VOTE!
The other night, after yet another pollster (or campaigner)
phoned the house, I expressed my exasperation to my children. I was ready for the election so we could be
done with all this nonsense. My son
asked why I bothered at all…poor kid didn’t even see what was coming.
Up on my soapbox I hopped, rattling off my
reasons. During my thesis lecture on “Why
We Vote,” I noted that women weren’t always allowed to do so in our country’s
history. When the boy’s chest puffed out
a little too far, I deflated him with the knowledge that he wasn’t fully Caucasian,
so he wouldn’t have always had that right either. Nor would our family have been landowners
back in the day. And he’s only 3
generations removed from immigrants (on my side), so his status might have been
in question there, too. I also informed
them both that in other parts of the world, people are slaughtered while
waiting in line to choose their leaders…but they vote anyway. That there are people in our world, even
today, who do not have the right we so easily take for granted.Eyes wide, he said he would vote every time they had an election. Good choice, son; good choice.
And just for fun, below is a timeline of who got the
right to vote when. Remember, it’s a
privilege that was denied to so many and has, in the process, cost many lives. Thus, no excuse is valid. Go vote.
1792 New
Hampshire gives right to vote to white, male non landholders
1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ends
Mexican-American war, giving Mexicans in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and
Texas citizenship
1866 The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gives
citizenship, but not right to vote, to all native-born Americans
1869 15th Amendment gives the equal
right to vote to African American males.
Ratified in 1870 to include freed male slaves
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress
denies citizenship and voting rights to Chinese Americans
1884 Supreme Court rules (Elk v. Wilkins) that
John Elk, Native American from Nebraska cannot vote
1887 Dawes General Allotment Act passed by
Congress, giving right to vote to Native Americans who give up their tribal affiliations
1888 Certain states use tactics such as “grandfather
clauses” to disenfranchise African American male voters, subsequently plummeting
registration among African American males.
1915 Supreme Court rules (Guinn v. United
States) Oklahoma’s “grandfather clause” used to disenfranchise African American
men is unconstitutional.
1919 19th Amendment is adopted by Congress,
gives women the right to vote. It is
ratified in 1920 and becomes law.
1923 Supreme Court rules (Bhagat Singh Thind
v. United States) that “high castes Hindus” from India are not eligible for
citizenship
1924 Supreme Court rules (Ozawa v. United
States) that Japanese Americans are barred from becoming naturalized citizens
1924 The Indian Citizenship Act declares all
non-citizen Indians born within the United States to be citizens, giving them
the right to vote.
1943 The Chinese Exclusion Act is repealed,
giving Chinese Americans citizenship and the right to vote.
1946 Filipinos are given right to become
citizens and the right to vote.
1952 The McCarran-Walter Act gives
first-generation Japanese Americans the right to become citizens and the right
to vote.
1960 The Civil Rights Act is passed, allowing African
Americans who had previously had their voter registration rejected were
permitted to apply to federal court or voting refree.
1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed,
making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, national origin,
religion, and gender in voting, public places, the workplaces, and schools.
1971 The 26th Amendment gives 18
year olds the right to vote
1974 Supreme Court rules (Richardson v. Ramirez)
that states may deny convicted felons the right to vote.
1975 Voting Rights Act reauthorized by
President Ford permanently bars literacy tests and gives assistance to language
minority voters
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