The Constitution's Impact On Citizen Voting

The United States Constitution has had a significant impact on the way citizens vote, with several constitutional amendments being passed over the years to expand voting rights and ensure fair and equal access to the polls. While the original text of the Constitution did not explicitly grant citizens the right to vote, it left the determination of voter eligibility to individual states, which led to uneven voting rights across the country. Over time, amendments such as the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments have been ratified to extend voting rights based on race, sex, and age, respectively. These amendments have played a crucial role in shaping the voting landscape in the United States and continue to influence the way citizens exercise their right to vote today.

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The right to vote is not explicitly mentioned in the US Constitution

The authority to protect voting rights stems from amendments adopted following the Civil War and legislation passed during the Civil Rights Movement. The 14th Amendment, for instance, extends citizenship to all natural-born or naturalized Americans, guaranteeing that rights of citizenship, such as voting, cannot be restricted by states. The 15th Amendment prohibits restricting the right to vote based on race. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted American women the right to vote. The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 for all elections.

Despite these amendments, the federal government and the Supreme Court are currently unlikely to protect voting rights in a substantial way. This has left it up to individual states to take action. States have the power to remove barriers to voter registration, make casting ballots easier, and pass state-level voting rights acts.

While almost all state constitutions contain an explicit right to vote, voting rights cases are typically brought to federal court. Legal observers have suggested that these cases could be brought to state courts instead, as activists have successfully used state constitutions to limit partisan gerrymandering.

Constitutional amendments have expanded voting rights to include African Americans, women, and 18-year-olds

The US Constitution has been amended several times to expand voting rights to African Americans, women, and 18-year-olds. The original U.S. Constitution did not define voting rights for citizens, and until 1870, only white men were allowed to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, extended voting rights to men of all races. However, African Americans continued to be denied the right to vote due to state constitutions, laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, the "grandfather clause", and intimidation.

The struggle for women's suffrage in the US was long and difficult, dating back to the mid-19th century. Women organised, petitioned, lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practised civil disobedience to achieve what many considered a radical change to the Constitution. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, finally granted women the right to vote.

The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, addressed the injustice faced by African Americans by prohibiting the use of poll taxes in federal elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further secured voting rights for adult citizens of all races and genders by enforcing the amendments through federal laws.

In addition, the 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age for all elections to 18, ensuring that citizens of the United States who are 18 years of age or older have the right to vote. This amendment changed a portion of the 14th Amendment, which previously allowed states to deny the vote to citizens under 21 years old.

State laws and constitutions play a significant role in defining voting rights and eligibility

The United States Constitution, alongside federal and state laws, governs the eligibility to vote. The original text of the Constitution, which came into effect on March 9, 1789, did not explicitly mention a citizen's right to vote. Instead, it allowed each state to determine voter eligibility, leading to variations in voting rights across the country.

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted African Americans citizenship rights, but this did not initially translate into voting rights. The Fifteenth Amendment, passed in 1870, prohibited restricting the right to vote based on race, ethnicity, or previous slave status. However, states still found ways to prevent African Americans from voting, such as through literacy tests and poll taxes.

The expansion of voting rights continued with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote, and the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964, which banned poll taxes. The Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18 for all elections.

Today, almost all state constitutions explicitly mention the right to vote. State-level legislation and litigation under state constitutions can play a crucial role in protecting voting rights, especially when federal protections are lacking. States can remove barriers to voter registration, simplify the voting process, and pass state-level voting rights acts to ensure that their citizens' voting rights are protected.

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The Supreme Court's interpretation of voting rights has varied over time

The US Constitution does not explicitly state that citizens have the right to vote in elections. Instead, it states that anyone eligible to vote for the largest house of a state legislature is also eligible to vote for members of the House of Representatives from that state. The right to vote has been litigated in courtrooms across the country, with over 100 election-related lawsuits filed so far.

However, in recent years, the Supreme Court has been criticised for weakening voting rights protections. In 2013, the Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act involving federal oversight of voting rules in nine states. The Court held that it was unconstitutional to use the coverage formula in Section 4(b) to determine which jurisdictions were subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5. This decision effectively eliminated the use of preclearance, and states that no longer needed federal approval of new voting rules unleashed a wave of policies that made it harder to vote. The racial gap in voter turnout has grown in jurisdictions previously covered by Section 5, and civil rights groups have had to rely on costly and time-consuming litigation to combat discrimination in the political system.

The Supreme Court's interpretation of voting rights has also varied in other areas. For example, in San Antonio School Dist. v. Rodriguez, the Court acknowledged that the right to vote was not explicitly or implicitly guaranteed in the Constitution. However, citizens have a "constitutionally protected right to participate in elections," which is protected by the Equal Protection Clause.

The Supreme Court's decisions on voting rights have had a significant impact on the ability of citizens to exercise their right to vote. While the Court has taken some actions to protect voting rights, such as upholding the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s, its more recent decisions have often limited the application of voting rights protections.

Voting rights are protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly mention the right to vote. However, voting rights are protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which establishes that all citizens should be treated equally under the law. This clause has been used in several court cases to uphold the right to vote. For example, in San Antonio School Dist. v. Rodriguez, the Court acknowledged that citizens have a "constitutionally protected right to participate in elections".

The Fourteenth Amendment also contains provisions that protect the voting rights of citizens. It grants citizenship to all natural-born or naturalized Americans, regardless of race, and guarantees that rights of citizenship, such as voting, cannot be restricted by the states. This amendment was particularly important in extending the right to vote to formerly enslaved people and people of colour, who had previously been denied this right.

The Equal Protection Clause has been applied to voting rights cases since the mid-20th century, with the first modern application occurring in Baker v. Carr (1962). In this case, the Court ruled that the malapportionment of districts in Tennessee violated the Equal Protection Clause, as it resulted in unequal representation for citizens.

The Equal Protection Clause has also been used to challenge discriminatory voting practices based on race. For example, in Nixon v. Herndon (1927), the Supreme Court ruled that the denial of the vote based on race violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Additionally, the administration of election statutes that treat white and black voters or candidates differently can also constitute a denial of equal protection.

While the Equal Protection Clause protects voting rights, it is important to note that it does not guarantee the right to vote explicitly. Instead, it safeguards citizens' right to participate in elections once that right has been granted by the state. This distinction was highlighted in Rodriguez v. Popular Democratic Party, where the Court upheld a Puerto Rico statute that allowed an incumbent legislator's political party to designate their successor upon their death or resignation.

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