Voting rights in the United States
Encyclopedia
The issue of voting rights in the United States has been contentious throughout the country's history
. Eligibility to vote in the U.S. is determined by both Federal and state law. Currently, only citizens can vote in U.S. elections (although this has not always been the case). Who is (or who can become) a citizen is governed on a national basis by Federal law. In the absence of a federal law or constitutional amendment, each State is given considerable discretion to establish qualifications for suffrage and candidacy within its own jurisdiction. When this country was founded, only white men with property were permitted to vote (although freed African Americans could vote in four states). White working men, almost all women, and all other people of color were denied the franchise. At the time of the Civil War, most white men were allowed to vote, whether or not they owned property, but Literacy tests, poll taxes, and even religious tests were used in various places, and most white women, people of color, and Native Americans still could not vote.
Even though one under the United States Constitution
, in Article VI, section 3, stipulates that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The Constitution, however, leaves the determination of voting qualifications to the individual states. Over time, the federal role in elections has increased through amendments to the Constitution and enacted legislation, such as the Voting Rights Act
of 1965. At least four of the fifteen post-Civil War
constitutional amendments were ratified specifically to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens. These extensions state that voting rights cannot be denied or abridged based on:
In addition, the 17th Amendment
provided for the direct election of United States Senators
.
The "right to vote" is explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution in the above referenced Amendments, but only in reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications. In other words, the "right to vote" is perhaps better understood, in layman's terms, as only prohibiting certain forms of legal discrimination in establishing qualifications for suffrage. The "right to vote" may or may not be denied for other reasons.
For example, many States require eligible citizens to register to vote a set number of days prior to the election in order to vote. More controversial restrictions include those laws that prohibit convicted felons
from voting or, as seen in Bush v. Gore
, disputes as to what rules should apply in counting or recounting ballots
A state may choose to fill an office by means other than an election. For example, upon death or resignation of a legislator, the state may allow the affiliated political party to choose a replacement to hold office until the next scheduled election. Such an appointment is often affirmed by the governor.
Throughout the 1800s, many native tribes gradually lost claim to the lands they had inhabited for centuries. It wasn’t until 1879 in the Standing Bear trial that American Indians were even recognized as persons in the eyes of the white man's law. Judge Dundy of Nebraska declared that Indians were people within the meaning of the laws, and that they had the rights associated with a writ of habeas corpus. However, Judge Dundy left the unsettled question whether Native Americans were guaranteed citizenship.
Even though Native Americans were born in the United States they were denied the right to vote because they were not considered citizens by law and were ineligible to vote. Many Native Americans were told that they would become citizens if they gave up their tribal affiliations in 1887, but this still did not guarantee their right to vote. It wasn’t until 1924 that many become United States citizens. However many Western states, continued to deny the right to vote through property requirements, economic pressures, hiding the polls, and condoning of physical violence against those who voted.
, before and after the 1776 Declaration of Independence
, Jews, Quakers and/or Catholics
were excluded from the franchise and/or from running for elections.
The Delaware Constitution of 1776
stated that "Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall (…) also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.". This was repealed by article I, section2. of the 1792 Constitution
: "No religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under this State.". The 1778 Constitution of the State of South Carolina
stated that "No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion", the 1777 Constitution of the State of Georgia (art. VI) that "The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county (…) and they shall be of the Protestant religion".
With the growth in the number of Baptists in Virginia before the Revolution, the issues of religious freedom became important to rising leaders such as James Madison
. As a young lawyer, he defended Baptist preachers who were not licensed by (and were opposed by) the established state Anglican Church. He carried developing ideas about religious freedom to be incorporated into the constitutional convention of the United States.
In 1787, Article One of the United States Constitution
stated that "the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature". More significantly, Article Six
disavowed the religious test requirements of several states, saying: "[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."[I]n 1810 the Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated:
In Maryland
, voting rights and eligibility as candidates were extended to Jewish Americans in 1828.
In some states, free men of color (though the property requirement in New York was eventually dropped for whites but not for blacks) also possessed the vote, a fact that was emphasized in Justice Curtis's
dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford
:
When the 14th Amendment was passed in 1866 it guaranteed citizenship to the former slaves and changing them in the eyes of the law from 3/5 of a person to whole persons. Then, in 1869, when the 15th Amendment was passed it guaranteed black men the right to vote with women and all races still unable to vote.
Furthermore the year 1869 marked the beginning of "Black Codes," or state laws that restricted the freedoms of African Americans. Among those freedoms restricted was the freedom to exercise the right to vote. These restrictions were enforced by Literacy tests, poll taxes, hiding the locations of the polls, economic pressures and threats of physical violence.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina upheld the ability of free African Americans to vote before they were disfranchised by decision of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1835. At the same time, convention delegates relaxed religious and property qualifications for whites. Alabama entered the union in 1819 with universal white suffrage provided for in its constitution. Its actions in the late 19th century disfranchised poor whites as well as blacks.
Connecticut adopts the nation's first literacy test for voters in order to undermine the 15th amendment, which gives every person the right to vote. Massachusetts follows suit in 1857.The Fifteenth Amendment
to the Constitution, one of three adopted in response to the American Civil War
, prevented any state from denying the right to vote to any citizen on account of his race. This was primarily related to protecting the franchise of freedmen, but it also applied to non-white minorities such as Mexican Americans in Texas. The state governments under Reconstruction adopted new state Constitutions or amendments designed to protect the ability of freedmen to vote. The unsettled environment after the war regularly erupted with violence as groups tried to protect their power. Particularly in the South, in the aftermath of the Civil War, whites started working to limit the ability of freedmen to vote. In the 1860s, secret vigilante
groups like the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK) used violence and intimidation to keep freedmen in a controlled role and reestablish white supremacy. Nonetheless, freedmen registered and voted in high numbers, and many were elected to local offices through the 1880s.
In the mid-1870s there was a rise in more powerful paramilitary groups, such as the White League
, originating in Louisiana
in 1874 after a disputed election; and the Red Shirts, originating in Mississippi
in 1875 and growing in North and South Carolina
; as well as other "White Line" rifle clubs. They operated openly, were more organized than the KKK, and directed their efforts at political goals: to disrupt Republican organizing, turn Republicans out of office, and intimidate or kill blacks to suppress black voting. They worked as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." For instance, estimates were that 150 blacks were killed in North Carolina before the 1876 elections. Economic tactics such as eviction from rental housing or termination of employment were also used. Black voting was suppressed and white Democrats regained power in the South by the late 1870s. Then the legislators worked to create more complicated voter registration or election requirements, which reduced black voting more permanently.
African Americans were a majority in three southern states following the Civil War, and represented over 40% of the population in four other states. While they did not elect a majority of African Americans to office during Reconstruction, whites feared and resented the political power which they exercised. After ousting the Republicans, whites worked to restore white supremacy.
From 1890 to 1908, ten of the eleven former Confederate states completed political suppression by ratifying new constitutions or amendments which incorporated provisions to disfranchise blacks and poor whites. These included such methods as a poll tax
, record keeping, timing of registration in relation to elections, felony disenfranchisement
focusing on crimes thought to be committed by African Americans, complex residency requirements, and a literacy test
. Focusing on both blacks and poor whites ensured that there would be no coalition between them as had arisen in the elections of 1894, when Populist-Republican tickets wrested power away from Democrats. Prospective voters had to prove the ability to read and write the English language
to white voter registrars, who in practice used subjective requirements. Blacks were often denied the right to vote on this basis. Even literate blacks were often told they had "failed" such a test, if in fact, it had been administered. On the other hand, illiterate whites were sometimes allowed to vote through a "grandfather clause
" which waived literacy requirements if one's grandfather had been a qualified voter before 1866, or had served as a soldier, or was from a foreign country. As most blacks had grandfathers who were slaves before 1866, they could not use the grandfather clause exemption. Selective enforcement of the poll tax
was frequently also used to disqualify black and poor white voters.
African Americans quickly began legal challenges to such provisions in the 19th century, but it was years before any were successful before the U.S. Supreme Court. Booker T. Washington
, better known for his public stance of trying to work within constraints at Tuskegee University
, secretly helped fund and arrange representation for numerous legal challenges to disfranchisement. He called upon Northern allies to raise funds for the cause. The Supreme Court's upholding of Mississippi
's provisions, in Williams v. Mississippi
(1898), encouraged other states to follow the Mississippi plan of disfranchisement. African Americans brought other legal challenges, as in Giles v. Harris
(1903) and Giles v. Teasley (1904), but the Supreme Court upheld Alabama
constitutional provisions. In 1915 Oklahoma was the last state to append a grandfather clause to its literacy requirement due to Supreme Court cases Guinn v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the clause is in conflict with the 15th Amendment therefore the literacy test was unconstitutional.
From early in the 20th century, the newly established National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) took the lead in organizing or supporting legal challenges to segregation and disfranchisement. Gradually they planned the strategy of which cases to take forward. In Guinn v. United States
(1915), the first case in which the NAACP filed a brief, Supreme Court struck down the grandfather clause in Oklahoma
and Maryland
. Other states in which it was used had to retract their legislation as well. The challenge was successful.
Nearly as rapidly as the Supreme Court determined a specific provision was unconstitutional, however, state legislatures developed new statutes to continue to disfranchise African Americans, minorities and poor whites. In Smith v. Allwright
(1944), the Supreme Court struck down the use of state-sanctioned all-white primaries by the Democratic Party in the South. States developed still other restrictions on black voting. The NAACP continued with steady progress in legal challenges to disfranchisement and segregation. It was in 1957 that the first law to implement the 15th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, is passed. The Act set up the Civil Rights Commission—among its duties is to investigate voter discrimination.
As late as 1962, programs such as Operation Eagle Eye
in Arizona attempted to stymie minority voting through literacy tests. The Twenty-fourth Amendment
was ratified in 1964 to prohibit poll taxes as a condition of voter registration and voting in federal elections. Full enfranchisement of citizens was not secured until after the American Civil Rights Movement
gained passage by the United States Congress
of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965. Congress passed the legislation because it found "case by case litigation was inadequate to combat widespread and persistent discrimination in voting." Activism by African Americans thus helped secure an expanded and protected franchise that benefited all Americans.
The bill provided for Federal oversight if necessary to ensure just voter registration and election procedures. The rate of African-American registration and voting in Southern states climbed dramatically and quickly, but it took years of Federal oversight to work out the processes and overcome local resistance. In addition, it was not until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections
(1966) that all state poll taxes (for both state and federal elections) were officially declared unconstitutional as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This removed a burden on the poor.
. Outstanding leaders of the suffrage movement included Susan B. Anthony
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
. In some ways this, too, could be said to have grown out of the American Civil War
, as women had been strong leaders of the abolition
movement. Middle and upper class women generally became more politically active in the northern tier during and after the war.
In 1848 the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls New York, 68 women and 32 men sign the declaration of sentiment which lined the women rights movement. The first convention for women took place in 1850 it was held in Worcester Massachusetts this convention attracted more than 1000 participants since then this national convention was held yearly through 1860.
When Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women Suffrage Association their goal was to help women gaining voting rights through the constitution. Also in 1869 Lucy stone, Henry Blackwell formed the American women suffrage association (AWSA).However the (AWSA) focused on gaining voting rights for women through the Amendment. Although these two organization were fights for the same cause it was not until 1890 that the merged to form the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After the merger of the two organizations the (NAWSA) waged a state-by-state campaign to obtain voting rights for women.
Wyoming
was the first state in which women were able to vote, although it was a condition of the transition to statehood. Colorado was the first established state to allow women to vote on the same basis as men. Some other states also extended the franchise to women before the Constitution was amended. With ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
, women were granted the right to vote in time to participate in the Presidential
election of 1920.
Another political movement that was largely driven by women in the same era was the anti-alcohol
Temperance movement
, which led to the Eighteenth Amendment
and Prohibition
.
(returned) to Virginia in 1846 to protect slavery, and restore State and Federal voting rights in that portion of Virginia. When the Congress took control of Maryland Lands to create a national capital, Congress did not continue Maryland Voting Laws, and canceled all State and Federal elections starting with 1802. Local elections limped on in some neighborhoods, until 1871, when local elections were also forbidden by the US Congress. The US Congress is the National Legislature. Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, Congress can also be the State Legislature. This is because under the "Exclusive Legislature" language from I-8-17, Congress is both State and National Legislature for US Military Bases and the District of Columbia, but a State Legislature must explicitly agree to transfer that States Right to Congress in these Federal Lands. Active disenfranchisement is typically a States Rights Legislative issue, where the removal of voting rights is permitted. At the national level the Federal Government typically ignored voting rights issues, or affirmed that they were extended. The US Congress simply ignored disenfranchisement by Southern States before and after the Civil War.
Congress when acting as State Legislature on US Bases in the US, and Washington, DC, viewed its power as strong enough to remove all voting rights, like the Southern State Legislatures. All State and Federal elections were canceled by Congress choosing to take power, nullifying most Maryland laws, and actively omitting re-passing Maryland State voting laws in the District of Columbia. This omission of law strategy to disenfranchise is not in the Statutes at Large, but rather in the Congressional debates in Annals of Congress in 1800 and 1801. US Military bases were restored voting rights for all State and Federal elections, the same way they were disenfranchised, by simple law of US Congress, in 1986. But Washington, DC, had to ratify Amendment 23, in 1961, to restore US Presidential Elections for Washington, DC, citizens in 1964, after a 164 year gap. Amendment 23 is the only known limit to US Congress powers, forcing Congress to enforce Amendments 14,15,19,24,and 26 for the first time in Presidential elections. The Maryland citizens and territory converted in Washington, DC, in 1801 were represented in 1801 by US Rep. John Chew Thomas from Maryland's 2nd, and US Rep. William Craik from Maryland's 3rd Congressional Districts. These Maryland US Congressional Districts were redrawn and removed Washington, DC, and no full Congressional elections have been held since in DC, a gap continuing since 1801. The 17th Amendment permitting direct elections of US Senators has never been enforced in Washington, DC, nor does DC have a US Senator, since 1801 when it last voted with Maryland. After 100 to 190 years gap in various parts of the City, Congress permitted restoration of local elections on December 24, 1973. Congress created a non-voting substitute for a US Congressman, a Delegate, between 1871–1875, but then abolished that post as well. In 1971, Congress still opposed to restoring a full US Congressman for Washington, DC, instead reestablished this non-voting Delegate to US Congress, and has yet to abolish that substitute post.
Because only 600,000 full US Citizens are disenfranchised for US Legislative elections, more than the population of Wyoming, restoring Congressional elections in Washington, DC, is very low priority in Congress. Also Southern Conservatives, since Nixon's Southern Strategy of 1968, and 1972, this is almost exclusively Republicans, stridently oppose restoring elections for a city that is primarily black, poor, and votes Democratic.
A third voting rights movement was one in the 1960s to lower the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. This movement was given far greater impetus by the Vietnam War
, as it was noted that most of the young men who were being drafted
to fight in it were too young to have any voice in the selection of the leaders who were sending them to fight. This, too, had previously been a state issue, as several states, notably Georgia
, Kentucky
, and Hawaii
, had already allowed voting at a younger age than twenty-one. The Twenty-sixth Amendment
, ratified in 1971, required all states to set a voting age no higher than eighteen. As of 2008, no state has opted for an earlier age, although some state governments have discussed it. Some states, however, permit people who will be 18 on or before the general election to vote in primary elections and caucuses.
and Vermont
, allow incarcerated individuals to vote.
According to the Sentencing Project
, 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction ("felony disenfranchisement
"). The number of people disenfranchised amounts to approximately 2.42% of the otherwise-eligible voting population. This is in sharp contrast to European nations, like Norway, which allow ex-felons to vote after serving sentences and in some cases allow prisoners to vote. Prisoners have been allowed to vote in Canada
since 2002.
The United States has a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other Western nation, and more than Russia or China. The dramatic rise in the rate of incarceration in the United States, a 500% increase from the 1970s to the 1990s due to criminalization of certain behaviors, strict sentencing guidelines and changes in philosophy, has vastly increased the number of people disfranchised because of the felon provisions. Given the prison populations, the effects have been most disadvantageous for minority and poor communities.
where votes for the board of directors of a water reclamation district were allocated on the basis of the area of land owned in the district.
The Court placed restrictions on party political primaries as well. While states were permitted to require voters to register for a party 30 days before an election, or to require them to vote in only one party primary, they were not allowed to prevent a voter from voting in a party primary if the voter has voted in another party's primary in the last 23 months. The Court also ruled that a state may not mandate a 'closed primary' system and bar independents from voting in a party's primary against the wishes of the party itself. (Tashijan v. Republican Party of Connecticut )
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs
of the state of Hawaii
, created in 1978, limited voting eligibility and candidate eligibility to the native Hawaiians
on whose behalf it manages 1800000 acres (7,284.3 km²) of ceded land. The Supreme Court of the United States struck down the franchise restriction under the Fifteenth Amendment in Rice v. Cayetano
, following by eliminating the candidate restriction in Arakaki v. State of Hawai‘i a few months later.
or sometimes the District of Columbia may not be restrained from voting for a variety of protected reasons, stated in the aforementioned 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments.
, are no longer permitted to vote for US Congressional elections, nor State Elections. On Military Bases, where Congress acting as both national and State Legislature similarly disenfranchised US Citizens, Congress passed a law in 1986, permitting restoration of all voting rights in the State contributing land for the base. DC was not included in that 1986 simple law. DC citizens had voting rights removed in 1801 by Congress, when Congress took control of this portion of Maryland. Congress incrementally removed effective local control by 1871, and restored some local control in 1971, but can override any local laws. DC does not have full representation in the U.S. House or Senate. The Twenty-third Amendment
, restoring US Presidential Election after 164 year gap, is the only known limit to Congressional "exclusive legislature" from Article I-8-17, forcing Congress to enforce for the first time Amendments 14,15,19,24 and 26. Amendment 23 gave the District of Columbia three electors and hence the right to vote for President
, but not full US Congressmen nor US Senators. In 1978, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment that would have restored the District a full seat for representation in the Congress
as well. This amendment failed to receive ratification by sufficient number of states within the seven years required.
Since then, Congress has consistently refused to offer for ratification a constitutional amendment that would restore District of Columbia residents either representation in both the Senate
and the House
, as if the District were a Military Base or state
, or, as has also been proposed, voting representation in the House only. Additionally, Congress has continued to use its constitutional jurisdiction over the District "in all cases whatsoever" to countermand the expressed will of District voters through laws passed by their local elected officials. For this reason, many Washington residents call their city "The Last Colony
", the home of "taxation without representation".
A bill is now pending in Congress that would treat the District of Columbia as “a congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives,” and permit United States citizens residing in the capitol to vote for members of the House of Representatives. The District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, S. 160, 111th Cong. was passed by the U.S. Senate on February 26, 2009, by a vote of 61-37.
On April 1, 1993, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
of the Organization of American States
received a petition from Timothy Cooper on behalf of the Statehood Solidarity Committee (the “Petitioners”) against the Government of the United States (the “State” or “United States”). The petition indicated that it was presented on behalf of the members of the Statehood Solidarity Committee and all other US citizens resident in the District of Columbia. The petition also alleged that the United States was responsible for violations of Articles II (right to equality before law) and XX (right to vote and to participate in government) of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in connection with the inability of citizens of the District of Colombia to vote for and elect members of the U.S. Congress. On December 29, 2003, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights having examined the information and arguments provided by the parties on the question of admissibility, and without prejudging the merits of the matter, the Commission decided to admit the present petition in respect of Articles II and XX of the American Declaration. In addition, after having examined the merits of the Petitioners’ claims, the Commission concluded that the State is responsible for violations of the Petitioners’ rights under Articles II and XX of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
by denying District of Columbia citizens
an effective opportunity to participate in their federal legislature
.
(UOCAVA) of 1986. As a practical matter, individual states implement UOCAVA.
U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico
, Guam
, Northern Mariana Islands
, or the United States Virgin Islands
are not allowed to vote in U.S. national and presidential elections as these U.S. territories belong to the United States but are not part of the United States (i.e., they are unincorporated territories). The U.S. Constitution requires a voter to be resident in one of the 50 States or in the District of Columbia to vote in Federal elections. To say that the Constitution does not require extension of federal voting rights to U.S. territories residents does not, however, exclude the possibility that the Constitution may permit their enfranchisement under another source of law. A federal lawsuit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is currently pending to provide Virgin Islanders with the fundamental right to be represented in Congress and vote for U.S. President. The case is Civil No. 3:11-cv-110, Charles v. U.S. Federal Elections Commission. The case alleges it was racial discrimination present in a all white and segregated Congress of 1917 that was the impetus to deny the right to vote to a majority non-white constituency.
A citizen who has never resided in the United States can vote if a parent is eligible to vote in certain states. In some of these states the citizen can vote in local, state and federal elections, in others in federal elections only.
is an insular area
— a United States
territory that is neither a part of one of the fifty states
nor a part of the District of Columbia, the nation's federal district
. Insular areas, such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam
, are not allowed to choose electors in U.S. presidential elections or elect voting members of the U.S. Congress. This grows out of Article one
and Article two
of the United States constitution
, which specifically mandate that electors are to be chosen by "the People of the several States". In 1961, the 23rd amendment
to the constitution extended the right to choose electors to the District of Columbia
.
Any U.S. citizen who resides in Puerto Rico (whether a Puerto Rican
or not) is effectively disenfranchised at the national level. Although the Republican Party and Democratic Party chapters in Puerto Rico have selected voting delegates to the national nominating conventions participating on U.S. Presidential Primaries or Caucuses, U.S. citizens not residing in one of the 50 States or in the District of Columbia may not vote in Federal elections.
Various scholars (including a prominent U.S. judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
) conclude that the U.S. national-electoral process is not fully democratic due to U.S. Government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico.
, under Igartua v. United States, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(CCPR) is judicially considered not to be self-executing
, and therefore requires further legislative action to put it into effect domestically. Judge Lipez wrote in a concurring opinion, however, that the en banc majority's conclusion that the ICCPR is non-self-executing is ripe for reconsideration in a new en banc proceeding, and that if issues highlighted in a partial dissent by Judge Torruella were to be decided in favor of the plaintiffs, United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico would have a viable claim to equal voting rights .
Congress has in fact acted in partial compliance with its obligations under the ICCPR when, in 1961, just a few years after the United Nations first ratified the ICCPR, it amended our fundamental charter to allow the United States citizens who reside in the District of Columbia to vote for the Executive offices. See U.S. Const. amend. XXIII.51 Indeed, a bill is now pending in Congress that would treat the District of Columbia as “a congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives,” and permit United States citizens residing in the capitol to vote for members of the House of Representatives. See District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, S. 160, 111th Cong. (passed by Senate, February 26, 2009) (2009).52 However, the United States has not taken similar “steps” with regard to the five million United States citizens who reside in the other U.S. territories, of which close to four million are residents of Puerto Rico. This inaction is in clear violation of the United States' obligations under the ICCPR.”).
(ADA), the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
(NVRA, or "Motor-Voter Act") and the Help America Vote Act of 2001 (HAVA) address some of these concerns of the disabled and non-English speaking.
Facts about voting rights in the United States have shown that polling officials are in accessibility to disabled voters. More than 33.7 million people are disabling in the United States and have no way of expressing themselves other than voting for what they believe. The Federal Election Commission reported that, in violation of state and federal laws, more than 20,000 polling places across the nation are inaccessible, depriving people with disabilities of their fundamental right to vote.
Data that are being gathered on this matter is scarce on the extent of the accessibility problem, but of the places where researchers have looked, the results have not been positive. In 1999, the Attorney General State of New York ran a check of polling places around the state to see if they were accessible to voters with disabilities and found many problems. A study of three upstate counties of New York found fewer than 10 percent of polling places fully compliant with state and federal laws, and the rest not.
Many Polling booths are set in church basements or in upstairs meeting halls where there are no ramp or elevator. This means problems not just for people who use wheelchairs, but for people using canes or walkers too. And in most states people who are blind do not have access to Braille ballot to vote; they have to bring someone along to vote for them. Studies have shown that people with disabilities are more interested in government and public affairs then most and want to participate in the democratic process.
, public debate inclusion, filing fees, and residency requirements, may be imposed.
In Williams v. Rhodes
(1968) ,the United States Supreme Court struck down Ohio
ballot access laws on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds. However, it subsequently upheld such laws in several other cases. States can require an Independent or minor party candidate to collect signatures as high as five percent of the total votes cast in a particular preceding election before the court will intervene.
The Supreme Court has also upheld a State ban on cross-party endorsements (also known as electoral fusion) and primary write-in votes.
, allowed non-citizens who satisfied residential requirements to vote in all elections. This in part reflected the strong continuing immigration to the US. Some cities (Chicago), towns or villages (in Maryland) today allow non-citizen residents to vote in school or local elections.
History of the United States
The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...
. Eligibility to vote in the U.S. is determined by both Federal and state law. Currently, only citizens can vote in U.S. elections (although this has not always been the case). Who is (or who can become) a citizen is governed on a national basis by Federal law. In the absence of a federal law or constitutional amendment, each State is given considerable discretion to establish qualifications for suffrage and candidacy within its own jurisdiction. When this country was founded, only white men with property were permitted to vote (although freed African Americans could vote in four states). White working men, almost all women, and all other people of color were denied the franchise. At the time of the Civil War, most white men were allowed to vote, whether or not they owned property, but Literacy tests, poll taxes, and even religious tests were used in various places, and most white women, people of color, and Native Americans still could not vote.
Even though one under the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, in Article VI, section 3, stipulates that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The Constitution, however, leaves the determination of voting qualifications to the individual states. Over time, the federal role in elections has increased through amendments to the Constitution and enacted legislation, such as the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
of 1965. At least four of the fifteen post-Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
constitutional amendments were ratified specifically to extend voting rights to different groups of citizens. These extensions state that voting rights cannot be denied or abridged based on:
- Birth - "All persons born or naturalized" "are citizens" of the US and the US State where they reside (14th AmendmentFourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
, 1868) - "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" - (15th AmendmentFifteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"...
, 1870) - "On account of sex" - (19th AmendmentNineteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
, 1920) - Washington, DC, Citizenship, restoring voting rights for only Presidential Elections after 164 year suspension by US Congress (23rd AmendmentTwenty-third Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961...
, 1961) - (For federal elections) "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax" - (24th AmendmentTwenty-fourth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax...
, 1964) - Wealth or failure to pay fees - (Harper v. Virginia Board of ElectionsHarper v. Virginia Board of ElectionsHarper v. Virginia Board of Elections, , was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment...
, 383 U.S. 663 (1966)) - "Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age" (26th AmendmentTwenty-sixth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution limited the minimum voting age to no more than 18. It was adopted in response to student activism against the Vietnam War and to partially overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Oregon v. Mitchell...
, 1971).
In addition, the 17th Amendment
Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...
provided for the direct election of United States Senators
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
The "right to vote" is explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution in the above referenced Amendments, but only in reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications. In other words, the "right to vote" is perhaps better understood, in layman's terms, as only prohibiting certain forms of legal discrimination in establishing qualifications for suffrage. The "right to vote" may or may not be denied for other reasons.
For example, many States require eligible citizens to register to vote a set number of days prior to the election in order to vote. More controversial restrictions include those laws that prohibit convicted felons
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
from voting or, as seen in Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
, disputes as to what rules should apply in counting or recounting ballots
A state may choose to fill an office by means other than an election. For example, upon death or resignation of a legislator, the state may allow the affiliated political party to choose a replacement to hold office until the next scheduled election. Such an appointment is often affirmed by the governor.
Milestones of national franchise extension
- Abolition of property qualifications for white men, 1812-1860 — see: Jacksonian democracyJacksonian democracyJacksonian democracy is the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man typified by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters. Jackson's policies followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy which dominated the previous political era. The Democratic-Republican Party of...
- Citizenship in both the US and US States by birth or naturalization, 1868 — see: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionFourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
- Non-white men, 1870 — see: Fifteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionFifteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"...
- Direct election of senators, 1913 — see: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionSeventeenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...
gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators - Women, 1920 — see: Nineteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionNineteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
- Native Americans, 1924 — see:
- Residents of the District of Columbia for US Presidential Elections, 1961 — see: Twenty-third Amendment to the United States ConstitutionTwenty-third Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961...
- Poor, 1964 — see: Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionTwenty-fourth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax...
, prohibiting imposition of poll tax in Federal elections - Racial minorities in certain states, 1965 — see Voting Rights ActVoting Rights ActThe Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
- Poor, 1966 — see: Harper v. Virginia Board of ElectionsHarper v. Virginia Board of ElectionsHarper v. Virginia Board of Elections, , was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment...
, 383 U.S. 663 (1966), prohibiting imposition of poll tax or property requirements in all US elections. - Adults between 18 and 21, 1971 — see: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionTwenty-sixth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution limited the minimum voting age to no more than 18. It was adopted in response to student activism against the Vietnam War and to partially overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Oregon v. Mitchell...
, were granted the vote in response to Vietnam War protests which argued that soldiers who are old enough to fight for their country should be old enough to vote. - Washington, DC, for restoring local elections such as Mayor and Councilmen, after 100 year gap in Georgetown, and 190 gap in the wider city, ending Congresses policy of local election disenfranchisement started in 1801 in this former portion of Maryland, 1973, — see: DC Home rule
- United States Military and Uniformed Services, Merchant Marine, other Citizens overseas, living on bases in the US, abroad, or aboard ship, 1986 — see: Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting ActUniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting ActThe Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act is a United States federal law dealing with elections and voting rights for United States citizens residing overseas. The act requires that all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin...
Limitations of franchise
- Restoring District of Columbia voting rights for full voting US Representatives in the US House, US Senators in US Senate, State Offices such as elected State Governor and State Legislature, all of these repealed since 1801 by the US Congress.
- Granting Statehood to current US territories that have never had Statehood, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and several others.
- National Standard for voting in primaries if 18th Birthday is between the primary and the election.
- National Standard for prisoner disenfranchisement.
Removal of exclusions
Each extension of voting rights has been a product of, and also brought about, social change.Native American
From 1778 to 1871, the government tried to resolve its relationship with the various native tribes by negotiating treaties. These treaties formed agreements between two sovereign nations, stating that Native American people were citizens of their tribe, living within the boundaries of the U.S. The treaties were negotiated by the executive branch and ratified by the U.S. Senate. It said that native tribes would give up their rights to hunt and live on huge parcels of land that they had inhabited in exchange for trade goods, yearly cash annuity payments, and assurances that no further demands would be made on them. Most often, part of the land would be "reserved" exclusively for the tribe's use.Throughout the 1800s, many native tribes gradually lost claim to the lands they had inhabited for centuries. It wasn’t until 1879 in the Standing Bear trial that American Indians were even recognized as persons in the eyes of the white man's law. Judge Dundy of Nebraska declared that Indians were people within the meaning of the laws, and that they had the rights associated with a writ of habeas corpus. However, Judge Dundy left the unsettled question whether Native Americans were guaranteed citizenship.
Even though Native Americans were born in the United States they were denied the right to vote because they were not considered citizens by law and were ineligible to vote. Many Native Americans were told that they would become citizens if they gave up their tribal affiliations in 1887, but this still did not guarantee their right to vote. It wasn’t until 1924 that many become United States citizens. However many Western states, continued to deny the right to vote through property requirements, economic pressures, hiding the polls, and condoning of physical violence against those who voted.
Religious test
In several British North American coloniesThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
, before and after the 1776 Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
, Jews, Quakers and/or Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
were excluded from the franchise and/or from running for elections.
The Delaware Constitution of 1776
Delaware Constitution of 1776
The Delaware Constitution of 1776 was the first governing document for Delaware state government and was in effect from its adoption in September 1776 until replaced in 1792 by a new Constitution.-Background:...
stated that "Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall (…) also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.". This was repealed by article I, section2. of the 1792 Constitution
Delaware Constitution of 1792
The Delaware Constitution of 1792 was the second governing document for Delaware state government and was in effect from its adoption on June 12, 1792 until replaced on December 2, 1831 by a new Constitution....
: "No religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under this State.". The 1778 Constitution of the State of South Carolina
South Carolina Constitution
The Constitution of the State of South Carolina is the governing document of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. The current constitution took effect on December 4, 1895...
stated that "No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion", the 1777 Constitution of the State of Georgia (art. VI) that "The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county (…) and they shall be of the Protestant religion".
With the growth in the number of Baptists in Virginia before the Revolution, the issues of religious freedom became important to rising leaders such as James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
. As a young lawyer, he defended Baptist preachers who were not licensed by (and were opposed by) the established state Anglican Church. He carried developing ideas about religious freedom to be incorporated into the constitutional convention of the United States.
In 1787, Article One of the United States Constitution
Article One of the United States Constitution
Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
stated that "the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature". More significantly, Article Six
Article Six of the United States Constitution
Article Six of the United States Constitution establishes the Constitution and the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance with it as the supreme law of the land, forbids a religious test as a requirement for holding a governmental position and holds the United States under the...
disavowed the religious test requirements of several states, saying: "[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."[I]n 1810 the Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated:
In Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, voting rights and eligibility as candidates were extended to Jewish Americans in 1828.
African Americans and poor whites
At the time of ratification of the Constitution, most states used property qualifications to restrict the franchise; the exact amount varied by state, but by some estimates, over half of white men were barred from voting.In some states, free men of color (though the property requirement in New York was eventually dropped for whites but not for blacks) also possessed the vote, a fact that was emphasized in Justice Curtis's
Benjamin Robbins Curtis
Benjamin Robbins Curtis was an American attorney and United States Supreme Court Justice.Curtis was the first and only Whig justice of the Supreme Court. He was also the first Supreme Court justice to have a formal legal degree and is the only justice to have resigned from the court over a matter...
dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott v. Sandford, , also known as the Dred Scott Decision, was a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves were not protected by the Constitution and could never be U.S...
:
Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but such of them as had the other necessary qualifications possessed the franchise of electors, on equal terms with other citizens.
When the 14th Amendment was passed in 1866 it guaranteed citizenship to the former slaves and changing them in the eyes of the law from 3/5 of a person to whole persons. Then, in 1869, when the 15th Amendment was passed it guaranteed black men the right to vote with women and all races still unable to vote.
Furthermore the year 1869 marked the beginning of "Black Codes," or state laws that restricted the freedoms of African Americans. Among those freedoms restricted was the freedom to exercise the right to vote. These restrictions were enforced by Literacy tests, poll taxes, hiding the locations of the polls, economic pressures and threats of physical violence.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina upheld the ability of free African Americans to vote before they were disfranchised by decision of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1835. At the same time, convention delegates relaxed religious and property qualifications for whites. Alabama entered the union in 1819 with universal white suffrage provided for in its constitution. Its actions in the late 19th century disfranchised poor whites as well as blacks.
Connecticut adopts the nation's first literacy test for voters in order to undermine the 15th amendment, which gives every person the right to vote. Massachusetts follows suit in 1857.The Fifteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"...
to the Constitution, one of three adopted in response to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, prevented any state from denying the right to vote to any citizen on account of his race. This was primarily related to protecting the franchise of freedmen, but it also applied to non-white minorities such as Mexican Americans in Texas. The state governments under Reconstruction adopted new state Constitutions or amendments designed to protect the ability of freedmen to vote. The unsettled environment after the war regularly erupted with violence as groups tried to protect their power. Particularly in the South, in the aftermath of the Civil War, whites started working to limit the ability of freedmen to vote. In the 1860s, secret vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
groups like the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
(KKK) used violence and intimidation to keep freedmen in a controlled role and reestablish white supremacy. Nonetheless, freedmen registered and voted in high numbers, and many were elected to local offices through the 1880s.
In the mid-1870s there was a rise in more powerful paramilitary groups, such as the White League
White League
The White League was a white paramilitary group started in 1874 that operated to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing. Its first chapter in Grant Parish, Louisiana was made up of many of the Confederate veterans who had participated in the...
, originating in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in 1874 after a disputed election; and the Red Shirts, originating in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
in 1875 and growing in North and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
; as well as other "White Line" rifle clubs. They operated openly, were more organized than the KKK, and directed their efforts at political goals: to disrupt Republican organizing, turn Republicans out of office, and intimidate or kill blacks to suppress black voting. They worked as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." For instance, estimates were that 150 blacks were killed in North Carolina before the 1876 elections. Economic tactics such as eviction from rental housing or termination of employment were also used. Black voting was suppressed and white Democrats regained power in the South by the late 1870s. Then the legislators worked to create more complicated voter registration or election requirements, which reduced black voting more permanently.
African Americans were a majority in three southern states following the Civil War, and represented over 40% of the population in four other states. While they did not elect a majority of African Americans to office during Reconstruction, whites feared and resented the political power which they exercised. After ousting the Republicans, whites worked to restore white supremacy.
From 1890 to 1908, ten of the eleven former Confederate states completed political suppression by ratifying new constitutions or amendments which incorporated provisions to disfranchise blacks and poor whites. These included such methods as a poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
, record keeping, timing of registration in relation to elections, felony disenfranchisement
Felony disenfranchisement
Felony disenfranchisement is the term used to describe the practice of prohibiting people from voting based on the fact that they have been convicted of a felony or other criminal offence...
focusing on crimes thought to be committed by African Americans, complex residency requirements, and a literacy test
Literacy test
A literacy test, in the context of United States political history, refers to the government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at the federal level, and potential voters at the state level. The federal government first employed literacy tests as part of the immigration process...
. Focusing on both blacks and poor whites ensured that there would be no coalition between them as had arisen in the elections of 1894, when Populist-Republican tickets wrested power away from Democrats. Prospective voters had to prove the ability to read and write the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to white voter registrars, who in practice used subjective requirements. Blacks were often denied the right to vote on this basis. Even literate blacks were often told they had "failed" such a test, if in fact, it had been administered. On the other hand, illiterate whites were sometimes allowed to vote through a "grandfather clause
Grandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...
" which waived literacy requirements if one's grandfather had been a qualified voter before 1866, or had served as a soldier, or was from a foreign country. As most blacks had grandfathers who were slaves before 1866, they could not use the grandfather clause exemption. Selective enforcement of the poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
was frequently also used to disqualify black and poor white voters.
African Americans quickly began legal challenges to such provisions in the 19th century, but it was years before any were successful before the U.S. Supreme Court. Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
, better known for his public stance of trying to work within constraints at Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
, secretly helped fund and arrange representation for numerous legal challenges to disfranchisement. He called upon Northern allies to raise funds for the cause. The Supreme Court's upholding of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
's provisions, in Williams v. Mississippi
Williams v. Mississippi
Williams v. Mississippi, 170 U.S. 213 is a United States Supreme Court case that reviewed provisions of the state constitution that set requirements for voter registration...
(1898), encouraged other states to follow the Mississippi plan of disfranchisement. African Americans brought other legal challenges, as in Giles v. Harris
Giles v. Harris
Giles v. Harris, 189 U.S. 475 , was an early 20th century United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld a state constitution's requirements for voter registration and qualifications...
(1903) and Giles v. Teasley (1904), but the Supreme Court upheld Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
constitutional provisions. In 1915 Oklahoma was the last state to append a grandfather clause to its literacy requirement due to Supreme Court cases Guinn v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the clause is in conflict with the 15th Amendment therefore the literacy test was unconstitutional.
From early in the 20th century, the newly established National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP) took the lead in organizing or supporting legal challenges to segregation and disfranchisement. Gradually they planned the strategy of which cases to take forward. In Guinn v. United States
Guinn v. United States
Guinn v. United States, 238 U.S. 347 , was an important United States Supreme Court decision that dealt with provisions of state constitutions that set qualifications for voters. It found grandfather clause exemptions to literacy tests to be unconstitutional...
(1915), the first case in which the NAACP filed a brief, Supreme Court struck down the grandfather clause in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Other states in which it was used had to retract their legislation as well. The challenge was successful.
Nearly as rapidly as the Supreme Court determined a specific provision was unconstitutional, however, state legislatures developed new statutes to continue to disfranchise African Americans, minorities and poor whites. In Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright
Smith v. Allwright , 321 U.S. 649 , was a very important decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Democratic Party's use of all-white primaries in Texas, and other states where the party used the...
(1944), the Supreme Court struck down the use of state-sanctioned all-white primaries by the Democratic Party in the South. States developed still other restrictions on black voting. The NAACP continued with steady progress in legal challenges to disfranchisement and segregation. It was in 1957 that the first law to implement the 15th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, is passed. The Act set up the Civil Rights Commission—among its duties is to investigate voter discrimination.
As late as 1962, programs such as Operation Eagle Eye
Operation Eagle Eye (United States)
Operation Eagle Eye was a Republican Party operation in the 1960s in Arizona to challenge minority voters. In the United States only citizens have ever been able to vote, and in 1964 only literate citizens could vote, so it was legal to ensure that a potential voter was literate, and a potential...
in Arizona attempted to stymie minority voting through literacy tests. The Twenty-fourth Amendment
Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax...
was ratified in 1964 to prohibit poll taxes as a condition of voter registration and voting in federal elections. Full enfranchisement of citizens was not secured until after the American Civil Rights Movement
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
gained passage by the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
of the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
of 1965. Congress passed the legislation because it found "case by case litigation was inadequate to combat widespread and persistent discrimination in voting." Activism by African Americans thus helped secure an expanded and protected franchise that benefited all Americans.
The bill provided for Federal oversight if necessary to ensure just voter registration and election procedures. The rate of African-American registration and voting in Southern states climbed dramatically and quickly, but it took years of Federal oversight to work out the processes and overcome local resistance. In addition, it was not until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections
Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections
Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, , was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that Virginia's poll tax was unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment...
(1966) that all state poll taxes (for both state and federal elections) were officially declared unconstitutional as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This removed a burden on the poor.
Women
A parallel, yet separate, movement was that for women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
. Outstanding leaders of the suffrage movement included Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
. In some ways this, too, could be said to have grown out of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, as women had been strong leaders of the abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
movement. Middle and upper class women generally became more politically active in the northern tier during and after the war.
In 1848 the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls New York, 68 women and 32 men sign the declaration of sentiment which lined the women rights movement. The first convention for women took place in 1850 it was held in Worcester Massachusetts this convention attracted more than 1000 participants since then this national convention was held yearly through 1860.
When Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women Suffrage Association their goal was to help women gaining voting rights through the constitution. Also in 1869 Lucy stone, Henry Blackwell formed the American women suffrage association (AWSA).However the (AWSA) focused on gaining voting rights for women through the Amendment. Although these two organization were fights for the same cause it was not until 1890 that the merged to form the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After the merger of the two organizations the (NAWSA) waged a state-by-state campaign to obtain voting rights for women.
Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
was the first state in which women were able to vote, although it was a condition of the transition to statehood. Colorado was the first established state to allow women to vote on the same basis as men. Some other states also extended the franchise to women before the Constitution was amended. With ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
, women were granted the right to vote in time to participate in the Presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
election of 1920.
Another political movement that was largely driven by women in the same era was the anti-alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
Temperance movement
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
, which led to the Eighteenth Amendment
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
and Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC, was created from a portion of the State of Maryland in 1801. Also a portion of Virginia was contributed and then retrocededRetrocession
Retrocession may refer to:*the transfer of risk from a reinsurer to another reinsurer*the return of something that was ceded in general or, specifically:...
(returned) to Virginia in 1846 to protect slavery, and restore State and Federal voting rights in that portion of Virginia. When the Congress took control of Maryland Lands to create a national capital, Congress did not continue Maryland Voting Laws, and canceled all State and Federal elections starting with 1802. Local elections limped on in some neighborhoods, until 1871, when local elections were also forbidden by the US Congress. The US Congress is the National Legislature. Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, Congress can also be the State Legislature. This is because under the "Exclusive Legislature" language from I-8-17, Congress is both State and National Legislature for US Military Bases and the District of Columbia, but a State Legislature must explicitly agree to transfer that States Right to Congress in these Federal Lands. Active disenfranchisement is typically a States Rights Legislative issue, where the removal of voting rights is permitted. At the national level the Federal Government typically ignored voting rights issues, or affirmed that they were extended. The US Congress simply ignored disenfranchisement by Southern States before and after the Civil War.
Congress when acting as State Legislature on US Bases in the US, and Washington, DC, viewed its power as strong enough to remove all voting rights, like the Southern State Legislatures. All State and Federal elections were canceled by Congress choosing to take power, nullifying most Maryland laws, and actively omitting re-passing Maryland State voting laws in the District of Columbia. This omission of law strategy to disenfranchise is not in the Statutes at Large, but rather in the Congressional debates in Annals of Congress in 1800 and 1801. US Military bases were restored voting rights for all State and Federal elections, the same way they were disenfranchised, by simple law of US Congress, in 1986. But Washington, DC, had to ratify Amendment 23, in 1961, to restore US Presidential Elections for Washington, DC, citizens in 1964, after a 164 year gap. Amendment 23 is the only known limit to US Congress powers, forcing Congress to enforce Amendments 14,15,19,24,and 26 for the first time in Presidential elections. The Maryland citizens and territory converted in Washington, DC, in 1801 were represented in 1801 by US Rep. John Chew Thomas from Maryland's 2nd, and US Rep. William Craik from Maryland's 3rd Congressional Districts. These Maryland US Congressional Districts were redrawn and removed Washington, DC, and no full Congressional elections have been held since in DC, a gap continuing since 1801. The 17th Amendment permitting direct elections of US Senators has never been enforced in Washington, DC, nor does DC have a US Senator, since 1801 when it last voted with Maryland. After 100 to 190 years gap in various parts of the City, Congress permitted restoration of local elections on December 24, 1973. Congress created a non-voting substitute for a US Congressman, a Delegate, between 1871–1875, but then abolished that post as well. In 1971, Congress still opposed to restoring a full US Congressman for Washington, DC, instead reestablished this non-voting Delegate to US Congress, and has yet to abolish that substitute post.
Because only 600,000 full US Citizens are disenfranchised for US Legislative elections, more than the population of Wyoming, restoring Congressional elections in Washington, DC, is very low priority in Congress. Also Southern Conservatives, since Nixon's Southern Strategy of 1968, and 1972, this is almost exclusively Republicans, stridently oppose restoring elections for a city that is primarily black, poor, and votes Democratic.
Young people
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, as it was noted that most of the young men who were being drafted
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
to fight in it were too young to have any voice in the selection of the leaders who were sending them to fight. This, too, had previously been a state issue, as several states, notably Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, had already allowed voting at a younger age than twenty-one. The Twenty-sixth Amendment
Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution limited the minimum voting age to no more than 18. It was adopted in response to student activism against the Vietnam War and to partially overrule the Supreme Court's decision in Oregon v. Mitchell...
, ratified in 1971, required all states to set a voting age no higher than eighteen. As of 2008, no state has opted for an earlier age, although some state governments have discussed it. Some states, however, permit people who will be 18 on or before the general election to vote in primary elections and caucuses.
Prisoners
Prisoner voting rights is a state issue, so the laws are different from state to state. Some states allow only individuals on probation and ex-felons to vote. Others allow individuals on parole, probation and ex-felons to vote. As of July 2007, fourteen states, eleven of them in the South, ban anyone with a felony conviction from voting for life, even after the person has served the sentence, while only two states, MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, allow incarcerated individuals to vote.
According to the Sentencing Project
Sentencing Project
The Sentencing Project, based in Washington, D.C., promotes "more effective and humane" alternatives to prison for criminal offenders. It has produced several influential reports on inequalities in the U.S...
, 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction ("felony disenfranchisement
Felony disenfranchisement
Felony disenfranchisement is the term used to describe the practice of prohibiting people from voting based on the fact that they have been convicted of a felony or other criminal offence...
"). The number of people disenfranchised amounts to approximately 2.42% of the otherwise-eligible voting population. This is in sharp contrast to European nations, like Norway, which allow ex-felons to vote after serving sentences and in some cases allow prisoners to vote. Prisoners have been allowed to vote in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
since 2002.
The United States has a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other Western nation, and more than Russia or China. The dramatic rise in the rate of incarceration in the United States, a 500% increase from the 1970s to the 1990s due to criminalization of certain behaviors, strict sentencing guidelines and changes in philosophy, has vastly increased the number of people disfranchised because of the felon provisions. Given the prison populations, the effects have been most disadvantageous for minority and poor communities.
Durational residency
The Supreme Court of the United States struck down one-year residency requirements to vote in Dunn v. Blumstein . The Court ruled that limits on voter registration of up to 30 to 50 days prior to an election were permissible for logistical reasons, but that residency requirements in excess of that violated equal protection as granted under the Fourteenth Amendment according to strict scrutiny.Special interest elections
Even after the above restrictions on the franchise were lifted for general elections, several locales retained similar restrictions for specialized local elections, such as for school boards, special districts, or bond issues. Property restrictions, duration of residency restrictions, and, for school boards, restrictions of the franchise to voters with children remained in force. In a series of rulings from 1969 to 1973, the Court ruled that the franchise could be restricted in some cases to those "primarily interested" or "primarily affected" by the outcome of a specialized election, but not in the case of school boards or bond issues, which affected taxation of all residents. In Ball v. James the Court further upheld a system of plural votingPlural voting
Plural voting is the practice whereby one person might be able to vote multiple times in an election. It is not to be confused with a plurality voting system which does not necessarily involve plural voting...
where votes for the board of directors of a water reclamation district were allocated on the basis of the area of land owned in the district.
The Court placed restrictions on party political primaries as well. While states were permitted to require voters to register for a party 30 days before an election, or to require them to vote in only one party primary, they were not allowed to prevent a voter from voting in a party primary if the voter has voted in another party's primary in the last 23 months. The Court also ruled that a state may not mandate a 'closed primary' system and bar independents from voting in a party's primary against the wishes of the party itself. (Tashijan v. Republican Party of Connecticut )
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is a semi-autonomous entity of the state of Hawaii charged with the administration of 1.8 million acres of royal land held in trust for the benefit of native Hawaiians...
of the state of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, created in 1978, limited voting eligibility and candidate eligibility to the native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
on whose behalf it manages 1800000 acres (7,284.3 km²) of ceded land. The Supreme Court of the United States struck down the franchise restriction under the Fifteenth Amendment in Rice v. Cayetano
Rice v. Cayetano
Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495 , was a case filed in 1996 by Big Island rancher Harold "Freddy" Rice against the state of Hawaii and argued before the United States Supreme Court...
, following by eliminating the candidate restriction in Arakaki v. State of Hawai‘i a few months later.
Current status
Adult citizens of the United States who are residents of one of the 50 statesU.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
or sometimes the District of Columbia may not be restrained from voting for a variety of protected reasons, stated in the aforementioned 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments.
District of Columbia
Citizens of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, are no longer permitted to vote for US Congressional elections, nor State Elections. On Military Bases, where Congress acting as both national and State Legislature similarly disenfranchised US Citizens, Congress passed a law in 1986, permitting restoration of all voting rights in the State contributing land for the base. DC was not included in that 1986 simple law. DC citizens had voting rights removed in 1801 by Congress, when Congress took control of this portion of Maryland. Congress incrementally removed effective local control by 1871, and restored some local control in 1971, but can override any local laws. DC does not have full representation in the U.S. House or Senate. The Twenty-third Amendment
Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961...
, restoring US Presidential Election after 164 year gap, is the only known limit to Congressional "exclusive legislature" from Article I-8-17, forcing Congress to enforce for the first time Amendments 14,15,19,24 and 26. Amendment 23 gave the District of Columbia three electors and hence the right to vote for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, but not full US Congressmen nor US Senators. In 1978, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment that would have restored the District a full seat for representation in the Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as well. This amendment failed to receive ratification by sufficient number of states within the seven years required.
Since then, Congress has consistently refused to offer for ratification a constitutional amendment that would restore District of Columbia residents either representation in both the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and the House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, as if the District were a Military Base or state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
, or, as has also been proposed, voting representation in the House only. Additionally, Congress has continued to use its constitutional jurisdiction over the District "in all cases whatsoever" to countermand the expressed will of District voters through laws passed by their local elected officials. For this reason, many Washington residents call their city "The Last Colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
", the home of "taxation without representation".
A bill is now pending in Congress that would treat the District of Columbia as “a congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives,” and permit United States citizens residing in the capitol to vote for members of the House of Representatives. The District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, S. 160, 111th Cong. was passed by the U.S. Senate on February 26, 2009, by a vote of 61-37.
On April 1, 1993, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
of the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
received a petition from Timothy Cooper on behalf of the Statehood Solidarity Committee (the “Petitioners”) against the Government of the United States (the “State” or “United States”). The petition indicated that it was presented on behalf of the members of the Statehood Solidarity Committee and all other US citizens resident in the District of Columbia. The petition also alleged that the United States was responsible for violations of Articles II (right to equality before law) and XX (right to vote and to participate in government) of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in connection with the inability of citizens of the District of Colombia to vote for and elect members of the U.S. Congress. On December 29, 2003, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights having examined the information and arguments provided by the parties on the question of admissibility, and without prejudging the merits of the matter, the Commission decided to admit the present petition in respect of Articles II and XX of the American Declaration. In addition, after having examined the merits of the Petitioners’ claims, the Commission concluded that the State is responsible for violations of the Petitioners’ rights under Articles II and XX of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man was the world's first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by less than a year....
by denying District of Columbia citizens
Citizenship in the United States
Citizenship in the United States is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the United States and the individual...
an effective opportunity to participate in their federal legislature
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
.
Overseas and nonresident citizens
U.S. citizens residing overseas who would otherwise have the right to vote are guaranteed the right to vote in Federal elections by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting ActUniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act is a United States federal law dealing with elections and voting rights for United States citizens residing overseas. The act requires that all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin...
(UOCAVA) of 1986. As a practical matter, individual states implement UOCAVA.
U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
, or the United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
are not allowed to vote in U.S. national and presidential elections as these U.S. territories belong to the United States but are not part of the United States (i.e., they are unincorporated territories). The U.S. Constitution requires a voter to be resident in one of the 50 States or in the District of Columbia to vote in Federal elections. To say that the Constitution does not require extension of federal voting rights to U.S. territories residents does not, however, exclude the possibility that the Constitution may permit their enfranchisement under another source of law. A federal lawsuit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is currently pending to provide Virgin Islanders with the fundamental right to be represented in Congress and vote for U.S. President. The case is Civil No. 3:11-cv-110, Charles v. U.S. Federal Elections Commission. The case alleges it was racial discrimination present in a all white and segregated Congress of 1917 that was the impetus to deny the right to vote to a majority non-white constituency.
A citizen who has never resided in the United States can vote if a parent is eligible to vote in certain states. In some of these states the citizen can vote in local, state and federal elections, in others in federal elections only.
Puerto Rico
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
is an insular area
Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the fifty U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States...
— a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
territory that is neither a part of one of the fifty states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
nor a part of the District of Columbia, the nation's federal district
Federal district
Federal districts are a type of administrative division of a federation, under the direct control of a federal government. They exist in various countries and states all over the world.-United States:...
. Insular areas, such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, are not allowed to choose electors in U.S. presidential elections or elect voting members of the U.S. Congress. This grows out of Article one
Article One of the United States Constitution
Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
and Article two
Article Two of the United States Constitution
Article Two of the United States Constitution creates the executive branch of the government, consisting of the President and other executive officers.-Clause 1: Executive power:...
of the United States constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, which specifically mandate that electors are to be chosen by "the People of the several States". In 1961, the 23rd amendment
Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President. The amendment was proposed by Congress on June 17, 1960, and ratified by the states on March 29, 1961...
to the constitution extended the right to choose electors to the District of Columbia
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Any U.S. citizen who resides in Puerto Rico (whether a Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
or not) is effectively disenfranchised at the national level. Although the Republican Party and Democratic Party chapters in Puerto Rico have selected voting delegates to the national nominating conventions participating on U.S. Presidential Primaries or Caucuses, U.S. citizens not residing in one of the 50 States or in the District of Columbia may not vote in Federal elections.
Various scholars (including a prominent U.S. judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Maine* District of Massachusetts...
) conclude that the U.S. national-electoral process is not fully democratic due to U.S. Government disenfranchisement of U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico.
, under Igartua v. United States, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
(CCPR) is judicially considered not to be self-executing
Self-executing rule
The self-executing rule, also known as "deem and pass", is procedural measure used by the U.S. House of Representatives to approve legislation. If the full House votes to approve a legislative rule that contains such a provision, the House then deems a second bill as also approved without requiring...
, and therefore requires further legislative action to put it into effect domestically. Judge Lipez wrote in a concurring opinion, however, that the en banc majority's conclusion that the ICCPR is non-self-executing is ripe for reconsideration in a new en banc proceeding, and that if issues highlighted in a partial dissent by Judge Torruella were to be decided in favor of the plaintiffs, United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico would have a viable claim to equal voting rights .
Congress has in fact acted in partial compliance with its obligations under the ICCPR when, in 1961, just a few years after the United Nations first ratified the ICCPR, it amended our fundamental charter to allow the United States citizens who reside in the District of Columbia to vote for the Executive offices. See U.S. Const. amend. XXIII.51 Indeed, a bill is now pending in Congress that would treat the District of Columbia as “a congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives,” and permit United States citizens residing in the capitol to vote for members of the House of Representatives. See District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, S. 160, 111th Cong. (passed by Senate, February 26, 2009) (2009).52 However, the United States has not taken similar “steps” with regard to the five million United States citizens who reside in the other U.S. territories, of which close to four million are residents of Puerto Rico. This inaction is in clear violation of the United States' obligations under the ICCPR.”).
Accessibility
There is also concern with regard to voting rights (or accessibility) for those who are disabled; and with regard to voting rights for those whose primary language is not English. Federal legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....
(ADA), the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
National Voter Registration Act of 1993
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 , also known as The Motor Voter Act, was signed into effect by United States President Bill Clinton on May 20, 1993, however, compliance did not become mandatory until 1995...
(NVRA, or "Motor-Voter Act") and the Help America Vote Act of 2001 (HAVA) address some of these concerns of the disabled and non-English speaking.
Facts about voting rights in the United States have shown that polling officials are in accessibility to disabled voters. More than 33.7 million people are disabling in the United States and have no way of expressing themselves other than voting for what they believe. The Federal Election Commission reported that, in violation of state and federal laws, more than 20,000 polling places across the nation are inaccessible, depriving people with disabilities of their fundamental right to vote.
Data that are being gathered on this matter is scarce on the extent of the accessibility problem, but of the places where researchers have looked, the results have not been positive. In 1999, the Attorney General State of New York ran a check of polling places around the state to see if they were accessible to voters with disabilities and found many problems. A study of three upstate counties of New York found fewer than 10 percent of polling places fully compliant with state and federal laws, and the rest not.
Many Polling booths are set in church basements or in upstairs meeting halls where there are no ramp or elevator. This means problems not just for people who use wheelchairs, but for people using canes or walkers too. And in most states people who are blind do not have access to Braille ballot to vote; they have to bring someone along to vote for them. Studies have shown that people with disabilities are more interested in government and public affairs then most and want to participate in the democratic process.
Candidacy requirements
Jurisprudence concerning candidacy rights and the rights of citizens to create a political party are less clear than voting rights. Different courts have reached different conclusions regarding what sort of restrictions, often in terms of ballot accessBallot access
Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the United States, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is either entitled to stand for election or to appear on voters' ballots...
, public debate inclusion, filing fees, and residency requirements, may be imposed.
In Williams v. Rhodes
Williams v. Rhodes
Williams v. Rhodes, , was a case before the United States Supreme Court.-Facts:Separate suits were brought by the American Independent Party and the Socialist Labor Party, challenging the validity of Ohio election laws insofar as they precluded the parties' being placed on the ballots to choose...
(1968) ,the United States Supreme Court struck down Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
ballot access laws on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds. However, it subsequently upheld such laws in several other cases. States can require an Independent or minor party candidate to collect signatures as high as five percent of the total votes cast in a particular preceding election before the court will intervene.
The Supreme Court has also upheld a State ban on cross-party endorsements (also known as electoral fusion) and primary write-in votes.
Noncitizens
More than 40 states or territories, including colonies before the Declaration of IndependenceUnited States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
, allowed non-citizens who satisfied residential requirements to vote in all elections. This in part reflected the strong continuing immigration to the US. Some cities (Chicago), towns or villages (in Maryland) today allow non-citizen residents to vote in school or local elections.
See also
- Civil Rights Act of 1957Civil Rights Act of 1957The Civil Rights Act of 1957, , primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War.Following the historic US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v...
- Civil Rights Act of 1960Civil Rights Act of 1960The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote or to vote...
- Lodge BillLodge BillThe Lodge Bill or Federal Elections Bill of 1890 was a bill drafted by Representative Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, and sponsored in the Senate by George Frisbie Hoar; it was endorsed by President Benjamin Harrison. The bill would have allowed the federal government to ensure that elections...
- U.S. stateU.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
External links
- Right to Vote Initiative - resources page at FairVoteFairVoteFairVote is a U.S. non-profit organization based in Takoma Park, Maryland, whose mission is to achieve universal access to participation, a full spectrum of meaningful ballot choices and majority rule with fair representation for all...
, regarding effort to ensure that the right of every U.S. citizen to vote is firmly entrenched in the U.S. Constitution - Voting Rights History Two Centuries of Struggle ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans
- Voting Rights & Free Elections in the U.S. - A nonprofit research collection published on IssueLab