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There is no 'right to vote' guaranteed by the Constitution, as there is a right to free speech, unwarranted searches and seizures, etc. Yes, members of Congress are chosen by voting, and yes, the Constitution says that there will be no voting discrimination based on race or gender, but other than that leaves voter qualification standards to the States. Many states prohibit felons from voting, some prohibit people with certain mental issues from voting. The residents of the District of Columbia cannot vote for their representation in Congress because they have none, as DC is a Federal enclave. And of course there is a minimum voting age requirement nationwide.
It would be an unpopular issue to exclude welfare sponges from the voter rolls, but perfectly legal according to federal law.
Keith
They are working hard to get D.C. representation.
I don't know about the rest of what you are saying. I think it was another thing that our founding fathers thought would be obvious enough that they didn't have to spell it out! However, they didn't count on our society devolving as we have. lol.
So your thought is that because the constitution doesn't specifically spell out who can vote, that there is no constitutional right? Does that mean that Democrats could vote to exclude Republicans from voting because there is no explicit right to vote for Republicans? lol. Minors can't vote because they are minors. Each state can define what their definition of a minor is. Felons can have their right to vote suspended as can prisoners, because they wave part of their constitutional rights when they become a felon or prisoner. They also wave that pesky right to freedom in most cases. lol
My point is that there is a right to vote, even though they didn't feel the need to explicity write it out. They probably assumed that nobody would challenge your right to breath either, so they neglected to slip that into the constitution too!