Missing Explicit Voting Rights in US Constitution: A Fundamental Flaw
News comes from the source of Reader Wall, revealing that the United States Constitution does not explicitly grant the right to vote. As described by author Richard L. Hasen, an expert on elections and democracy, this missing component is a core weakness that triggers substantial voting rights issues across the States.
Voting Rights History in the United States
The drafters of the Constitution initially viewed universal voting rights with doubt. Hence, they designed the Constitution to restrict voting rights only to the House of Representatives while leaving each state to determine voter eligibility. The gradual evolution of voting rights, usually through amendments and congressional actions, has still failed to achieve universal suffrage.
Limitations of Later Amendments
Later modifications to the Constitution tried to manage voting issues by establishing that states should not discriminate on grounds of race, sex, or age (for 18 to 20-year-olds) during elections. However, these safeguards are negatively framed, as bans rather than as an absolute, affirmative right to vote. The result is a system that struggles to guarantee equal access to voting for all.
The Supreme Court’s Role in Voting Rights
Contrary to what most people believe, the Supreme Court has not consistently promoted the extension of voting rights beyond what’s stated in the Constitution. The instance of Sgt. Herbert N. Carrington, deprived of his voting rights in Texas due to state constitutional restrictions against non-resident military voting, highlights the court’s limited role in safeguarding individual voting rights.
A Constitutional Amendment: The Solution?
Hasen suggests that the issues surrounding voting in the U.S. will likely worsen unless a constitutional amendment firmly establishes the right to vote. Systemic problems like voter enrollment requirements and photo ID laws pose barriers to voting that could be handled via such an amendment. As a comparison, European nations have simpler voting systems, such as automatic voter registration, which emphasize the demand for reform in the U.S.
