Voting is an individual power. It can neither be delegated to, nor controlled by government. You can cast a ballot on election day or you can vote with your feet and move your body somewhere more to your liking. Conversely, if you're permitted no say or movement by law, you can vote by protesting your case and hope for relief or you can vote by taking up arms and attempting to overthrow your opressor(s).
Your vote = Your power = Your ability to exercise force
And yes, the power of the vote was originally only exercised by landowners. In the early 19th century, it was widely understood that voting was force and generally agreed upon that it should be limited as much as possible. Therefore, it was restricted to those with the largest stake in government - landowners. It should also be said that in some places this included women - long before Suzy B. did her thing - and in at least four different states, free black men who owned land were permitted the power. This wasn't good enough later on down the road so steps were taken in protest (and some violence) that extended the franchise to all those over the age of eighteen.
Now even if you're too stupid to tie your shoes, you're allowed to exercise force over others so long as you've been alive eighteen years - sweet, right?
i nearly wrecked my truck i was laughing so hard. the guy’s i pod on his phone told him he had a constitutional right to vote. i was so glad to see a McCain Palin sight to get my focus back on my driving.
Most Americans believe that the "legal right to vote" in our democracy is explicit (not just implicit) in our Constitution and laws. However, our Constitution only provides explicitly for non-discrimination in voting on the basis of race, sex, and age in the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments respectively.
Even though the "vote of the people" is perceived as supreme in our democracy - because voting rights are protective of all other rights - Justice Scalia in Bush v. Gore constantly reminded Al Gore's lawyers that there is no explicit or fundamental right to suffrage in the Constitution. The Supreme Court majority concluded: "the individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States." (Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000))
Voting in the United States is based on the constitutional principle of states' rights. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the State, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Since the word "vote" appears in the Constitution only with respect to non-discrimination, the so-called right to vote is a "state right." Only a constitutional amendment would give every American an individual affirmative citizenship right to vote.
What's the difference between a citizenship right and a state right? The First Amendment contains individual citizenship rights that go with you from state to state (that is, they are the same wherever you are in the U.S.); and they are protected and enforced by the federal government - theoretically you have equal protection under the law by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Therefore, as a result of the First Amendment, every American citizen has an individual right to free speech, freedom of assembly, and religious freedom (or to choose no religion at all), regardless of which state you are in - individual rights that are protected by the federal government. A state right is NOT an American citizenship right (that is, not protected by the federal government), but a right defined and protected by each state - and limited to that state. ======================================
The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the electoral college. U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1. This is the source for the statement in McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S. 1, 35 (1892), that the state legislature's power to select the manner for appointing electors is plenary; it may, if it so chooses, select the electors itself, which indeed was the manner used by state legislatures in several States for many years after the framing of our Constitution. Id., at 28-33. History has now favored the voter, and in each of the several States the citizens themselves vote for Presidential electors. When the state legislature vests the right to vote for President in its people, the right to vote as the legislature has prescribed is fundamental; and one source of its fundamental nature lies in the equal weight accorded to each vote and the equal dignity owed to each voter. The State, of course, after granting the franchise in the special context of Article II, can take back the power to appoint electors. See id., at 35 (" '[T]here is no doubt of the right of the legislature to resume the power at any time, for it can neither be taken away nor abdicated''') (quoting
The right to vote is protected in more than the initial allocation of the franchise. Equal protection applies as well to the manner of its exercise. Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person's vote over that of another.
(Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000))