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Encyclopedia entry: Vote, Right To
- Article from:
- The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information)
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Vote, Right To
The right to vote means the ability to choose elected officials among a range of candidates with competing views. Voting in periodic elections in which opposing candidates vie for public office is the foundation upon which democracies are built. In the United States, the struggle for the right to vote demonstrates an ever‐widening net of individuals who are entitled to franchise.
The Constitutional Right to Vote
Nowhere in the United States Constitution is there an explicit declaration of the right to vote. Initially the Constitution appears to have left that right up to the states, which generally limited the franchise to white male property owners, who were ...