Thursday, March 29, 2012

Will the Voter ID Laws Reduce Your Representation in Congress?

If the Republicans in various states are successful in using Voter ID laws to disenfranchise the elderly, the poor, college students, and others who frequently vote for Democrats, why wouldn’t that reduce the number of representatives that state gets in the House of Representatives and the number of votes it gets for President in the Electoral College?

Read Section 2 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.  What else could you conclude?  If you deny the right to vote to male inhabitants over 21, the basis of representation is reduced proportionally.  Sorry about the male part.  I didn’t write the amendment, but here it is.  Read it yourself.
Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights - Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.