The following is an extract from our short explainer “Things You Might Not Know About Elections.” You can find the entire explainer here: https://cffad.org/things-you-might-not-know-about-elections/
Thus far, we have covered (1) how elections are essential to your freedom and prosperity, (2) why elections can take many forms, and (3) how choices made by our state legislatures and local elections administrators can encourage trust or create distrust. This week, we begin covering some ways that our country has found to increase citizens’ trust in our elections.
One of those is universal voting rights for all non-felon citizens of age. The issue comes in two parts: who can lawfully vote, and how easy is it for them to do so?
Why are universal voting rights important to establishing trustworthy elections? Why not restrict them to one group – e.g., wealthy, educated men of property, as was the practice when our Constitution was first established?
Resentment and the risk of rebellion are the main reasons voting rights have become universal. People used to the idea of government “by the people, for the people” cannot help but deeply resent being excluded from participation in government. It is the height of irony to extoll a system of government that transfers power from the powerful few to the people – while excluding people without property, women, the formerly enslaved and their descendants, and the indigenous population. All of these exclusions have been outlawed. Some exclusions ended quickly, such as property rights. Other exclusions were eliminated only with great struggle – particularly with regard to ending Jim Crow laws and enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment, which says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Next week, we will begin a review of some of the obstacles to universal voting that will always need the vigilant attention of all citizens.
If you want to learn more about elections, we have a 9-part course, each part is a 20-minute read. Easy! Click here: https://cffad.org/things-you-might-not-know-about-elections/
