Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulS
Should we again discuss how the GOP is constantly trying to impose rules on voting (that aren't in the const.)
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Actually, Paul, it is in the Constitution. Being "in the Constitution" does not mean that it is actually, verbatim, listed there. The Constitution mostly limits what government can do within a small list of broad categories. Anything outside of those categories is prohibited to government abridgement.
Voting, the right for citizens to vote is assumed by the nature of the form of government instituted. It does not fall into any constitutional category of government power, except to arrange times and places as well as the qualifications of those running for office. But it is assumed, by Amendments, to have powers of regulation in that it is prohibited from certain types of regulation. Thereby assuming that it can regulate voting except in those Amended circumstances.
There is no prohibition in the Constitution against government regulation of the voting process except for the prohibition against doing so by "sex" (19th Amendment), or "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (15th Amendment), or by the age of anyone over 18 (26th Amendment).
If there is no reference to any of those prohibitions, then government is not prohibited from imposing voting rules. Of course, there is that notion that a Judge can "interpret" that a regulation actually denies the vote to any of those categories, even if they are not mentioned in the regulation. But that notion can be extended infinitum to include endless ways that someone could be denied the vote. However, if the regulation applies to all categories of citizens, it would be judicial activism to strike it down on the basis of a judges opinion of what harm the regulation
might incur to a particular category. That does occur. But in the strictest sense, such personal interpretation is not constitutional. It is actually destructive of the Constitution in that it introduces precedent for abrogating the Constitution, rewriting it by judicial fiat.