Voter-ID Laws Discourage Participation, Particularly among Minorities, and Trigger a Constitutional Remedy in Lost Representation

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (01) ◽  
pp. 107-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Sobel ◽  
Robert Ellis Smith
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Voter Identification ◽  
Congressional Representation ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Voter Id ◽  
The U.S

Because voter-identification laws discourage voter turnout, particularly among identifiable minority groups, their implementation abridges a fundamental constitutional right. The U.S. Constitution includes a little-known remedy for denying or abridging the right to vote that reduces a state's congressional representation in proportion to the extent of the abridgements.

scholarly journals Constitutionalizing Access

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jessica Terkovich ◽  
Aryeh Frank
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Explicit Recognition ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Government ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
The U.S

State constitutions receive relatively little academic attention, yet they are the source of significant substantive rights—and, when compared to the U.S. Constitution, they are relatively easily amended to comport with contemporary needs and values. Unlike the constitutions of dozens of other nations, the U.S. Constitution contains no explicit recognition of a right to information from the government, and the Supreme Court has declined to infer that such a right exists, apart from narrow exceptions. Conversely, seven states expressly memorialize the public’s right of access to government meetings and records in their constitutions. In this paper, the authors examine case law applying the constitutional right of access, concluding that the right is somewhat underutilized and rarely seems to produce an outcome clearly different from what a litigant could expect relying on state statutory rights alone. 

After the Voting Rights Act

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas A. Powe
Keyword(s):  
Attorney General ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
Voting Rights Act ◽  
Voter Identification ◽  
Shelby County ◽  
The One ◽  
Voter Fraud ◽  
Voter Id ◽  
The U.S

This chapter discusses the legal battles over the issue on voting rights in Texas. The Voting Rights Act, with its preclearance requirements for the South, was adopted in 1965 and reauthorized in 1970, 1975, 1982, and 2006. A few days after the 2006 reauthorization, the municipal utility district (MUD), created in Austin, Texas, in the 1980s, sued the U.S. attorney general, claiming that it should be allowed the advantage of the “bailout” (from preclearance) provisions of the Act. Edward Blum was the man behind the lawsuit. The chapter examines the MUD case and the one that followed it, Shelby County v. Holder. It also considers the efforts of Republicans to prevent voter fraud in the state through voter identification, resulting in SB 14, or voter ID bill, in the Texas Senate.

The Empirical Effects of Voter-ID Laws: Present or Absent?

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (01) ◽  
pp. 121-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason D. Mycoff ◽  
Michael W. Wagner ◽  
David C. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Court Ruling ◽  
Expiration Date ◽  
Supreme Court Ruling ◽  
Primary Election ◽  
Voter Identification ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Voter Id ◽  
The U.S

The effect of voter-identification (voter-ID) laws on turnout is a hot-button issue in contemporary American politics. In April of 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Indiana's voter-ID law, the nation's most rigorous, which requires voters to arrive at the polls with a state-issued photo ID containing an expiration date (Crawford v. Marion County2008). In a famous incident highlighting how Hoosiers were dealing with their state's voter-ID law, representative Julia Carson (D-IN) was initially blocked from voting during Indiana's 2006 primary election for failing to comply with Indiana's voter-identification standard. Carson identified herself with her congressional ID card; since that card did not include an expiration date and therefore did not meet Indiana's voter-identification law, she was turned away at the polls before later being allowed to vote (Goldstein 2006). The rising wave of public, political, and legal debate crested two years later in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling and during the Indiana primaries, with reports of a dozen nuns being denied ballots at the polls due to their lack of appropriate identification (Urbina 2008).

scholarly journals Accessibility of Persons with Disabilities in Realizing Elections with Integrity

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-114
Author(s):  
Yusdar Yusdar
Keyword(s):  
Disabled Persons ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
Access Rights ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right

The right to vote and be elected is a constitutional right of citizens who are recognized as part of the rights to the same position in law and government. Elections are a very important momentum, in fact, the Election still often raises problems for persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are a group of persons with disabilities who most need special facilities so that they can choose independently so they can fulfill the principle of elections, namely Direct, General, Free and Confidential and Honest and Fair. So that the political rights of persons with disabilities have not been maximally fulfilled through the provision of accessibility in elections for them. This research is normative legal research. By using several methods of approach, namely: Legislative approach (statute approach), conceptual approach (conceptual approach), case approach (case approach). The results of the study show that the provision of accessibility space, not only on the momentum of giving rights (giving ballots to be tested) to persons with disabilities on voting days and hours in elections but giving accessibility to persons with disabilities in elections was given since the stages of election implementation were echoed. Ideally, Disabled Persons must have access as election organizers as well as election participants. The accessibility of persons with disabilities should not only be given to access rights as voters on the day and time of voting. Keywords:People with Disabilities; Elections; Integrity

The Right to Privacy

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd L. Weinreb
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Moral Claim ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Right To Privacy ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S

The question that I address in this paper is whether there is a right to privacy. It is not the question whether in the United States there is a legal right to privacy or, more particularly, a constitutional right to privacy. There are any number of ordinary legal rights and specific constitutional rights that might be so described, and the U.S. Supreme Court has referred also to a generic “right to privacy” that is implicit in the U.S. Constitution. Nor is the question that I address whether persons have a moral claim to privacy that others ought to respect. I assume that in many circumstances, respecting a person's claim to privacy is productive of the good and, if so, that the claim ought to be respected. Rather, my question is whether persons have a right to privacy not dependent on positive law, such that it ought ordinarily to be respected without regard to the consequences, good or bad, simply because it is right.

The Historical Context of Voter Photo-ID Laws

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (01) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandler Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Marion County ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Poll Tax

The issue before the U.S. Supreme Court in theCrawfordcase (Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd. 2008) was whether a law (Indiana Senate Enrolled Act No. 483) passed by the Indiana legislature requiring most voters to show a photo ID in order to cast a ballot violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs argued that it works an unfair hardship on many people who do not have the government-issued documents that count as a legitimate ID (Indiana Democratic Party et al., 12–16). They argued that the law, in effect, constitutes a poll tax, inasmuch as there are costs to obtain the right kind of photo ID, costs that unduly burden many eligible citizens wanting to exercise their right to vote.

Should Imprisoned Criminals have a Constitutional Right to Vote?.

1987 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 153-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdravko Planinc
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Democratic Rights ◽  
Reasonable Limit ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Legislative Assembly

Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets out the democratic rights of Canadian citizens. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein. Donald Smiley has written that “some of the rights contained in the Charter are stated so explicitly that there is little doubt about their meaning and effect,” and that section 3 is one of the best examples of such clarity. But Smiley was wrong. The “meaning and effect” of section 3 has been thrown into doubt by the question whether its guarantee of the right to vote extends to imprisoned criminals. Newfoundland obviously thinks that it does, for in The Charter of Rights Amendment Act 1985, it repealed the traditional prohibition of prisoner voting. Other jurisdictions have chosen to retain the legal prohibition and to defend it against constitutional challenges mounted by inmates of Canadian prisons. The issue is probably headed for the Supreme Court, which will have to decide whether prisoners are full “citizens” within the meaning of section 3, and, if they are, whether a limit on their right to vote can be justified under section 1 as a “reasonable limit, demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society.”

scholarly journals La implantación del ‘voto rogado’ en España: el perjudicial límite a la participación electoral de los españoles residentes en el extranjero a punto de enmendarse

2019 ◽  
pp. 441
Author(s):  
José Luis Mateos Crespo
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Legal Change ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right ◽  
New Formula ◽  
Social Debate ◽  
Unanimous Agreement

La reforma de 2011 de la legislación electoral, relativa al voto de los españoles en el extranjero, ha generado un debate político y social desde su aprobación sobre la conveniencia de mantener el denominado voto rogado. El cambio legal buscaba incrementar las garantías en el ejercicio del derecho al sufragio activo en el exterior, pero realmente incorporó una traba más al procedimiento dificultando la participación electoral de los españoles residentes en el extranjero. Como consecuencia, las cifras de participación de españoles en el extranjero en los procesos electorales celebrados desde 2011, son inferiores a las registradas antes de la reforma. Recientemente, la Subcomisión parlamentaria para la reforma electoral debate una modificación legal para derogar el voto rogado, aunque todavía no existe un acuerdo unánime en torno a la nueva fórmula para el ejercicio del derecho al voto de los españoles residentes en el extranjero.The reform of electoral legislation about the vote of Spanish citizens residing abroad has generated a political and social debate on the convenience of maintaining the so-called “voto rogado” since its approval in 2011. The legal change sought to increase the guarantees in the exercise of the right to active suffrage abroad, but it actually incorporated another obstacle in the procedure, making it difficult for Spanish residents abroad to vote. As a result, the voter turnout rates of Spanish citizens residing abroad in the electoral processes held from 2011 are lower than those registered before this reform. Recently, the Parliamentary Subcommittee for the electoral reform is debating a legal amendment to repeal “voto rogado”, although there is still no unanimous agreement around the new formula for exercising the right to vote of Spanish citizens residing abroad.

Demands for Voter Identification Require a Constitutional Standard of Reasonable Suspicion of Illegal Activity

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (01) ◽  
pp. 103-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Ellis Smith ◽  
Richard Sobel
Keyword(s):  
Political Rights ◽  
Illegal Activity ◽  
Voter Identification ◽  
Fundamental Significance ◽  
Reasonable Suspicion ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Right

“It is beyond cavil that ‘voting is of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure’” (Burdick v. Takushi1992, 433). Voting is particularly foundational “since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights” (Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Educ. 1966, 667). As Justice Kennedy dissented inBurdick(1992, 434), even depriving one voter of the exercise of the fundamental right to vote is too substantial an impact to withstand constitutional scrutiny.

scholarly journals Electoral Process using Biometric Fingerprint Scanner that Suits the Bhutanese Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VII) ◽  
pp. 168-180
Author(s):  
Younten Tshering
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Internet Voting ◽  
Display Unit ◽  
Central Database ◽  
Right To Vote ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Election Commission

Democracy is a gift from the golden throne; from 2008, Bhutanese people started to choose their leader by casting a vote. The right to vote and more importantly the exercise of franchise by the eligible citizens is the heart of every democracy [1]. Through this exercise of their right to vote have the ultimate power to shape the destiny of country by electing representatives who run the government and make decisions for the growth, development, and benefit of all the citizens. However, the voter turnout seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate based on the Election Commission of Bhutan [5]. This paper proposes an electoral process aiming at better voter turnout. It replaces whole electoral system using Biometric Fingerprint scanner for the voter authentication and a display unit connected to a central database which helps a voter to cast their vote from nearest polling station instead of having to go to his/her polling station to cast vote. It is a hybrid of internet voting and a traditional electronic voting method where the system uses electronic equipment at the nearest polling station to cast vote instead of using a personal laptop or mobile phone to cast vote using an app. The hybrid system is adopted with the major findings shown in “Internet Voting in Estonia” [13] which is a small country and suitable to adopt internet voting.

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