Re: OT:Thanksgiving

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:04:06 -0700, Howard Brazee <howard@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:03:42 +1300, "Pete Dashwood"
<dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I find this staggering. How can Democracy work when every State is allowed
to interpret who can and cannot vote?

I'm not convinced that having national standards that are less than
universal would make Democracy work better. States define which of
their crimes are felonies, for instance.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the Constitution had
instituted representation based upon voters rather than heads. States
would have been motivated to enfranchise more people earlier to gain
more power.

There is a federal standard for who can and cannot vote. It is called
the 15th amendment to the Constitution which guarantees that,
throughout the nation, no person shall be denied the right to vote on
account of race or color. It was effecuated by the Voting Right Act
of 1965 which has been extended every time it is up for renewal.

While the Voting Rights Act was primarily aimed at the southern states
who were finding ways of keeping African-American people from voting,
it does set standards and ends some discriminations (such as literacy)
for preventing people from voting.

Enforcement of the Act has also increased the opportunity of black and
Latino voters to elect representatives of their choice by providing a
vehicle for challenging discriminatory election methods such as
at-large elections, racially gerrymandered districting plans, or
runoff requirements that may dilute minority voting strength.
Virtually excluded from all public offices in the South in 1965, black
and Hispanic voters are now substantially represented in the state
legislatures and local governing bodies throughout the region.

As for felons not being able to vote, that is not true in all states.
Forty-eight states currently restrict the right of felons to vote.
Most states forbid current inmates to vote, others extend such bans to
parolees, and still others disenfranchise felons for life.

The policy of disenfranchising felons is as old as ancient Greece and
Rome; it made its way to these shores not long after the American
Revolution. By the time of the Civil War, 70 percent of the states
already had such laws.

Regards,
////
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If you never did, you should.
These things are fun and fun is good."
--- Dr. Seuss
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Relevant Pages

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  • Re: OT:Thanksgiving
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