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Should Voting Laws Be Allowed To Vote In America

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Throughout American history we have gradually permitted different groups of Americans to vote. Many would argue that we have greatly expanded the right to vote in America and we are well on our way to authorizing as many people to participate in our democracy as possible. Though we have expanded voting rights, we have a dark history in our country of voter suppression that is still a contentious debate today. No longer are there poll taxes or literacy tests, instead they have been subtlety replaced by photo ID laws and impediments to voter registration. In a way today’s voter suppression is the new face of Jim Crow. Those most affected by voter suppression are the marginalized groups in society that have been targeted since the dawn of time. But have trends in voting rights always been this way? I argue that trends in voting rights fluctuate from progress to regression and that this pattern still holds true today. …show more content…

In 1776 the Declaration of Independence is signed and the right to vote during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods is restricted to white, free, male property owners over the age of 21. This amounted to 6 percent of the adult population at the time and continued the legacy of white supremacy and bourgeois dominance. (Keyes, Millhiser, Ostern, & White, 2012) In 1787 the United States Constitution was adopted and it provided our country with its structure as well as its fundamental political and civil rights. The Bill of Rights included various freedoms but absent was the right to vote. This vacancy allowed states to decide who voted and how, inevitably keeping the status quo of only allowing white male landowners to vote. The lack of requirements on the Federal level to regulate voting is one of our most important historical events and has implications to today. (Dogra,

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