Voter Qualifications

THE CONSTITUTION OF the United States did not specify any qualification guidelines for voters, leaving the states to define the franchise for federal elections to the House of Representatives by applying the qualifications requisite in each state to vote for “the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.” Although there were no national voting qualifications, five amendments to the U.S. Constitution disallowed states [Page 835]from limiting suffrage in certain ways. They are: the Fifteenth (1870) and Nineteenth (1920) amendments, which prohibited discrimination based on race and sex, respectively; the Twenty-Third Amendment (1961), which allowed residents of the District of Columbia to vote in presidential elections; the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964), which prohibited poll or any tax requirements; and, finally, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971), which ensured the right to vote for those 18 years of age or older.

The remaining suffrage provisions are still left in the hands of the states. Currently, all states require voters to be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. All states have a residency requirement of some sort, while 12 states require the voter to be registered exclusively in that particular state. Only Alabama, Florida, and Vermont require voters to make an oath to defend the Constitution when registering. In Alabama, the phrase “so help me God,” concludes the oath, while Vermont requires the voter to take the oath in presence of a notary public.

One possible discriminatory qualification shared by 34 states is mental competency. More controversial, however, are the felony disenfranchisement laws that most states have enacted. While most Western democratic countries allow inmates to vote, 48 American states and the District of Columbia deny incarcerated felons the franchise. Only Maine and Vermont permit inmates to vote. A total of 35 states prohibit felons on parole from voting, while 30 exclude felony probationers as well. Kentucky and Virginia deny the right to vote to all ex-offenders for life. Some other states allow certain categories of ex-offenders to apply for restoration of rights, often only after years of waiting. Due to felon disenfranchisement, it is estimated that 2.1 million Americans are denied voting rights even after completing their sentences. Given the racial skew in the felon conviction rate, African-American males are seven times more likely to be disenfranchised than the national average.

Requiring voter registration had long been criticized for posing an extra cost on electoral participation, but the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 alleviated the problem by requiring all states to offer motor-voter, agency-based, and mail-in voter registration. A new de facto qualification surfaced with the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which mandates that all states require identification from first-time voters at their polling place, if they registered to vote by mail without providing verification of their identification. Many states have gone beyond this provision by typically requiring all voters to show identification at the polls. Critics point out that the elderly, minorities, low-income constituents, and female citizens are less likely to possess photo identification and will be disproportionately deprived of the franchise on Election Day.

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