Voting Rights and Accessibility
1. A Quick Overview
Between the electoral college, Senate representation, voter suppression and our unrepresented territories, the U.S. is not a democracy.
It’s time for a change.
The Free Republic of California aims to create a voting system that is equitable and accessible to all. There is no ‘Great Compromise’, there is no voter suppression. We will do whatever it takes to have an inclusive and participatory voting populous.
Article 2, Section 8 of our Constitution provides for wide reaching voting accessibility:
It is the mission of California to develop an all-encompassing and literate voting populous.
It is the obligation of the government to take all reasonable measures to promote voting by every eligible person, including providing for an annual national voting holiday, providing adequate locations and means of transportation to polling stations, allowing other secure manners of voting, and promoting societal awareness of forthcoming elections.
It also removes barriers to voting, such as intentional suppression, previous incarceration or debt:
Every Californian citizen and non-citizen permanent resident who has reached eighteen years of age has the right to vote in all national elections and referendums and all local elections and referendums as associated with their place of domicile. The right of citizens of California and non-citizen permanent residents to vote shall not be denied or abridged by California nor its employees, representatives, contractors and similarly mandated peoples on account of race, color, sex, or any other protected category or due to previous incarceration or due to a failure to pay any tax.
The distribution of Congressional Representatives in the Free Republic is representative solely of population. There is no electoral college or U.S. Senatorial distribution to take away a vote’s power. Article 3, Section 2 provides a articulates a clear standard:
The Congress shall be split into districts sized by population and shaped by rational natural geographic lines by a non-partisan districting committee as established by Act.
All voters and votes shall be created equal.
2. Influence Your Representatives
Write all of them. It takes five seconds.
Here is some suggested text to use:
Dear _______________,
Beginning in elementary school, we are taught to refer to the U.S. as a democracy, but that is simply incorrect. Not all votes are created equal. Even the unequal votes are also suppressed. And, millions of Americans do not even have the right to vote in federal elections. Should we no longer call it a democracy or should we make it a democracy? My hope is for the latter, specifically:
Citizens of U.S. territories should be granted the same voting rights as citizens of the States; we are all Americans.
The right to vote should be protected in manners that guarantee free, simple and accessible access to the polls. It should be the government’s mission to have an encompassing voting populous. Actions such as providing for an annual national voting holiday, supplying adequate locations and means of transportation to polling stations, allowing other secure manners of voting, and promoting societal awareness of forthcoming elections should be implemented immediately.
A Constitutional amendment should be codified to eliminate the electoral system and the disproportional representation of the U.S. Senate (which the U.S. Supreme Court has already noted as unconstitutional in Reynolds v. Sims).
Please help us become an actual democracy.
Sincerely yours,
X
