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Voting Rights At A Glance

Voting Rights At A Glance

Every citizen of the United States has a right to vote for public officials. One of the fundamental philosophies of the United States is that our country was founded through a democratic environment. As a result, each citizen of the country possesses one valid vote which can be delivered to whichever candidate they wish to vote for. The federal laws associated with voting are fairly simple: every American citizen over the age of 18 years old who possesses a clean criminal record has a right to vote. 
The right to vote in the United States was firmly established through the passing of the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. Throughout America’s history voting rights have been a contested issue. The passing of this act outlawed all discriminatory voting practices that were previously aimed at disenfranchising various races and women from participating in voting. Through this bill, the right to vote is now shared by all American citizens over the age of 18 years old.

Know The Minimum Voting Age

Know The Minimum Voting Age

The voting age, is the minimum age of a United States citizen that must be attained in order to eligibly cast a vote in a public election. In the United States, the voting process is attached with varied age requirements given the type of election. 
For instance, nineteen states presently permit 17-year old to vote in primary elections and caucuses if they turn 18 years of age by election day. The voting age in the United States for local elections are decided by the individual states themselves. For federal elections, however, the voting age is 18 years old. 
The voting process for National elections–such as the election for the President of the United States–requires that all voters be at least 18 years of age. This voting age requirement does not waver; federal law states sets this age requirement and it cannot be superseded by local rulings or laws. In order to imitate the voting process and individual must register with the federal government.
To register, the individual must fulfill two main requirements: he or she must be an American citizen, and at least 18 years of age. The only time the voting age fluctuates, as stated before, is for local primaries and caucuses where some states have instituted a law that individuals who will turn 18 on or before election day are allowed to vote. 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The United States Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a landmark bill that outlawed discriminatory voting laws and practices that were fundamental in the disenfranchisement of African Americans.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 effectively prohibited individual state governments from imposing unjust voting qualification prerequisites, practices, or procedures on its citizens. Up until 1965, a number of Southern States instituted policies tied into voting eligibility that prohibited minorities, especially African Americans form participating in voting for the Presidential election.
Specifically, these states would require otherwise qualified citizens and voters to pass literacy tests for the right to vote. These states were a principal action taken by many Southern states to prevent African-Americans (who often time were refused schooling) from exercising their Constitutional right to vote. 
The United States voting rights act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon Lyndon B Johnson. President Johnson was an active democrat, who had earlier signed the landmark Civil Rights Act, which was passed a year prior, in 1965. In addition to implementing a new policy, the Voting Rights Act in 1965 established a federal policy that those states who exhibited a history of discriminatory voting practices were to be strictly regulated by the federal government.
The policy stated that those states who passed legislation effectively barring minorities from voting could not implement any change that affected voting without first obtaining the approval from the federal court system or the Department of Justice.
This approval process is known as preclearance. The device was implemented on states whose voting populations were operating at levels less than 50% of the active voting community. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, has been bolstered, renewed, and amended by Congress four times; the most recent came in 2006, when President George W. Bush signed a 25-year extension of the bill.

Right to Vote At A Glance

Right to Vote At A Glance
The right to vote constitutes an American citizen’s ability to choose or appoint elected officials among a pool of candidates. All elections in the United States are conducted in a periodic setting; voting rights are awarded to all individuals over the age of 18 regardless of political affiliation or activeness in the particular election. 

All individuals who run in politics are public officials, meaning the foundation of their role is what constructs democracies. The elected official is chosen by the people to lead and institute policies that benefit society as a whole. Therefore, voting rights are a duty of all American citizens. This privilege, however, is often overlooked because the average citizen fails to see the meaning and history behind the right to vote.

In the United States, all races and women struggled, throughout the course of history, with disenfranchisement and the right to vote. The discriminatory practices were adopted through state laws that placed unjust requirements or stipulations on minority citizens. 

States were able to tamper with voting rights because the United States Constitution does not explicitly declare the right to vote. Since America was founded this lack of federal ruling towards voting rights enabled individual states to disenfranchise various races and women voters for generations. As numerous supreme court cases tested these unjust practices, new amendments were formed, such as the 15th which prohibits states from denying the right to vote on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 
In addition, the Nineteenth Amendment, adopted in 1920, franchised women. It wasn’t until 1965 and the Voting Rights Act, however, where African-Americans were allowed to vote. Understanding the history of voting rights and the struggle that went into obtaining them should be remembered and acknowledged by all American citizens.