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Kansas Supreme Court finds Kansans have no ‘fundamental right’ to vote. What it means
Daily Item ^ | 5/31/24 | Chance Swaim and Jenna Barackman

Posted on 06/02/2024 10:37:41 PM PDT by CFW

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that voting is not a fundamental right protected by the Kansas Constitution.

The landmark decision on voting rights Friday is likely to weaken legal challenges to future voting restrictions in Kansas.

The majority opinion reversed a 2023 appeals court decision that recognized any restrictions on the fundamental right to vote would be subject to the highest legal bar for evaluation, or strict scrutiny.

Justice Caleb Stegall wrote for the majority, saying voting is instead a “political right” under the Kansas Constitution that has a lower bar for regulation than fundamental rights.

[snip]

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, the defendents, touted the rulings as a victory for election integrity.

The decision clears a path for lawmakers and officials to pass laws and regulations limiting advance voting, access to the polls and mail-in ballots.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailyitem.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: Kansas
KEYWORDS: courts; kansas; restrictions; votingrights
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To: Az Joe

Constitutional amendments affecting voting rights

The 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote in 1870. But many weren’t able to exercise this right. Some states used literacy tests and other barriers to make it harder to vote.

The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave American women the right to vote.

The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes. The tax had been used in some states to keep African Americans from voting in federal elections.

The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age for all elections to 18.


21 posted on 06/03/2024 1:12:10 AM PDT by Liz (This then is how we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name . )
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To: CFW
The United States Constitution only grants the legislatures of the several states the power to choose the method of holding elections for Senators, Representatives, and Electors to the Electoral College.

The Constitution implies that elections of some manner will take place, but they leave that manner up to the state legislatures.

The only group that has direct constitutional authority to vote are the Electors to the Electoral College.

Other amendments put boundaries on what the state legislatures can and cannot do, but the legislatures decide where, when, and how elections will be conducted in their states.

-PJ

22 posted on 06/03/2024 1:21:22 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: from occupied ga

True; however, just because something is not specifically enumerated in the bill of rights does not preclude it from being a right. Article X makes that clear.


23 posted on 06/03/2024 1:21:32 AM PDT by TheWriterTX (🇺🇸✝️🙏🇮🇱)
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To: Az Joe

Article X.


24 posted on 06/03/2024 1:22:24 AM PDT by TheWriterTX (🇺🇸✝️🙏🇮🇱)
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To: Truthsearcher

I can see your point. I hope you can see mine, even if we ultimately don’t agree.

The right to dictate the form and fashion of our government is a fundamental right. The mechanism we have chosen to exercise that right is through voting. It logically follows that voting is a right. You cannot separate the two without compromising the fundamental rights of an individual.

Government can only passively coerce or forcefully suppress the exercise of our rights. It cannot remove them; they are an inherent component of our humanity.


25 posted on 06/03/2024 1:32:07 AM PDT by TheWriterTX (🇺🇸✝️🙏🇮🇱)
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To: Liz

There is no US Constitutional right to vote


26 posted on 06/03/2024 2:01:55 AM PDT by Az Joe (Live free or die)
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To: TheWriterTX

What power?


27 posted on 06/03/2024 2:03:33 AM PDT by Az Joe (Live free or die)
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To: CFW

Vote by phone. Match up your SSN to the SSN database, vote then your ID is crossed off the list. Everyone’s SSN is their ID and you use two-factor authentication to log in.

That’s really all you need. It takes away mail in voting, is secure and there is an audit log. Best part, is all those “deceased” voters are eliminated from voting. And as we know from Chicago and other leftwing enclaves, there is more illegal voting than there are illegals voting.


28 posted on 06/03/2024 2:41:49 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The media has one job and even with Constitutional protections they cannot do it.)
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To: Political Junkie Too
Crazy here in MA, going in the opposite direction, 11 year old vote proposed!

The mayor of Boston is proposing for children as young as 11 and illegal immigrants to have a say in the city's budget.

On Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, announced during a city council committee meeting centered on her 2025 fiscal budget plan to expand participatory budget voting to those ineligible to vote in normal elections.

29 posted on 06/03/2024 3:07:31 AM PDT by C210N (Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.)
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To: CFW

Noting here that there is a difference between voting and electing. Electing pertains to selection of someone for office. Voting is more general, can pertain to ballot questions, for example. We don’t ‘elect’ a ballot question, but we vote for it.


30 posted on 06/03/2024 3:10:22 AM PDT by C210N (Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz; butterdezillion

:: Best part, is all those “deceased” voters are eliminated from voting. ::

Barak Obama was provided (and is using) the SS# of a dead man from Connecticut.


31 posted on 06/03/2024 3:19:03 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (When I say "We" I speak of, -not for-, "We the People")
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To: TheWriterTX

The point of the court is that the state is not under an obligation to ensure that there is no inconvenience associated with voting. Thus, things like mail-in voting and no need for ID are not rights.


32 posted on 06/03/2024 4:15:44 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (Either you will rule. Or you will be ruled. There is no other choice.)
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To: Truthsearcher

Enshrining voting as a fundamental right would mean that courts can tell us what that means. The Kansas court got it right. Voting is primarily defined and regulated by the legislature.


33 posted on 06/03/2024 4:45:40 AM PDT by maro (MAGA!)
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To: Az Joe

>There is no US Constitutional right to vote<

It’s in there.

A well regulated Government , being necessary to the safety of a frightened populous, the right of the people to vote, shall not be infringed.

EC


34 posted on 06/03/2024 4:49:35 AM PDT by Ex-Con777
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To: Skywise

“I think the justice’ have got this one wrong.”

Our Founding Fathers would not think that. They allowed only land holders to vote, and no women at all.


35 posted on 06/03/2024 4:55:33 AM PDT by odawg
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To: Ex-Con777

So, you quote the Constitution and thereby raise the issue, precisely who are “the people”?


36 posted on 06/03/2024 5:01:58 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Hamascide is required in totality)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Until they let the Voting Rights Act decide election rules for the Southern states.

Thankfully, that part signaling out the South was stricken by the Supreme Court in 2013.

****Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a majority of conservative, Republican-appointed justices, said the law’s provision that determines which states are covered is unconstitutional because it relies on 40-year-old data and does not account for racial progress and other changes in U.S. society.****

They should have just ruled making only certain states be held to this standard unconstitutional, full stop, period.


37 posted on 06/03/2024 5:13:18 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: bert

Bert, it was a bastardized version of the Second Amendment.

It was to emphasize the absurdity of the left’s argument - guns no right, voting absolute right.

EC


38 posted on 06/03/2024 5:14:49 AM PDT by Ex-Con777
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To: kabar

If Chris Kobach is happy with the ruling, I am happy with the ruling.


39 posted on 06/03/2024 5:16:23 AM PDT by yldstrk ( )
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To: odawg
Our Founding Fathers would not think that. They allowed only land holders to vote, and no women at all.

That's not true. Some states allowed both male and female voters without being landholders if they had a certain amount of financial holdings. Some states allowed blacks to vote as well. Later, the Democrats pushed through legislation in most of these states to remove the right to vote.

40 posted on 06/03/2024 5:24:33 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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