The 28th Amendment
October 19, 2020 6:15 PM Subscribe
The United States Constitution provides no right to vote. While seven of the 27 current amendments to the Constitution are concerned with expanding the franchise, US citizens do not have an affirmative right to cast a vote or have their vote counted — as demonstrated in 2000's Bush v. Gore, which cheerfully noted that "[t]he individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States".
Legislative attempts have been made to expand voting rights, most notably the 1965 Voting Rights Act, whose central enforcement mechanism was declared obsolete in 2013's Shelby County v. Holder, with predictable consequences.
More recently the 2002 Help America Vote Act established national standards for voting machines and provisional balloting, but has at times been used towards other means.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) has introduced a bill in each of the last several Congresses proposing the following Right to Vote Amendment:
[Previously]
Legislative attempts have been made to expand voting rights, most notably the 1965 Voting Rights Act, whose central enforcement mechanism was declared obsolete in 2013's Shelby County v. Holder, with predictable consequences.
More recently the 2002 Help America Vote Act established national standards for voting machines and provisional balloting, but has at times been used towards other means.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) has introduced a bill in each of the last several Congresses proposing the following Right to Vote Amendment:
SECTION 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides.The bill, like its predecessors, currently languishes in committee.
SECTION 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
[Previously]
But then again, the United States is a republic, not a democracy.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:23 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by heatherlogan at 6:23 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
I mean, we can update that while we stake the Federalist society through the heart.
posted by Slackermagee at 6:25 PM on October 19, 2020 [27 favorites]
posted by Slackermagee at 6:25 PM on October 19, 2020 [27 favorites]
This is like... forgetting to initialize one of your most important variables, and your code has been working by accident for the past 230 years because that memory location just happened to have a zero in it every time the machine booted. Oopsie.
Votr.io, the voter runtime that initializes to zero every time!
posted by geoff. at 6:28 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
Votr.io, the voter runtime that initializes to zero every time!
posted by geoff. at 6:28 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
But then again, the United States is a republic, not a democracy.
Regardless of whether you're saying this in jest or seriously, these two concepts are not in opposition. They're like different axes.
A republic means that the nation is in the interests of the people, the public, as opposed to a monarch or the like.
A democracy means that the rule is by the people through voting. In particular, we're a representative democracy.
I so hate when people say that, because they either fundamentally misunderstand our nation, or they understand it perfectly, and are trying to paint democracy as illegitimate.
posted by explosion at 6:36 PM on October 19, 2020 [42 favorites]
Regardless of whether you're saying this in jest or seriously, these two concepts are not in opposition. They're like different axes.
A republic means that the nation is in the interests of the people, the public, as opposed to a monarch or the like.
A democracy means that the rule is by the people through voting. In particular, we're a representative democracy.
I so hate when people say that, because they either fundamentally misunderstand our nation, or they understand it perfectly, and are trying to paint democracy as illegitimate.
posted by explosion at 6:36 PM on October 19, 2020 [42 favorites]
Oopsie
The very first Presidential election, and especially the second one, that didn’t have a preordained winner (because Washington bowed out) ran into problems, requiring the passage of the 12 Amendment. So it was more like 8 years, not 230.
posted by sideshow at 6:48 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
The very first Presidential election, and especially the second one, that didn’t have a preordained winner (because Washington bowed out) ran into problems, requiring the passage of the 12 Amendment. So it was more like 8 years, not 230.
posted by sideshow at 6:48 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Lest we forget how we got here... The Constitution doesn't have a right to vote on purpose. They didn't forget to initialize a variable; they left it up to the states to fill in their own values. Mostly to compromise on slavery. Also it was sort of just understood who'd be allowed to vote; free men, of pretty much whom all were white at the time. Women and slaves not voting were just sort of so obvious they couldn't vote they didn't see the need to write it down.
Freed slaves were one corner case. Wikipedia says four states allowed freed slaves to vote in the early years. (I wonder if they meant "Free Black men", or specifically freed slaves?). Another big hot point of debate was whether you had to be a landowner to vote. In 1789 only property owning men could vote pretty much everywhere; by the 1850s that changed to all free white men. There's also the question of whether you had to pay a poll tax to vote; in the early days that was a revenue thing, as well as a way to keep impoverished men from voting.
I think it's fascinating that the Fourteenth Amendment, section 2, didn't explicitly grant freed slaves the right to vote. Rather it punished states that didn't let them vote by taking away their representation in Congress. The Fifteenth came along two years later to make voting rights based on race / color more explicit.
posted by Nelson at 7:23 PM on October 19, 2020 [21 favorites]
Freed slaves were one corner case. Wikipedia says four states allowed freed slaves to vote in the early years. (I wonder if they meant "Free Black men", or specifically freed slaves?). Another big hot point of debate was whether you had to be a landowner to vote. In 1789 only property owning men could vote pretty much everywhere; by the 1850s that changed to all free white men. There's also the question of whether you had to pay a poll tax to vote; in the early days that was a revenue thing, as well as a way to keep impoverished men from voting.
I think it's fascinating that the Fourteenth Amendment, section 2, didn't explicitly grant freed slaves the right to vote. Rather it punished states that didn't let them vote by taking away their representation in Congress. The Fifteenth came along two years later to make voting rights based on race / color more explicit.
posted by Nelson at 7:23 PM on October 19, 2020 [21 favorites]
Also it was sort of just understood who'd be allowed to vote; free men, of pretty much whom all were white at the time.
Not free men, rich free men. White manhood suffrage didn't become widespread until the 1830s or so.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:17 PM on October 19, 2020 [3 favorites]
Not free men, rich free men. White manhood suffrage didn't become widespread until the 1830s or so.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:17 PM on October 19, 2020 [3 favorites]
No express federal Constitutional right to vote, but the right is enshrined in state constitutions.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:34 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:34 PM on October 19, 2020 [4 favorites]
Thomas Jefferson won reelection in 1804 with 104,110 votes vs. the 1800 census counting 4.4M citizens and 900,000 slaves.
1828 was the first election with a serious turnout, as the single-party system broke down and Andrew Jackson won 642,553 votes on the Democratic ticket, but out of 10.8M citizens and 2M slaves.
Democracy in America is a joke??
Always has been
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:37 PM on October 19, 2020 [8 favorites]
1828 was the first election with a serious turnout, as the single-party system broke down and Andrew Jackson won 642,553 votes on the Democratic ticket, but out of 10.8M citizens and 2M slaves.
Democracy in America is a joke??
Always has been
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 8:37 PM on October 19, 2020 [8 favorites]
"The United States Constitution provides no right to vote." - my favorite bar fact back when we could go to bars and people cared about facts.
posted by ryoshu at 8:47 PM on October 19, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by ryoshu at 8:47 PM on October 19, 2020 [6 favorites]
Related:
Jamelle Bouie asks this weekend What about the rest of the Constitution? (link to a Baltimore Sun, no paywall, copy.) "The Constitution" and "the founders" aren't just 1787. Thaddeus Stevens helped write part of the document, and has opinions on stuff too. The 13th to 15th amendments fundamentally changed how we think about ourselves, which is why people might be surprised there's not a blanket right to vote--but there are rights. ("Abridging" that right *should* impact the number of congressmen you get per the 14th amendment.)
He draws heavily on Foner's The Second Founding in discussing this. An NYRB review of that and two works by Henry Louis Gates is a good summary of that period.
posted by mark k at 9:34 PM on October 19, 2020 [7 favorites]
Jamelle Bouie asks this weekend What about the rest of the Constitution? (link to a Baltimore Sun, no paywall, copy.) "The Constitution" and "the founders" aren't just 1787. Thaddeus Stevens helped write part of the document, and has opinions on stuff too. The 13th to 15th amendments fundamentally changed how we think about ourselves, which is why people might be surprised there's not a blanket right to vote--but there are rights. ("Abridging" that right *should* impact the number of congressmen you get per the 14th amendment.)
He draws heavily on Foner's The Second Founding in discussing this. An NYRB review of that and two works by Henry Louis Gates is a good summary of that period.
posted by mark k at 9:34 PM on October 19, 2020 [7 favorites]
I get why America's laissez-faire federalism is the way it is. But it's also terrible and busted and no longer serves a purpose. Just Federalize stuff.
posted by GuyZero at 9:35 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by GuyZero at 9:35 PM on October 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also, I want to make one of my broken record points: Political will and national consensus on these things is more important than any amendment or clause. We generally don't need an amendment, in that there are clauses and powers like "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but Congress may at any time make or alter such Regulations"
If we had enough agreement that this was important we could pass and enforce a law. People kind of want an amendment so the question goes away, as if writing something down solves it.
But it doesn't solve it. Without political will & power, even the short 15th amendment that says Congress can make laws like the Voting Rights Act will be interpreted to mean Congress can't make laws like the Voting Rights Act.
posted by mark k at 9:41 PM on October 19, 2020 [10 favorites]
If we had enough agreement that this was important we could pass and enforce a law. People kind of want an amendment so the question goes away, as if writing something down solves it.
But it doesn't solve it. Without political will & power, even the short 15th amendment that says Congress can make laws like the Voting Rights Act will be interpreted to mean Congress can't make laws like the Voting Rights Act.
posted by mark k at 9:41 PM on October 19, 2020 [10 favorites]
As a resident of Washington DC, let me tell you that the right to vote doesn't mean much if you don't have proper representation in the legislature. More people live here than either Wyoming or Vermont, yet those two states enjoy a couple of Representatives with full voting rights and, of course, four Senators.
If we're talking Constitutional Amendments, let's make DC and Puerto Rico states and fix the electoral college so that people who aren't in swing states feel like they have meaningful votes for the President.
posted by exogenous at 5:58 AM on October 20, 2020 [7 favorites]
If we're talking Constitutional Amendments, let's make DC and Puerto Rico states and fix the electoral college so that people who aren't in swing states feel like they have meaningful votes for the President.
posted by exogenous at 5:58 AM on October 20, 2020 [7 favorites]
While we are at it, can we lower the voting age from 18?
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 6:02 AM on October 20, 2020
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 6:02 AM on October 20, 2020
I so hate when people say that, because they either fundamentally misunderstand our nation, or they understand it perfectly, and are trying to paint democracy as illegitimate.Nah. Mostly it's dumb people saying something that they think sounds smart, with the intention of stopping an argument that they're losing.
There's a case to be made that it's you who fundamentally misunderstand our nation. It's not like the Nation described in the Pledge of Allegiance ever really existed, even before the theocrats got to take a shit in the wording in the '50s.
"Make America more like the place in the Pledge" unfortunately does not fit on a bumper sticker. If somebody could figure out how to sweat it down until it does, without losing the meaning, I'd buy one.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 6:35 AM on October 20, 2020
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posted by heatherlogan at 6:22 PM on October 19, 2020 [60 favorites]