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Comment by lp0_on_fire | Hacker News Reader

Please cite the specific article or amendment in the US Federal Constitution that explicitly gives citizens the right to vote.

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    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

This, the 14th amendment, doesn't give you the right to vote, this says you can't be denied voting based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The 19th amendment says it cannot be denied due to sex, the 24th says there can't be a poll tax, the 26th say you can't be denied because of your age as long as you're over 18. There is no right to vote in the U.S. constitution or Bill of Rights, because the "Founding Fathers" were a bunch or racist elitists who thought that common people were too stupid to look out for their own best interest. EDIT: fixed typos

You should read up on "negative rights"

"Citizens shall not be denied X" is as strong as rights are expressed in the Constitution.

This is like saying the Constitution doesn't give people the right of free speech because it's expressed in a negative rights way (govt shall not impede)

All this was high school civics stuff - did you get to take such a class? I know high school in America is all over the place.

Somehow you managed to read 4 different Amendments to the Constitution, all of which use the wording "The right of (citizen clause X) to vote shall not (restriction clause y)", and somehow you come away with "there is no right to vote, it's never been in there and it's not now".

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