Native Vote: American Indians, the Voting Rights Act, and the Right to Vote

ABSTRACT Democracy means power to the people, but it is not always clear who belongs to "the people". The question has become pertinent in the age of migration where large groups of foreigners permanently reside outside their countries of nationality. The economic, cultural, and political integration of these foreigners is one of the pressing problems faced by democratic States in both the developed and developing worlds. One question is : whether resident non-citizens should be granted the right to vote. The answer to this question depends on who belongs to "the people". In federal and quasi-federal States with multiple levels of government the further question arises : whether "the people" is a homogenous concept that applies uniformly across all levels of government. This article contributes to the debate about the right of foreigners to vote in democratic States with multiple levels of government, such as, South Africa and Kenya. It does so by discussing the German response to the problems mentioned above. The dominant view of the German Federal Constitutional Court since the 1990s has been that "the people" only includes "German citizens" , and that attempts by lower levels of government to extend the right to vote to foreigners from Africa and elsewhere are unconstitutional. In this article I explore and critique this conventional view. I then present a positive case for the extension of voting rights to resident non-citizens under the German Constitution. Many of the arguments would apply with equal force to the debate about the right to vote of foreigners in African multi-level democracies, such as, South Africa and Kenya. Keywords: Denizenship, Citizenship, Voting rights, Nationality law, Multi-level government, The people, Foreigners, Residents, Affected persons principle, Democracy.

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Uptake and knowledge of voting rights by adult in-patients during the 2010 UK general election

The Psychiatrist ◽

10.1192/pb.bp.110.033662 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 126-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

James McIntyre ◽

Masum Khwaja ◽

Venkata Yelamanchili ◽

Sobia Naz ◽

Maria Clarke

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Voting Rights ◽

General Election ◽

Clinical Implications ◽

Psychological Barriers ◽

Registration Process ◽

Written Information ◽

Right To Vote ◽

The Right ◽

Information Barrier

Aims and methodThis study explores knowledge and uptake of the voting rights of adult in-patients in the 2010 UK general election. A clinician-completed survey was used.ResultsEligible to vote psychiatric adult in-patients were half as likely to register as the general population and half as likely to vote if registered. Nine out of ten of those unregistered cited a lack of knowledge of their eligibility to vote or of the registration process. Long-stay patients were particularly disenfranchised.Clinical implicationsMany patients and staff remain unaware of the new rules which have given a greater proportion of in-patients the right to vote and have simplified the registration and voting processes. This information barrier may be addressed in future elections by providing timely written information to both patients and staff. Once registered, patients may need further support to overcome practical and psychological barriers, and cast their vote.

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An Alternative Route to Voting Reform: the Right to Vote, Voter Registration, Redistricting and U.S. State Constitutions

Publius The Journal of Federalism ◽

10.1093/publius/pjz013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 465-489 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nancy Martorano Miller ◽

Keith E Hamm ◽

Maria Aroca ◽

Ronald D Hedlund

Keyword(s):

State Level ◽

Voter Registration ◽

State Court ◽

Voting Rights Act ◽

Constitutional Amendments ◽

State Constitutions ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

Right To Vote ◽

The Right ◽

Election Laws

Abstract The U.S. Constitution reserves to states the responsibility for regulating most aspects of elections. Recently, the Supreme Court has weakened the tools for federal officials to challenge state elections practices under the Voting Rights Act and signaled a great deal of deference to state authority over election law. As a result, state legislatures’ latitude to regulate elections is constrained primarily by state constitutions. With voter ID laws and partisan gerrymandering commanding considerable attention in recent years, it is important to investigate the importance of state constitutions in this area. In this article, we discuss recent efforts by voting and election reformers to utilize state constitutions to challenge restrictive voting laws and partisan gerrymandering, whether by enacting state constitutional amendments or relying on state constitutional provisions in state court litigation. We also highlight the diverse and often underappreciated landscape of voting and election laws in the states and the resources available to reformers at the state level by analyzing state constitutional provisions bearing on the right to vote, voter registration, and redistricting.

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Diasporas, Extraterritorial Representation, and the Right to Vote

Canadian Yearbook of international Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international ◽

10.1017/cyl.2015.18 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 185-221

Author(s):

FRÉDÉRIC MÉGRET ◽

RAPHAËL GIRARD

Keyword(s):

Voting Rights ◽

Foreign Nationals ◽

National Assembly ◽

Territorial Sovereignty ◽

Main Effect ◽

Right To Vote ◽

The Right ◽

Domestic Affairs

AbstractThis article argues that Canada’s policy of refusing extraterritorial electoral constituencies within its borders does not protect its territorial sovereignty or add any protection against foreign interference in its domestic affairs. Rather, its main effect is to alienate thousands of dual or foreign nationals residing in Canada by preventing them from being directly represented in their home state’s national assembly or legislature and, in some cases, from exercising their only voting rights.

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Participación de personas con discapacidad en la vida política. Un análisis de contenido de la literatura reciente (1997-2019)

Estudios Políticos (Medellín) ◽

10.17533/udea.espo.n61a07 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 154-177

Author(s):

Andrés Mauricio Guzmán Rincón ◽

Adriana Caballero Pérez

Keyword(s):

Political Participation ◽

Voting Rights ◽

Social Practices ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Persons With Disabilities ◽

Academic Literature ◽

Literature Reviews ◽

Right To Vote ◽

The Right

The right of persons with disabilities to vote is well-codified in international human rights law. Disability scholars, however, argue that persons with disabilities are frequently denied the right to vote. What are the recurrent concepts used by disability scholars to discuss this issue? From a content literature review, four main concepts are regularly used by authors to elaborate on voting rights in the context of disability: “political participation,” “barriers,” “electoral practices” that support or constraint the full and effective exercise of the right to vote, and “electoral-assistive devices” as technology solutions to assist voters with disabilities. Discussing all these concepts is uncommon in other literature reviews. Findings illustrate that an abundance of publications focuses on political participation of persons with intellectual or mental impairments. Such publications tend to concentrate only on statutory barriers. Less prevalent is academic literature regarding persons with other impairments, as well as procedural barriers. Even more sparse are publications elaborating on social practices. Similarly, assistive technology is not often discussed as a tool for the facilitation of the right to vote of persons with disabilities.

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