Is voting a RIGHT or a Privilege?

[Bandit]

If it is a RIGHT then I don't see how a person can be refused participation with or without a photo ID....

[KansDem]

1. It is a RIGHT!

In spite of what the Kansas Secretary of State thinks:

Your guide to Kansas elections.

Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach welcomes you to Vote Kansas! This website guides you through each step of the Kansas election process, including changes implemented in 2012. We hope it will be useful as you exercise your voting privilege and responsibility.

http://www.voteks.org/

[11 Bravo]

2. You are mistaken. It can be rescinded, and therefore is a privilege.

[Bandit]

5. Your right to own a firearm can be rescinded as well, but it is still considered a RIGHT

In fact all your RIGHTS can be taken from you including your very LIFE if you behave in a manner that warrants it.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

18. Concur. Rights are inherent until forfeited by offense.

[duffyduff]

24. Actually only in the NRA and the Roberts Court's demented minds is gun ownership a "right"

The second amendment in reality has NOTHING to do with it and only applies to militias.

Only when the nutjobs took over the NRA back in 1978 did the bullshit about the second amendment take hold. The NRA previously had a very reasonable stance on gun control.

[WinkyDink]

14. Uh, there's a reason we call some "The Bill of RIGHTS." Voting is a RIGHT granted to us in our

Constitution, which happens to be THE LAW OF THE LAND.

Life itself can be "rescinded," but then again, I didn't study with the Jesuits.

[etherealtruth]

3. it is a right and a responsibility!

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Hamilton wanted it to be a right for the privileged,

educated, owner society . They do too .

[BainsBane]

9. Hamilton was a monarchist

and voting was restricted only to propertied white males, until the Jacksonian period when unpropertied white males got the franchise.

[immoderate]

6. It's a RESPONSIBILITY!

To talk of "rights" is abstract. They're there until they're not. And to call them a privilege is an insult to citizens.

It disturbs me most that this so called "right" is rescinded when people have a criminal record. It's their input that might be most pertinent in matters of law.

--imm

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. +1 n/t

[ZombieHorde]

7. It is a behavior.

Rights and privileges are persuasive devices used to frame arguments.

[BainsBane]

8. If it's not a right, we can't claim to be a democracy

[Jenoch]

20. We are not a democracy.

We are a representative public. If we were a democracy, everyone would have the right to vote on everything. That is impossible so we vote in people to represent us, thus congress, legislators, city councils, county boards, township boards, etc.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Technically, the US is supposed to be a representative democracy,

which is generally defined as "a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy."

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Representative_democracy.html

[Jenoch]

32. Since we do not have 'one man one vote'

we are not a democracy. If you wish to call it a representative democracy, that's ok with me. That does not change the fact that the U.S. is a representative republic. A representative republic means a state that is not monarchical, it has no political connotations in the U.S. other than what it means literally.

[Earth_First]

10. It's a HUMAN RIGHT and personal RESPONSIBILITY.

Good government affords ALL citizens the ability to freely vote in open and fair elections.

Good citizenship requires RESPONSIBILITY to vote early and often in their countries elections.

[BlueToTheBone]

11. It is a duty. n/t

[suston96]

12. The "right to vote"....

....was not mentioned in the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified. I have always wondered why that is.

After the Fourteenth Amendment the "right to vote" is mentioned several times as to protection and once as a negatory - the Twenty Second Amendment which took away the right to elect a president of choice for all the citizens.

[Blue_Tires]

13. It's a duty to me...

Too many people lost their lives just to ensure future generations of black Americans the right to vote freely and without intimidation...

(this is why I rage so hard at those wannabe nihilist too-cool-to-vote hipsters)

[JustAnotherGen]

26. +1

And some could vote - but only with the help of a white male who could get him the test in a foreign language so he could memorize that answers in advance. My grandfather was one.

Privilege,right, duty - in a Federal Republic sometimes it's all you've got.

And my right to vote when I've been doing it for 22 years is non negotiable.

[Keefer]

15. It's a privilege.

Commit a felony and see what happens.

[ret5hd]

27. Then 2 amendment is a privelege also.

[Downwinder]

16. Voting is an obligation.

[1-Old-Man]

17. It is a Privilege, conditioned on age, and at other times other factors

There have been conditions under which this privilege has not been extended to all citizens, for instance when people of color and women were not allowed in the voting booth. Today it is conditioned on age. No one 17 years of age can vote, but people of that age can be tried in courts of law as adults and in fact they can even be executed by the state. So it is not a right extended to all citizens.

[Jenoch]

19. Voting is most certainly a right.

In Minnesota where I live, if someone has lived in a voting precinct for at least 20 days prior to election day, they can go to the polls on election day and register and vote without any photo ID. They will have to bring in a registered voter from the same precinct (neighbor) to vouch for them however.

[oldhippie]

22. Well, I guess we have settled THAT question .......

... NOT!

Funny how we have such a diversity of thought even here.

[hrmjustin]

23. I see it as a right and responsibility.

[Jenoch]

25. i don't see voting as a responsibility.

There are too many people who vote but do not educate themselves on the candidates or the issues. If they cannot be troubled with doing the minimum of informing themselves, I'd rather they not vote.

[meow2u3]

28. Voting is a RIGHT- plain and simple

Photo ID requirements as a condition to vote requires that you pay to vote, denies people their rights, and is an unconstitutional, back door poll tax.

Only people with the twisted idea that voting is a privilege, like cashing a check or driving, think it's OK to make people jump through hoops just to be able to vote.

[dkf]

29. It's a duty.

[KentuckyWoman]

30. Legally it's a privilege. Morally it's a right.