A Real Right to Vote

October 15, 2023
A convincing argument in favor of a constitutional guarantee of the right to vote. In this comprehensive follow-up to Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics―and How to Cure It, Hasen lays out a plan to secure the franchise for all eligible voters in the face of its many current barriers. To strengthen his case, he provides a draft text of an amendment to the Constitution that would do just that. In his eyes, the principal obstacles in the way of protected voting rights are the states' fetters on access to the ballot box, discrimination against targeted groups, the purposefully ineffective administration of elections, false claims of fraud, and the decisions of the current Supreme Court majority, whom he considers "more dangerous" than any earlier ones. The author, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, argues that Electoral College reform is a non-starter, and a nonpartisan federal voting administration, whose creation he earlier supported, would not offer adequate protection of the vote. Still, Hasen is astute enough to recognize that his amendment can't shoot for the moon. Leaving some issues to future adjudication, he omits from his text a vote guarantee for felons and full voting rights for residents of American territories. Though he is arguably over-optimistic, the author explains how, without such provisions--as well as the elimination of any reason to cheat at the ballot box since everyone will be able to vote--the amendment could gain favor with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. The trouble with Hasen's case is that the author doesn't fully account for the brutal politics facing any amendment's congressional approval, followed by ratification by the states. Nonetheless, his lively, closely argued book is bound to ignite a public effort to achieve its ends. A persuasive, up-to-date proposal that deserves widespread attention.

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