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How is voting related to the Constitution?

How is voting related to the Constitution?

In the U.S., no one is required by law to vote in any local, state, or presidential election. According to the U.S. Constitution, voting is a right and a privilege. Many constitutional amendments have been ratified since the first election. However, none of them made voting mandatory for U.S. citizens.

What did the Constitution say about citizen voting?

Several constitutional amendments (the Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth specifically) require that voting rights of U.S. citizens cannot be abridged on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age (18 and older); the constitution as originally written did not establish any such rights …

What does the Constitution say about a contested presidential election?

Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution states: “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members”. As a result, the House or Senate have final authority to decide a contested election, superseding even a state legislature or court.

How was the voting rights Act influential?

It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified.

What does the Constitution say about voting age?

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment provides, “The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.” It prohibits states from discriminating among voters based on age, for people who are at least 18 years old.

What does Article 1 Section 3 of the Constitution mean?

The Constitution confers on the U.S. Senate legislative, executive, and judicial powers. Finally, Article I, Section 3 also gives the Senate the exclusive judicial power to try all cases of impeachment of the President, the Vice President, or any other civil officer of the United States.

What does the Constitution say about equality?

The equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment means that states must treat all their citizens equally. States can’t favor men over women, whites over blacks, or heterosexuals over gays.

What does Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution mean?

Finally, Article I, Section 2 gives the U.S. House “the sole Power of Impeachment,” including impeachments of the President. Even the highest official in the land is accountable to the people, subject to removal from office for “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” under Article II, Section 4.

What does the Constitution say about electoral college?

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States.

What happens if a state does not certify votes?

If a State submits conflicting electoral votes to Congress, the two Houses acting concurrently may accept or reject them. If they do not concur, the votes of the electors certified by the Governor of the State would be counted in Congress.

What did the voting rights act end?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

Where was the Voting Rights Act signed?

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson came to the Capitol to sign the Voting Rights Act. Following a ceremony in the Rotunda, the president, congressional leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and others crowded into the President’s Room near the Senate Chamber for the actual signing.

What did the amendments to the US Constitution do?

These amendments removed important barriers to suffrage, but they stopped short of affirming that all Americans have a constitutional right to vote. Even today, U.S. states have incredible power over who is allowed to participate in elections.

How did the Great Compromise affect the ratification of the Constitution?

The disagreement over representation threatened to derail the ratification of the U.S. Constitution since delegates from both sides of the dispute vowed to reject the document if they didn’t get their way. The solution came in the form of a compromise proposed by statesmen Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut.

How are the votes taken to choose a president?

But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice.

Why did the founding fathers come up with the Great Compromise?

To keep the convention from dissolving into chaos, the founding fathers came up with the Great Compromise. The agreement, which created today’s system of congressional representation, now influences everything from “pork barrel” legislation to the way votes are counted in the electoral college during presidential elections.