Guest Blogged by Mary Mancini of the Uncounted Blog
For some reason our wild and crazy wig-wearing Founding Fathers didn’t see the need to build the right to vote into the Constitution. Instead, they decided to leave it up to the individual States to determine who, where, when, and how we vote. Oh sure, some voting rights have been amended into the Constitution in the form of anti-discrimination prohibitions (15th, 19th, and 26th), but the fundamental and very human right of the franchise is nowhere to be found. Zero. Zip. Nil. Nada.
Turns out that while election integrity activists have been busy fighting against systemic disenfranchisement, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., has been introducing House Joint Resolution 28 (H.J. Res. 28) — legislation calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting everyone the affirmative right to vote — in every Congress since 2001, noting that “It’s time to scrap the states’ rights-based system we have now, and place the right to vote alongside the constitutionally-protected right to free speech.”
Today, Rep. Jackson furthered his cause by releasing a statement to the press citing a new report by the Advancement Project (which “details a dizzying array of Election Day meltdowns), as well as the documentary Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections (which offers “evidence of how voting machines themselves can create problems”). Both the report and the film, he says…
After the momentary “Oh my God I forgot to vote and isn’t that ironic?” panic I had after reading his quote – primary election day in Tennessee is Thursday, August 7th and not Tuesday (but if you live in Michigan and you didn’t vote yesterday you snoozed and loozed…er, lost) — his misstatement really does prove his point, “Until we put [the right to vote in the Constitution] we will continue to have presidents selected by the Supreme Court, partisan officials crafting rules in their favor, and voters disenfranchised by political games or plain old sloppiness.” Yeah, what he said. What sloppy Tennessee election official mandated a Thursday primary election day?!?
The most important part of the report, besides identifying concrete strategies for ultimately achieving the right to vote, is the very accurate observation that our current system contracts, rather than expands, the franchise.
Disenfranchisement is not anathema to the system – it’s part of it.
Cross-posted at the Uncounted Blog…
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Mary Mancini blogs on behalf of the documentary film Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections. She lives in Tennessee and has not yet had her vote go uncounted in tomorrow’s state primary election.
And why wouldn’t such an amendment call NOT be voted out of the House? Yes,”Disenfranchisement is not anathema to the system – it’s part of it.”
Also think on this; the number of Representatives in the House is 435, the same number since 1941. However, the population is almost 2 1/2 times what it was in 1941(133M+ versus $303M)
There you go putting ideas in their heads, Mary.
And the right to vote should NEVER be denied because you don’t have a “Photo I.D.”
Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution speaks of elections, but as Congressman Jackson points out, it does allow the states to control the time, place, and manner of conducting elections. Also, there are a few amendments to the U.S. Constitution which address the right to vote, the 14th, 15th, 19th, and 26th. Also, Article IV, Section 4 guarantees a republican form of government.
Black’s Law dictionary defines a republic as “A system of government in which the people hold sovereign power and elect representatives who exercise that power.”
The United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the fundamental right to have your vote counted stating, “We regard it as equally unquestionable that the right to have one’s vote counted is as open to protection by Congress as the right to put a ballot in a box.” U. S. v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383, 386 (1915).
“A consistent line of decisions by this Court in cases involving attempts to deny or restrict the right of suffrage has made this indelibly clear. It has been repeatedly recognized that all qualified voters have a constitutionally protected right to vote, and to have their votes counted. In Mosley the Court stated that it is ‘as equally unquestionable that the right to have one’s vote counted is as open to protection … as the right to put a ballot in a box. The right to vote can neither be denied outright, nor destroyed by alteration of ballots, nor diluted by ballot-box stuffing. As the Court stated in Classic, ‘Obviously included within the right to choose, secured by the Constitution, is the right of qualified voters within a state to cast their ballots and have them counted….” Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964). (Citations omitted.)
The right is also protected in every state constitution that I have read. For more information, including articles about two state constitutions which prohibit counting votes in secret, see the following:
Virginia’s Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL?!?!
http://www.opednews.com/article..._elections.htm
South Carolina Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!?!
http://www.opednews.com/article...lina_elect.htm
and http://www.ProjectVoteCount.com
Of course, our ability to remove bad leaders would be improved by an amendment which clearly spells out the right to vote and perhaps restores an election system where the votes are once again counted in public rather than in secret on computers which have been proven unreliable and untrustworthy.
To make every vote in every state politically relevant and equal in presidential elections, support the National Popular Vote bill.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The National Popular Vote bill has been approved by 21 legislative chambers (one house in Colorado, Arkansas, Maine, North Carolina, and Washington, and two houses in Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont). It has been enacted into law in Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These states have 50 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring this legislation into effect.
see http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
Liberals continually have these delusions about rights.
Right to Health Care!
Right to Vote!
The right to censor political expression via Fairness Doctrine.
There is no right to vote on the Federal Level and there should not be. All elections are handled on the state level according to the 10th amendment and that is the way it should stay.