The violations to our constitutional rights with the Patriot Act make it crucial for all Americans to know the rights they are given by the U.S. Constitution. We have posted clips from the U.S. Constitution below, as well as clips and links to other important historical U.S. documents. To start things off, words from Alexander Hamilton:

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old
parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in
the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself;
and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”
Alexander Hamilton, 1775
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Constitution of The United States

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”

Article. I.
Section. 1. “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House
of Representatives.”

Section. 2. “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members
chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the
Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for
Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”

“No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the
Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that
State in which he shall be chosen.”

“Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several States which maybe included within this Union, according to
their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a
Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all
other Persons.”

—

“When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill
such Vacancies. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker
and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. ”

—

“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro
tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise
the Office of President of the United States.”

“The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When
sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When
the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall
preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of
two thirds of the Members present.”

“Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office
of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment,
Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. ”

—

Section. 7. “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House
of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with
Amendments as on other Bills.”

Link to the complete Constitution here.

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Highlights From the Amendments to the United States Constitution:

Amendment I.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Amendment II.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Amendment IV.
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against un- reasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Amendment V.
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of  a Grand Jury, except
in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person
be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
limb, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use
without just compensation.”

Amendment VI.
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein
the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been
previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”

Amendment VIII.
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

Amendment IX.
“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

Amendment X.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people.”

Amendment XIV.
Section 1. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce
any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the  United States; nor shall any State deprive any person
of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Amendment XV.
Section 1. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Section 2. “The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”

Amendment XIX.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Link to a complete list of the Amendments here.
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Highlights From The Declaration of Independence:

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such
Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness. Prudence, in deed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and
transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shown,
that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a
long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably
the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.”

“That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be,
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES.” (The capitalization of these
words is as it appears in the original document.)

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on
the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Link to the complete Declaration of Independence here.

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Virginia Declaration of Independence

George Mason

A call for American independence from Britain, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason in May 1776 and amended by Thomas Ludwell Lee and the Virginia Convention. Thomas Jefferson drew heavily from it when he drafted the Declaration of Independence one month later. This uniquely influential document was also used by James Madison in drawing up the Bill of Rights (1789) and by the Marquis de Lafayette in drafting the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789).

Highlights From The Virginia Delcaration of Rights:

Article 2: “That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.”

Article 3: “That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.”

Article 4: “That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge be hereditary.”

Article 6: “That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community have the right of suffrage and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses without their own consent or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the public good.”

Article 7: “That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority without consent of the representatives of the people is injurious to their rights and ought not to be exercised.”

Article 12: “That the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

Article 13: “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and be governed by, the civil power.”

Article 15: “That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.”

Article 16: “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”

A link to the complete Virginia Declaration of Rights can be found here.

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Articles of Confederation

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.

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The Treaty of Alliance with France was signed on February 6, 1778, creating a military alliance between the United States and France against Great Britain. Negotiated by the American diplomats Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, the Treaty of Alliance required that neither France nor the United States agree to a separate peace with Great Britain, and that American independence be a condition of any future peace agreement. In addition to the Treaty of Alliance, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France was signed on February 6, 1778, promoting trade and commercial ties between the two countries.

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The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States, recognized American independence and established borders for the new nation. After the British defeat at Yorktown, peace talks in Paris began in April 1782 between Richard Oswarld representing Great Britain and the American Peace Commissioners Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams. The American negotiators were joined by Henry Laurens two days before the preliminary articles of peace were signed on November 30, 1782. The Treaty of Paris, formally ending the war, was not signed until September 3, 1783. The Continental Congress, which was temporarily situated in Annapolis, Maryland, at the time, ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784.

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The Northwest Ordinance, officially titled “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio,” was adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787. Also known as the the Ordinance of 1787, the Northwest Ordinance established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states. Considered one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress, the Northwest Ordinance also protected civil liberties and outlawed slavery in the new territories.

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The Federalist Papers were a series of eighty-five essays urging the citizens of New York to ratify the new United States Constitution. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, the essays originally appeared anonymously in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 under the pen name “Publius.” A bound edition of the essays was first published in 1788, but it was not until the 1818 edition published by the printer Jacob Gideon that the authors of each essay were identified by name. The Federalist Papers are considered one of the most important sources for interpreting and understanding the original intent of the Constitution.

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The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled “An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,” was signed into law by President George Washington on September 24, 1789. Article III of the Constitution established a Supreme Court, but left to Congress the authority to create lower federal courts as needed. Principally authored by Senator Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, the Judiciary Act of 1789 established the structure and jurisdiction of the federal court system and created the position of attorney general. Although amended throughout the years by Congress, the basic outline of the federal court system established by the First Congress remains largely intact today.

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The Residence Act, officially titled “An Act for Establishing the Temporary and Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States,” was passed on July 16, 1790, and selected a site on the Potomac River as the permanent capital (Washington, D.C.), in ten years times. Also, this act designated Philadelphia as the temporary capital for a period of ten years. The Residence Act was the result of a compromise reached between Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison concerning the permanent location of the Federal capital. In exchange for locating the new capital on the Potomac River, Madison agreed not to block legislation mandating the assumption of the states’ debts by the Federal government.

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On September 25, 1789, the First Federal Congress of the United States proposed to the state legislatures twelve amendments to the Constitution. The first two, concerning the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified.* Articles three through twelve, known as the Bill of Rights, became the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution and contained guarantees of essential rights and liberties omitted in the crafting of the original document.

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Signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress as America prepared for war with France. These acts increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years, authorized the president to imprison or deport aliens considered “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States” and restricted speech critical of the government. These laws were designed to silence and weaken the Democratic-Republican Party. Negative reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts helped contribute to the Democratic-Republican victory in the 1800 elections. Congress repealed the Naturalization Act in 1802, while the other acts were allowed to expire.

A link to the complete Alien and Sedition Acts can be found here.

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On January 18, 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress asking for “the appropriation of two thousand five hundred dollars, for the purpose of extending the external commerce of the United States.” This money was used to fund the Lewis & Clark expedition. Jefferson made the request in a secret message in order to hide his intentions from his political enemies in the Federalist Party.

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The Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion.

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In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Furthermore, with the exception of Missouri, this law prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude line. In 1854, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Three years later the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.

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The Monroe Doctrine was declared in a few paragraphs of President James Monroe’s seventh annual message to Congress on December 2, 1823. Monroe warned European countries not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere, stating “that the American continents. . .are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” The Monroe Doctrine became a cornerstone of future U.S. foreign policy.

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The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

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Nullification Proclamation: On December 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson issued a proclamation to the people of South Carolina that disputed a states’ right to nullify a federal law. Jackson’s proclamation was written in response to an ordinance issued by a South Carolina convention that declared that the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 “are unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State.” Led by John C. Calhoun, Jackson’s vice president at the time, the nullifiers felt that the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 favored Northern-manufacturing interests at the expense of Southern farmers. After Jackson issued his proclamation, Congress passed the Force Act that authorized the use of military force against any state that resisted the tariff acts. In 1833, Henry Clay helped broker a compromise bill with Calhoun that slowly lowered tariffs over the next decade. The Compromise Tariff of 1833 was eventually accepted by South Carolina and ended the nullification crisis.

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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed by the United States and Mexico on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican War and extending the boundaries of the United States by over 525,000 square miles. In addition to establishing the Rio Grande as the border between the two countries, the territory acquired by the U.S. included what will become the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In exchange Mexico received fifteen million dollars in compensation for the territory and the U.S. agreed to assume claims from private citizens of these areas against the Mexican government.

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The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. Furthermore, California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. Also, an act was passed settling a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico that also established a territorial government in New Mexico.

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery in the territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude. Introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, the Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory, a concept known as popular sovereignty. After the bill passed on May 30, 1854, violence erupted in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers, a prelude to the Civil War.

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The Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford was issued on March 6, 1857. Delivered by Chief Justice Roger Taney, this opinion declared that slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal courts. In addition, this decision declared that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. The Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.

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Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. After six months of residency, homesteaders also had the option of purchasing the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900.

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The Pacific Railway Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 1, 1862. This act provided Federal government support for the building of the first transcontinental railroad, which was completed on May 10, 1869.

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Sponsored by Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill, the Morrill Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862. Officially titled “An Act Donating Public Lands to the Several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts,” the Morrill Act provided each state with 30,000 acres of Federal land for each member in their Congressional delegation. The land was then sold by the states and the proceeds used to fund public colleges that focused on agriculture and the mechanical arts. Sixty-nine colleges were funded by these land grants, including Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

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Issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery, it did change the basic character of the Civil War. Instead of waging a war to restore the old Union as it was before 1861, the North was now fighting to create a new Union without slavery. The proclamation also authorized the recruitment of African Americans as Union soldiers. By the end of the Civil War, approximately 180,000 African Americans had served in the Union army and 18,000 in the navy.

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On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln had been invited to gave a “few appropriate remarks” during a ceremony to dedicate a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Despite its brevity and the fact that it earned little attention at the time, the Gettysburg Address is considered one of Lincoln’s greatest speeches.

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Check out the Library of Congress archives here.

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The right to vote is the first thing they take, and the last thing they kept from women and minorities. They know that younger people have many things to do.  They hope you are too busy to wait on lines.

When I was 18 I wasn’t looking forward to the first Tuesday in November.   I wasn’t excited about exercising my right to vote.  20 years later I recognize the importance of voting.  The older folks are the ones that show up to vote for more reasons than a less busy schedule. 20 years from now what the old people think won’t matter. They are not engaging in combat. They’re not sending children to school. They are not looking for a career. It’s a new age. An age of accountability, an age of choices that do matter, an age of awareness. Some are doomed to a life of crime because the education system will fail them, because their parents are still children themselves, because they didn’t read the fine print. Let’s learn from our mistakes no matter how many times they seem to be repeated.

Voting History

EARLY VOTING

Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece had one of the earliest forms of democracy, since at least 508 BC. Each year, the Greeks had a negative election — voters were asked to cast a vote for the politician they most wanted to exile for ten years. Votes were written on broken pots, ostraka in Greek, and from this name comes our present word to ostracize. If any politician received more than 6,000 votes then the one with the largest number was exiled. If no politician received 6,000 votes then all remained. If there was a fairly even spread of votes, nobody would get over 6,000 and no one would get exiled — hence only very unpopular politicians were ostracized and exiled.
Voting rights in ancient Greece were only for male landowners, so the number of voters was small. Today, there are few politicians who would survive 6,000 negative votes!

Medieval Venice
The Venetian state was built up in the 13th century and they elected a Great Council of 40 members. The Venetians introduced “approval voting”: electors cast one vote for every candidate they find acceptable and none for those whom they deem unacceptable. The winner is the person who is acceptable to the largest number of voters.

HISTORY OF VOTING

History of Voting – Rights
The history of voting in America is a story of ever-increasing voting rights. The rules for eligibility have changed substantially since America’s founding, and continue to change today. When America was young, only white males over the age of 21 were allowed to vote. Some of the landmark changes since then:

Black Suffrage
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed following the Civil War, in the later 1860s. They outlawed slavery and extended civil rights and suffrage (voting rights) to former slaves. The LEGAL right to vote for African-Americans was established, but numerous restrictions kept many blacks from ACTUALLY voting until the 1960s Voting Rights Act.

Direct Election of Senators
The 17th Amendment made it so U.S. Senators were directly elected by popular vote. Prior to 1913, Senators were appointed. The President, of course, is still not elected by popular vote, but by the Electoral College. For example, in the presidential election of 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote but George Bush won the electoral college vote.

Women’s Suffrage
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. This amendment resulted from an international movement of “Suffragettes”. Women still lacked the right to vote in Switzerland until the 1970s, and as of 1990 women could not vote in Kuwait.

18-Year-Old-Vote
The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. This occurred in 1971, amid the Vietnam War, when 18-year-olds were routinely drafted and sent to war without the right to vote.

History of Voting – Systems
The system in use in the United States is by no means the world standard. For that matter, voting systems differ from state to state. Some voting systems you may not be familiar with:

Parliamentary System
The American voting system elects legislators based on one geographical district, by majority or plurality (whoever gets the most votes in that district wins). The districts are whole states for Senators and parts of states for House members. This is known as the “First-past-the-post” system.
In the parliamentary system, all legislators are elected at-large, meaning from the entire country’s electorate. Voters choose one party, and the party’s total votes determine how many legislative seats the party gets. The legislators are pre-determined on a list of party candidates. The Prime Minister is the person who is first on the list of the party which got the most votes.
The first-past-the-post system tends towards two parties, as we have in America. The parliamentary system favors multiple parties, since any party getting enough votes for even one seat, gets a voice in Parliament.

Instant Runoff Voting
I.R.V. is a system intended to help third party participation in a two-party system. Voters choose a first choice, second choice, and third choice. If their first choice loses, their vote transfer to their second choice candidate. For example, in 2000, voters might have voted first for Nader and second for Gore — allowing more expression of political preferences while eliminating the “spoiler effect”.

I.R.V. systems are in effect in several nations abroad, and also in numerous municipal elections in the U.S.

Fusion Voting
Fusion voting allows candidates to run under several party labels in one election. The largest example is New York State. Candidates often run as both Democrats and Liberal Party nominees; or as Republicans and Right-To-Life Party nominees. Third-party participation is encouraged because voters can choose a person AND a party, since the person’s name appears once under each party. Much negotiation occurs to get the third-party nominations by major-party candidates, which is absent in states without fusion voting.

Voting Equipment
The Supreme Court case of Bush v. Gore in 2000 highlighted the inadequacies of Florida’s voting equipment. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to address some of the problems. Now voters have the right to cast a provisional ballot if their status is disputed; and people with the same names as felons are not routinely removed from voting rolls. Future controversy may center around electronic voting equipment because of the lack of a paper trail for manual recounts.

FUTURE OF VOTING

World Democracies

What’s the world’s largest democracy? It’s NOT America!

In the 2004 election in India, 380 million people voted — more than the entire population of the United States. India conducts its voting on multiple days, moving thousands of voting machines from one province to the next.

Perhaps America will take some ideas for future electoral reforms from other democracies around the world. Some ideas follow.

Ballot Box and Donor Box

Voting was not secret in the United States until the mid-1800s. Prior to that, voters would be sworn in and announce their choices by voice. The secret ballot box was seen as a means to increase voter participation (because voters would not be scrutinized for how they voted) but also has problems with fraud (because there’s no direct verification that the voter’s intent was followed).

Some reformers want to apply the secret ballot box to campaign donations. Campaign finance reform is an ongoing debate in the U.S. Congress — with the McCain-Feingold rules taking full effect in 2004 — and this area is open to further reform. One such reform idea is to hide all donor information from the candidates, like votes are hidden, so that elected officials never know from whom their donations come, and hence cannot inappropriately reward their donors. The opposite reform for he same goal is to make donors as public as possible, to allow scrutiny of elected officials and their donors.

Future Voting Reforms

Many reformers in America call for multi-day voting as a way of increasing participation. Other reforms include:

Same-day registration: In Minnesota, people can register to vote on election day. This greatly increases turnout and was widely credited with Gov. Jesse Ventura’s 1998 electoral victory.

Weekend voting: Why do we vote on Tuesdays? Changing to Saturday and/or Sunday voting would increase turnout substantially.

Mail-In Voting: In Oregon, all voting is conducted by mail. In many other states, absentee voters must sign a statement that they were unable to get to the polls on election day. Removing restrictions against absentee and mail-in voting are coming in several states.

Non-partisan primaries: Why can’t Democrats vote in Republican primaries? Independent non-party-aligned voters are the majority in some states now. Cross-over voting in primaries would transfer power from the parties to the people.

Under-age voting: 17-year-old voting in municipal races would get candidates to campaign in high schools, and students could get used to voting before setting off on their own.

Immigrant voting: Several communities with high immigrant populations allow Green Card holders (non-citizens) to vote in municipal elections. Municipal immigrant voting increases civic participation at a level that matters to residents, whether citizens or not.

Controversy over voting rights: Increasing voting rights is always controversial, because incumbent politicians are always weakened by having more voters (and hence more potential challengers’ power bases). For example, in Cambridge Massachusetts, the voters approved immigrant voting rights, but the State Legislature declined to enact the approved bill.

Voting history information was provided by Activote.  “Activote is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization committed to providing Americans equal opportunity access to local, regional and national governmental/political resources. It is Activote’s goal to empower all individuals with the information and understanding necessary to voice concerns, address issues and ultimately impact change through the voting process.”