Expert: Michael Troy - 8/1/2004

Question
Hi,i'm a law student in Israel and under a survay i'm doing comparing the israeli legal system to the american one i would appriciate if you can  help me answering these questions: 1.Do you know of any cases dealing with electoral franchise?
2.Is this right has an absolute status?

Answer
Hi there,

The right to vote is as pretty much as fundamental a right as we have.  There are numerous cases dealing with issues such as who can vote, evenness of representation, etc.

But generally speaking, the 50 States are permitted to set whatever voting criteria they want.  The Constitution vaguely indicates that the federal government is responsible to make sure the States have a "republican form of government" (republican means representative).  

Over the years there have been some additional limitations.  The 15th Amendment ensures that States do not deny the vote on the basis of race.  The 19th ensures that States do not deny the vote based on sex.  The 26th guarantees that age shall not be used to deny the vote to anyone over 18 years old.

Non-citizens are usually denied the right to vote.  Felons and ex-felons are often denied the right to vote, although some states are now giving that right back to ex-felons.  So the right can be lost be giving up one's citizenship or by committing a felony.  Also, being declared legally insane will deny one the franchise.  So you can lose the right under some circumstances.  But those circumstances are pretty limited.

Most of the case law in the area of voting rights today deals with voter dilution; that is, creating election districts that effectively prevent certain groups from getting full representation.  For example, say a State if 40% black and 60% percent white.  Assume also that blacks and whites have very different politics and issues. If each of 10 congressional districts contains 40% black voters and 60% white voters, the white voters' candidates will win 100% of the seats.  Various laws prevent that from happening and do not allow states to draw lines in order to disenfranchise, or even reduce the number of representatives that they would likely have given their percentage of the population.

For more info on this issue, you may find this site helpful:

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/intro/intro.htm

For info on the disenfranchisement of felons, this article may be helpful:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20031124&s=perl

I hope this helps!
- Mike