FairVote.org | Content Authored by Jo McKeegan

Jo McKeegan

THE RIGHT TO VOTE BLOG

The right to vote should be the foundation of any democracy. After all, how fair can an election be if the incumbent gets to pick the voters? Yet, most Americans do not realize that we have no federal right to vote. While there are amendments to the U.S. Constitution that prohibit discrimination based on race (15th), sex (19th) and age (26th), no affirmative right to vote exists. As seen in Bush v. Gore, this is no quirk of history; this is something that has serious ramifications in today’s elections.

Everyone should have the right to vote in free and fair elections regardless of who they are or where they live. FairVote works to enact policies at the federal, state, and local levels that are consistent with our conviction that voting is not a privilege, but a right. Not only should each vote cast during an election be of equal weight, but every voter living in every state should have the right to see their vote counted.

Content Authored by Jo McKeegan

1 - 10 of 22 results

Evolution of voting rights from 1789 to today must continue
- Posted: August 14, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment
Often we sanctify the Founding Fathers and the Constitution that is the bedrock of our republic. But when it comes to voting rights, most of the founders were far off the mark from how we see the right to vote today. Consider the realities of the election of 1789, the first election of the new Congress. The overall number of people who were allowed to, and actually voted, was miniscule in state after state.

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Voting Rights Constitutional Amendment Gathers Steam
- Posted: July 22, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Rob Richie, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
Nothing is more fundamental to democracy that a fully protected right to vote. That’s why it belongs in the U.S. Constitution.

That's why we so pleased to share good news. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. has introduced HJR 28, the Right to Vote amendment. If you want to support HJR 28, you can take action today. Without such a right specifically enumerated in our Constitution, our fundamental voting rights are at risk.

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Rossello v. United States and the Right to Vote for Puerto Rico
- Posted: July 5, 2011
- Author(s): Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Universal Voter Registration, FairVote
Brought in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by former governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Rossello, Rossello v. United States addresses the lack of a right to cast a ballot and have such ballots counted in national elections for president and Congress by residents of Puerto Rico. Petitioner Rossello has been disenfranchised, along with all other residents of Puerto Rico, despite his American citizenship, based solely on his area of residence within the United States. The case raises larger issues about voting rights for Americans who live in American "colonies" that are not states.

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The Constitutional Right to Vote Blog: Rock the Blog!
- Posted: June 14, 2011
- Author(s): Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Universal Voter Registration, FairVote, All Reports
“The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” While the language of the 26th amendment is intended to serve young people well, it still leaves open a loophole in Constitutional law- while young people cannot be discriminated against based on their age, they can be denied the chance to vote, or have their ability to vote abridged, for reasons that can also undercut voting rights for older citizens.

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The Right to Vote Blog: Put more money into politics?
- Posted: June 1, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
“Let’s put more money into politics!” is a rallying cry that won’t win over too many supporters.

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RTV: Money doesn’t grow on trees
- Posted: May 4, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment
- Tags: Right to Vote
Recently, several states have backed policies that likely will disenfranchise large numbers of their citizens in the name of reducing the deficit and becoming more efficient; policies involving filling vacancies, and maintaining voter rolls.

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The Right to Vote: The case of the people of our nation’s capital
- Posted: April 14, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, D.C. Voting Rights, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
Although the District has a delegate in the U.S. House (Eleanor Holmes Norton) who can propose legislation and serve on committee, she does not have voting rights in Congress. The District lacks even a delegate in the U.S. Senate, even though Congress can veto any bill passed by the District and often considers “riders’ on bills that would change laws governing the residents of the District – a classic case of “taxation without representation.”

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The Constitutional Right to Vote Blog: Assumptions
- Posted: March 21, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, FairVote
You’ve heard the assumptions: Young people vote Democratic. So do unmarried women, African Americans, city-dwellers and people with felony convictions. Church-goers vote Republican, as do rich people, small business owners and soldiers. If you somehow fit into categories from each group, who knows, you may be a Libertarian or Green.

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The Right to Vote Blog: The Root Cause of Maryland Voter Registration Failures
- Posted: March 4, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Home, Right to Vote Amendment, Universal Voter Registration
What if you thought you had gone through the process of making sure you could vote, but later were denied the chance to do so on Election Day?

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The Constitutional Right to Vote Blog: Felon Disenfranchisement in Iowa
- Posted: January 20, 2011
- Author(s): Right to Vote Blog, Jo McKeegan
- Categories: Right to Vote Amendment, Felon Disenfranchisement, FairVote
Iowa is a poster child for what it means to fail to protect our right to vote in the U.S. Constitution: fundamental democratic rights can then be tossed around like a political football.

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