American citizens DO NOT have a right to vote. It is not part of our national Constitution.
On 21 January 2015 Democratic Congressmen Mark Pocan (WI-02) and Keith Ellison (MN-51) co-sponsored House Joint Resolution 25, Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding the right to vote, which boasted a total of 40 co-sponsors, but the resolution went no where.
Even as the rising American electorate gains momentum, new regressive laws, rulings, and maneuvers are threatening voting rights without facing the strict scrutiny that would come with an affirmative right to vote in the Constitution.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), stripping the Justice Department of the powers it had for five decades to curb racial discrimination in voting. Congress has effectively neutered the Elections Assistance Commission. And many schools skip civic education, contributing to the decline in voter turnout in local and primary elections.
Enshrining an explicit right to vote in the Constitution would guarantee the voting rights of every citizen of voting age, ensure that every vote is counted correctly, and defend against attempts to enfranchise ineligible voters and disenfranchise eligible voters. It would empower Congress to enact minimum electoral standards to guarantee a higher degree of legitimacy, inclusivity, and consistency across the nation, and give our courts the authority to keep politicians in check when they try to game the vote for partisan reasons.
www.fairvote.org/…
John Roberts, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and newcomer to the U.S. Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch are expressly opposed to right of American citizens to vote.
As are the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
As are Trump in the Executive branch, especially his AG henchman Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions III, and virtually everyone else in Trump’s cabinet.
The notorious anti-voting Sessions:
Donald Trump has chosen a white nationalist as his chief strategist and a white-nationalist sympathizer as his pick for Attorney General. Like the Confederate general he is named after, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III has long been a leading voice for the Old South and the conservative white backlash vote Trump courted throughout his campaign. Sessions, as a US senator from Alabama, has been the fiercest opponent in the Senate of immigration reform, a centerpiece of Trump’s agenda, and has a long history of opposition to civil rights, dating back to his days as a US Attorney in Alabama in the 1980s.
The Senate rejected Sessions for a federal judgeship during the Reagan administration because of racist statements he made and for falsely prosecuting black political activists in Alabama. He opposed the Voting Rights Act, the country’s most important civil-rights law.
www.thenation.com/…
Add to that the questionable integrity of the Republican-controlled process of elections and their out-of-date voting machines:
America’s voting machines are rapidly aging out. Most machines in use today were purchased between 2000 and 2005 and have a projected lifespan of 10 to 15 years. These antiquated systems contribute to long lines and are prone to errors like lost votes, “flipped” votes going to the wrong candidate, and incorrect tallies. Maintaining these old machines is both difficult and expensive, since replacement parts are no longer manufactured. The Presidential Commission on Election Administration concluded there is an “impending crisis… from the widespread wearing out of voting machines purchased a decade ago.”
Not surprisingly, election officials are well aware of the problem. A Brennan Center survey found jurisdictions in at least 31 states want to purchase new voting machines in the next five years. But officials in 22 of these states — 71 percent — said they did not know where they would find the money to pay for them.
In an era of strained state and local budgets, spending money on voting machines hardly seems like an immediate priority. Yet, we have already seen the consequences. For instance, one expert warned in 1988 that punch card voting systems, like those used in some parts of Florida in 2000, needed to be upgraded or replaced. Twelve years later the presidency hung in the balance as the nation debated hanging chads, voter error, and lost votes.
www.brennancenter.org/…
Quite frankly, the integrity of electronic voting machines has been in question since their inception into the voting process of this country. First off, they are largely manufactured by Republican partisans who have openly boasted of their partisanship:
The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.
O'Dell attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors - known as Rangers and Pioneers - at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month. The next week, he penned invitations to a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser to benefit the Ohio Republican Party's federal campaign fund - partially benefiting Bush - at his mansion in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington.
www.commondreams.org/…
Frankly, because of all the above factors (and more) I believe the U.S. presidential election of 2016 was a total fraud. Every day that Donald Trump holds the presidency of the United States in thrall is a day of violation of our civil rights. Of my civil rights.