Good Example Of Amendments Research Paper

Amendments were made in the US constitution to allow people to have the right to vote. They were several amendments made (amendments 19, 23, 24, and 26) that were aimed at ensuring that the citizen have the right to vote (The U.S. Constitution Facts, 2015). Voting rights have been fought throughout the history of United States. This amendment was very important because it is the democratic right of every citizen to participate in the election process to elect his/her leaders of their choice without being discriminated of their gender, race, age and where they come from as long as they are mature enough to make their own decisions as required by the constitution and also they are rightful citizens of the united states (Gary, 2013). There are some controversies that related to the amendment of this law on whether foreigners were to be allowed to vote that’s, the duration they should have stayed in the united states, whether it was the right move to reduce the voting age from 21 years to 18 years and there is also a pending issue at the moment on whether to treat the district of Columbia as a congressional district for the reasons of representation in the house of representatives. In the modern society this bill should be accepted by all the Americans since it one of the ways of eliminating discrimination of people in terms of the race and gender and where they come from. Every citizen has a right to fair treatment. Women have the right to vote and also whether you are white or black the right to elect to elect leaders is equal (McBride et al., 2014). Freedom to vote promotes democracy.
The amendment of law brought tension between various interested groups in the government e.g. there was a conflict of homeless citizens and the United States government in the 1980s. The homeless citizens wanted to be given the right to vote like every other citizen because they faced problems in the voting registration process since residency requirement vary from one state to the other. The government was reluctant to allow them to vote because it was hard to prove whether that citizen lives in the district in which they stated to vote. The law also forced the government against it wishes to bring down the voting age to be 18 years and above. Prior to this amendment, men were drafted into the service in the Vietnam War before having the legal right to vote. There also was a conflict between the black Americans and the government for denying them the right to vote. They were being charged poll tax before they vote as a way of restricting them from voting. But the civil rights movement compelled the government to abolish that tax and give every citizen an equal right to vote.
There are some supreme court cases that advances the expansion of government power in regards to this amendment of individual having the right to vote e.g. in the case of (Williams v. Rhodes (1968)) the supreme court ruled out that the states can require an independent or minor political party candidate to be able to collect signatures as high as 5%of the total votes that have been casted in the previous election before the court can intervene. The Supreme Court also upheld the sate ban the electoral fusion. The court also in the case of (tashijan v. republican party of Connecticut (1986)) that the states may not mandate the closed primary system and it bared independents form participating in party’s primary nomination process without the wishes of the party. It also ruled out for parties to require voters to register in a political party 30 days before the election that it will require them to vote in one party primary. The bush administration in 2002 signed the help America Vote Act (HAVA) that made the country to the voters to provide their driver’s license number and social security number on their registration form before they vote. This enforcement made it easy for the government to get to know the voters in detail.
Additionally, there are some Supreme Court cases that address the expansion of the individual liberty in the amendments into the law to allow individuals the right to vote in the elections. For instance, in the case of( minor v. happersett (1874)) it was noticed that the citizens have not been made a precedent to the enjoyment of right of suffrage and this allowed the citizens who have expressed the interest to citizens of united states be given the right to vote (US Supreme Court Center, 2015). Secondly, it was also ruled in the case of (Walters v. weed (1988) )concerning the voters precincts that if a voter leaves his/her current place of residence and goes to another place and settles there permanently, the individual may be allowed to vote on the precincts of their former residence. In the case also of (Pitts v, black (1984)) the court rule out that the homeless and the people residing in the streets have the right to vote. This is because the election board denied them the right to vote because they resided in the streets.
There are future controversies that may arise in this amendment of right to vote in future especially in the article that allows the non citizens the right to vote as long as their parent is eligible to vote in any of the states. If the numbers of the non citizens keep on increasing this will bring some discomfort among the American citizen since the non citizen will at some time in future be holding a significant numbers of votes that can influence the voting patterns and this may make the Americans feel denied their right to choose the leaders of their choice. But as it was ruled out the case of (minor v. happersett (1874) ), as long as an individual has expressed the interest of becoming the citizen of America that person should given the right to vote under certain circumstances (McBride et al., 2014). There is another controversy that is associated with this amendment in the fact that candidacy rights and the right also of the citizens to create political parties is not as clear as the voting rights are. This may bring some problems in future. Different courts in different states have reached different conclusions regarding to this restriction. The country should in future refer to the ruling of the case (Williams v. Rhodes (1968)) where the United States Supreme Court struck down the Ohio ballot access laws and upheld such laws in other states. The court also upheld a state ban on cross party endorsement and also the primary write in votes.
Conclusively, this amendment to the constitution by United States to allow the citizens the right to vote was democratic and welcomed by all citizens. Every person has the right to vote regardless of their condition. The homeless people in the streets should be given the same right to vote just like those people who work in the blue collar jobs are given. The national coalition for the hiomeless was very clear in their campaign that you don’t need a home to vote. Every citizen who has attained the age of 18 and above is allowed by the constitution to participate in the electoral process and therefore the government should see to it that this is implemented. Additionally, the constitution is very clear that people have the right to vote regardless of their gender and race. In the past women were denied the right to vote and also black people were imposed black poll tax to restrict them from voting (McBride et al., 2014). These are the things of the past and therefore the government should be keen on ensuring that the constitution is not violated. During the Vietnam War, the united tastes realize that young people were dying even before being given the right to choose their leaders and therefore it was necessary to allow them to vote. This implies that even the young generations have the right to determine the kind of leaders they want them lead the country.

Works Cited

Beth Rowen. "U.S. Voting Rights." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html>.
May, Gary. Bending toward justice: the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy. Basic Books, 2013.
McBride, Dorothy E., and Janine A. Parry. Women's rights in the USA: policy debates and gender roles. Routledge, 2014.
Our constitutional rights. right to vote. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://ourconstitutionalrights.com/rights-pages/vote.html>.
The U.S. Constitution Facts. "The United States Constitution - The Amendments in History."Official U.S. Constitution Website - Learn About the United States (U.S.) Constitution & More | Constitution Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/amendments-in-history/>.
US Supreme Court Center. "US Constitution Annotated - Voter Qualifications." Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. N.p., 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://web.archive.org/web/20061031112234/http://supreme.justia.com/constitution/amendment-14/92-voter-qualifications.html>.