You would think that candidates for prominent positions in our government should at least know the most basic facts about voting and voters, but that is not what is happening. Just look at Stacey Abrams, a Democrat running for governor in Georgia who doesn’t know who is and is not eligible to vote in elections.
Just recently, Abrams was campaigning along with Elizabeth Warren, Democratic U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, and was adamantly talking about who she thinks will be part of the “blue wave” in the upcoming November midterm elections. She gave a long list of categories of people who she believes will vote Democrat and elect many of their candidates into office.
“The thing of it is, the blue wave is African American. It is white. It is Latino. It is Asian-Pacific Islander…It is made up of those who’ve been told that they are not worthy of being here. It is comprised of those who are documented and undocumented,” she said.
Abrams seemed to be implying that people who are not citizens of the United States can vote in the November elections. When she said “those who are documented and undocumented” she was in part referring to people who are in the U.S. illegally (“undocumented”).
Here is a quick but essential history and government lesson for Abrams (who should already know this, since she is running for governor).
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1870 and reads as follows:
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.
That amendment gave African-American men in the United States the ability to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 added to that to remove various barriers that were preventing African-American people from voting.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920 and reads as follows:
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 sex.
So that amendment gave and gives females in the United States the ability to vote.
The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1971 and reads as follows:
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
That amendment indicates that U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years old can vote.
So those amendments clearly include males and females of all races who are at least 18 years old and citizens of the United States. People who are not citizens are not permitted to vote. Abrams really should study some basics about history and voting.
Then again, this could also be a Freudian slip. If every undocumented person living in the United States was given legal status tomorrow, it’s very clear which lever they will pull.
~ Liberty Planet
