Why We Should Rethink Voting Rights From the Ground Up.

• Date: 01 April 2021
• Author: Ahmed, Amel

It's not enough just to fight discrimination. The government needs to take affirmative steps to make voting easier.

In the wake of the slow-moving but powerful blue tide that ushered in a Democratic-controlled Senate in January, all eyes were on Georgia and the unmatched political skill of Stacey Abrams. Even as ballots in Georgia were still being counted, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to put voting rights on the agenda.

In early March, Democrats in the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, a sweeping reform bill meant to modernize and democratize our elections. (It has yet to pass the Senate.) This sprawling, nearly 800-page document, covering everything from voter registration and vote-by-mail systems to ballot security and campaign finance reform, has drawn the ire of Republicans, who are claiming legislative overreach.

If it appears that way, it is only because we operate under a faulty understanding of voting rights, one that focuses on the prevention of discrimination rather than on the promotion of an affirmative right to vote. It's time to rethink that. If we do, H.R. 1 will seem more like a good start than a radical measure.

We tend to think of voting rights in terms that political philosophers would characterize as a "negative liberty"--as freedom from discrimination, from obstruction, from intimidation. This is no surprise, given how the franchise has evolved in the United States. There is no constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, and the Bill of Rights is silent on the matter. This, of course, is by design.

The Founders had no intention of...