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To: trumandogz
Is that in the Constitution?

No, and neither is a general right to vote. The Constitution didn't address the subject until the ratification of the 15th Amendment. That amendment excluded using race as a limiting factor for permitting people to vote. It said that people had a right not to be excluded from voting based on race, not that they had a right to vote per se. In other words, states were still free to place other limitations, such as those on gender, or age, or language fluency, or failure to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy test.

It took other constitutional amendments to provide for nationwide female suffrage, to lower the voting age nationwide to 18, and to eliminate poll taxes in federal elections.

Therefore, there is no general right to vote in the Constitution. The idea that there is one is a product of the sixties, and it's as silly as the claim that there's a "right" to abortion or same-sex "marriage".

When the Constitution is silent on an issue, it's reserved to the states. If a state wants to grant a general right to vote to everyone, they can, but there's no constitutional obligation.

This is because the Founding Fathers regarded voting as a privilege reserved to those who could be trusted with the franchise. They didn't put it in the Constitution because they respected states' rights on the issue, but every state at the time excluded women from voting, most excluded blacks from voting, and virtually all of them limited the vote to white males who could read and write. Now, you may not like that, but it's a fact. The absence of any reference to voting in the Bill of Rights demonstrates that the Founders didn't rank it in the same league as freedom of the press, or speech, or religion. That is, as a fundamental right of the citizenry in general.

What would possibly compel you to believe otherwise? And to repeat my prior question, why do you think that people who can't speak English should be permitted to vote?

38 posted on 11/25/2007 3:33:00 AM PST by puroresu (Enjoy ASIAN CINEMA? See my Freeper page for recommendations (updated!).)
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To: puroresu
You are right, we cannot deny a person a right to vote based on race, gender or age and it would appear that a low could be passed prohibiting the right to vote based on English proficiency.

However, any such law would be stuck down by the Court based on the Equal Protection Clause.

44 posted on 11/25/2007 11:01:04 AM PST by trumandogz (Hunter Thompson 2008)
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