raul Grijalva (Arizona), Henry Johnson (Georgia), Barbara Lee (California), James McGovern (Massachusetts), and Janice Schakowsky (Illinois).

Also, FairVote had a really good article with further information on the right to vote amendment:

The 2000 Presidential Election was the first time many Americans realized the necessity of a constitutional right to vote. The majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore (2000), wrote, “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.” The U.S. is one of only 11 other democracies in the world with no affirmative right to vote enshrined in its constitution.

Because there is no right to vote in the U.S. Constitution, individual states set their own electoral policies and procedures. This leads to confusing and sometimes contradictory policies regarding ballot design, polling hours, voting equipment, voter registration requirements, and ex-felon voting rights. As a result, our electoral system is divided into 50 states, more than 3,000 counties and approximately 13,000 voting districts, all separate and unequal.

There is plenty of good information on the FairVote website, good friends of Democracy Chronicles.