The March to Suffrage

That was the title for one of my lectures in my “Political Parties and Elections” class.  I would note that when the Constitution was written, suffrage was limited to white males who owned property.  (There were a few exceptions--in New Jersey property-owning widows were allowed to vote for a few years after the Revolution.)  With Jacksonian democracy, suffrage was extended to white males regardless of property ownership.  The 15th Amendment gave the vote to all males, although black men were restricted in the South for another hundred years.

In 1920 women could vote, and in 1964 poll taxes, which kept poor people from voting, were eliminated by the 24th amendment.  In 1971 18-year-olds were allowed to vote.  The Voting Rights Act of 1970 ended literacy tests, and the Voting Rights Act extension in 1975 eliminated the need to know English.  

Since 1975 voting rights were further extended.  Some states permitted election day registration, some made it easier for ex-felons to vote, some permitted early voting and voting by mail.  Absentee balloting was made easier.  We had a few setbacks--in the 19th century many states did not require a voter to be a citizen--but the trend was for greater eligibility and ease of voting.

That all came to an end this year.  Now we get photo ID requirements, the need to produce proof of citizenship, an end to early voting.  According to an article in the Oct. 3 New York Times, as many as five million voters will be disenfranchised by the new requirements that Republicans governors and legislators have introduced and passed.  The overwhelming majority of the disenfranchised will be Democrats.  This is no way to run a democracy.  It is totalitarian in its intent.