Suffrage
Direct and indirect popular control.
How the Voters Control the Government.—A democratic government is one in which the people, acting directly or through their representatives, control the course of public affairs. This control may be exercised, as has been pointed out, in either one of two ways. It may be exercised directly, that is, by the use of the initiative and referendum. The proposal for a law comes from a designated number of voters, and the adoption or rejection of the proposal is decided by a majority of the voters at the polls.
It is easy to see, however, that the people cannot perform the entire work of government in this direct way. There are too many laws to be made, too many details of administration to be handled, and too many disputes to be adjusted. So most of the work of government is carried on by persons who are chosen by the voters for this purpose or who are appointed to office by the representatives of the people. Elective officials, as a rule, have authority to determine matters of general policy in nation, state, or municipality, while appointive officials, for the most part, carry out the policy thus determined upon.
GOVERNMENT. By Elihu Vedder
From a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Boston. Reproduced by permission.
GOVERNMENT
By Elihu Vedder
From a mural decoration in the Library of Congress.
Mr. Vedder portrays Government as a mature woman in the fullness of her strength. She is seated upon a bench of hewn marble, which is supported by the figures of two lions—all emblematic of strength and power. Behind is an oak tree, which typifies slow, deep-rooted growth. In symbolic pictures the ballot box is usually represented as an urn. Here the marble bench rests upon urn-shaped vases. In the lions’ mouths are mooring-rings to remind us that the ship of state must not drift aimlessly but should be moored to strength.
In her left hand Government grasps a golden sceptre (the Golden Rule) to signify that all her actions are based upon respect for the rights of others; her right hand holds a tablet upon which is graven a notable epigram from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. On either side of Government are two genii or mythical figures. One holds a bridle which typifies restraint, discipline, and order—the bulwark of effective government. The other supports an unsheathed sword, emblematic of defence and justice.
In this picture, therefore, the author prefigures the outstanding marks of a successful free government—strength; fairness, democracy, restraint, security, and justice.
The Citizen and the Voter.—Government by the people does not, of course, mean government by all the people. |Not all citizens are voters.|In every country there are many persons who are not competent to exercise a share in the government. Very young persons, for example, do not have maturity of judgment, which a share in government requires. Insane persons, prisoners in jails, aliens, and others are also, for obvious reasons, usually debarred from the privilege of voting. It is not to be assumed that everyone who is a citizen is also a voter. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to American jurisdiction are citizens no matter what their ages or mental capacity may be, but not all are voters. The voters are those upon whom the privilege of voting has been conferred by law. In the United States they comprise a large proportion of the adults but they do not form a majority of the entire population. Out of a national population of about one hundred and five millions the voters of the United States number about thirty-five millions. This number is quite large enough to ensure an adequately representative government.
The gradual widening of the suffrage
Development of the Suffrage.—Voting is a privilege and duty rather than a right. In the earlier states of American history the privilege of voting was restricted to property-owners and taxpayers. This condition of affairs, moreover, continued for a considerable period after the Revolutionary War. One by one, however, the various states began to abolish their restrictions and by the middle of the nineteenth century the principle of manhood suffrage had become firmly established so far as the white population was concerned. The struggle for the extension of the suffrage to men who did not own property was a prolonged and bitter contest in which the opponents of manhood suffrage vainly argued that the extension would put all political leadership into the hands of noisy agitators and would end in the ruin of orderly government. But manhood suffrage ultimately triumphed because the country came to the conclusion that the structure of democratic government could be made more secure by broadening the base upon which it rests.
The rights of the negro.
Negro Suffrage.—In the Southern states prior to the Civil War colored men were excluded from voting at all elections. But with the emancipation of the slaves the question of guaranteeing the suffrage to colored men had to be faced. By the terms of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the national constitution no state is permitted to withhold voting rights from any man on account of his color; if it does so, the constitution provides that such state shall have its number of representatives in Congress reduced. As a matter of fact, however, there has always been a very strong sentiment among the white population of the Southern states in opposition to political equality on the part of the colored element, and this has prevented the enforcement of the guarantees contained in the constitution.
How negroes are excluded from voting.
By various devices the Southern states have for the most part excluded negroes from suffrage. One of these is the requirement that all voters shall be able to read and write. If this provision were impartially applied to the white and the colored population alike; if all illiterate persons irrespective of color were excluded, this action would be entirely justified. But the aim of the South is to eliminate the negro as a voter whether he is illiterate or not.[[34]] The attitude of the white population in the South is not difficult to understand. In the days immediately following the Civil War the colored men were given the ballot in all the Southern states, and the results were disastrous. Unfit men were elected to office, public money was spent wastefully, and government was badly conducted in all these states under the domination of the colored voters. As a result the white population took the control once more into its own hands and has kept it there. But this can scarcely be regarded as a final solution of the problem. No political problem can be solved in this country in defiance of the constitution. Many Southerners realize this and are endeavoring to find some solution which will be for the best interests of the negro while protecting the white man’s political supremacy. The negro question is particularly the Southerner’s problem; he knows the colored race as no Northerner can; and if he cannot settle it justly and wisely, no man can.
The extension of the suffrage to women.
The Nineteenth Amendment.—It is now more than fifty years since women first began to claim, in this country, the right to equal political privileges with men. Those who supported this claim argued that women were quite competent to assume an active share in government and that in some branches of public administration (such as the management of schools and the enforcement of the laws regulating child labor) women have an even greater interest than men. Women were required to pay taxes and it was urged that on this account they were entitled to representation. On the other hand the extension of the suffrage to women was opposed on the ground that it would tend to weaken the interest of women in the home, thus impairing the strength of the family as a social unit, and also that women would not use the ballot wisely. They would be influenced by their sympathies and emotions rather than by their judgment, it was predicted, and would bring an element of instability into public policy. Another objection commonly raised was that with twice as many voters the cost of holding elections would be doubled. But despite these objections the movement for woman suffrage made gradual headway in one state after another and finally, in 1920, it was made compulsory upon the entire country by the provisions of the Nineteenth Amendment.[[35]]
Citizenship, age, and residence.
Present Qualifications for Voting.—Each state decides who shall not vote. Each state has entire freedom to do as it thinks best in this matter subject only to the provisions of the national constitution, which stipulate that the privilege of voting shall not be denied to any citizen by reason of sex, or because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. There is no reason, therefore, why the qualifications for voting should be the same in all parts of the country, and as a matter of fact they differ a little from state to state. At present the restrictions relate mainly to age, citizenship, and residence, but sometimes also to literacy and taxpaying. In every state the privilege of voting is restricted to persons who are twenty-one years of age or over. As for the residence requirement it varies considerably in different states, running usually from six months to a year. It is imposed in order to make sure that those who vote in any community shall be somewhat acquainted with its affairs. In most of the states none but citizens are permitted to vote, but in two or three states the privilege is extended to those aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens.
Educational Tests for Voters.—Educational qualifications for voting, in one form or another, exist in nearly one-third of the states.[[36]] In some the requirement is that anyone who desires to be enrolled as a voter shall be able to write his name and also to read aloud any clause taken at random from the state constitution. Exemptions from this test are always granted to persons who by mere reason of physical disability are unable to read or write.
Several of the Southern states have provided additional exemptions which result in excusing from the test all white persons who are unable to read and write while strictly applying the requirement to all colored applicants. |How educational tests are applied.| Various methods are employed to this end. In one case the provision is that no one may be registered as a voter unless he can read any clause in the state constitution or “give a reasonable interpretation thereof”. The white officials in charge of the registration then decide, in their own discretion, whether the interpretation is reasonable or not. In some other states the attempt has been made by what is commonly known as the “grandfather clause” to excuse from the literacy test all persons who had the right to vote before 1867, and all descendants of such persons. As there were no colored voters in any of the Southern states prior to this date the “grandfather clause” virtually establishes a racial discrimination which the Supreme Court, a few years ago, declared to be unconstitutional.
Is an Educational Test Desirable?—In the majority of the states men and women are permitted to vote even though unable to read or write. The question is often asked whether this practice is wise. Would it be better to insist on an elementary educational qualification everywhere, or is it desirable that in a democracy no distinction be made between those who can read and those who cannot?
The arguments for and against educational tests.
On the one hand it is argued that men and women who have never had the advantages of a grammar school education may nevertheless be good, patriotic citizens, and indeed may be better informed upon questions of government and politics than some who have had far greater educational advantages. People are not required to read and write before they are permitted to own property or compelled to pay taxes. Men who could neither read nor write were drafted to serve in the army during the war. If, then, we compel illiterate persons to perform the duties of citizenship, ought we not to grant its privileges to them as well? But there is something to be said on the other side of this question. Bear in mind that we provide free public elementary education for everyone in the United States. The privilege of learning to read and write is not the privilege of a single class; it is within the reach of everyone. We no longer allow aliens to enter the United States unless they can read and write, nor can any illiterate person become naturalized. Under these circumstances is it unreasonable to require an elementary educational test for voting? It may be true that persons who are unable to read are able to mark a certain type of ballot without spoiling it, but they can hardly hope to exercise an intelligent choice as among individual candidates on the ballot; they are unable to use any ballot which does not arrange the names of candidates in straight party columns and they cannot vote upon referendum questions except by mere guess-work. If we are regularly going to submit questions to the voters at the polls for their decision, should not the voting lists be confined to those who are at least able to read the questions?
Tax-Paying Qualifications for Voting.—In a few states the male suffrage is restricted to persons who have been assessed for a poll tax. Massachusetts has such a provision and enforces it strictly. Some Southern states also impose this qualification, partly, no doubt, because it is effective in debarring large numbers of colored men who are remiss in paying their annual poll taxes. There is a difference, of course, between a taxpaying qualification and a property qualification. Many people pay taxes, income and poll taxes, for example, without owning any property. Nowhere in the United States is the ownership of property a requirement for voting at national elections.
The requirements vary from state to state.
These, then, are the general and special qualifications. It will be observed that since each state prescribes its own requirements, no two of them establish the same qualifications, or, if they do, it is merely by accident. It is not strictly true that every adult citizen of the United States has the privilege of voting; but it is approximately true. Those who are excluded by the residence, educational, or tax paying qualifications (apart from colored citizens in the Southern states) form a relatively small fraction of the total adult citizenship, probably less than ten per cent.[[37]]
The registrars of voters.
How Voters are Registered.—In order to obtain a ballot on election day it is necessary that one’s name shall be on the voters’ list. This list is prepared by officials designated for this purpose in every community or district. These officials are commonly known as registrars of voters. Whoever desires to be enrolled must appear before these registrars and usually must make a sworn statement as to age, citizenship, residence, and other qualifications. If there is an educational test, it is applied by the registrars. The printed lists of enrolled voters are then posted for public inspection.[[38]] In some states a new voters’ list is compiled every year, and it thus becomes necessary for everyone to register annually. In others it is the practice to keep a voter’s name on the list so long as he continues to pay poll taxes.[[39]] But in any case the only way a voter can be sure of having his name on the list at every election is to give this matter his personal attention. In the eyes of the law voting is a privilege, not a right, and the voter is responsible for seeing that he obtains his privilege.