C.2(b). Power to Vote

Citizens who have reached the age of eighteen may vote in Federal elections and referenda.

Any citizen who has reached eighteen years of age may vote. It’s a simple concept. Outside of performing required civic duties, there are no stipulations. Your grandfather didn’t need to be able to vote in a particular election. You don’t have to be a man. You don’t have to own property. If you’re an adult citizen, you can vote. It is the state’s problem to figure out how to make that possible.

The States shall administer voter registration and may establish procedural rules, provided those rules are consistent with this Charter and do not burden or restrict the exercise of the citizen’s Power to vote.

Voter registration and its process are still the province of the individual states. Still, there is a positive duty to make sure those processes are constitutional and don’t make it hard or impossible for a citizen to exercise their power. Notice the language is only “burden,” not “undue burden.” Can the state insist that you prove your citizenship? Yes. That is definitely in the realm of procedural rules and voter registration. Can they make you spend money (ex., pay a fee to get a birth certificate) to do that? No. That is a burden, maybe even a barrier, and that is explicitly banned.

Only this Charter may limit or suspend the Power to vote.

As we’ve discussed, it is possible to have the power to vote suspended, but this paragraph ensures that only the Charter can authorize that suspension.

Taken together, these three paragraphs are very clear. Adult citizens have the power to vote. States manage the rules and voting registration process, but can’t erect barriers to the ballot box. And the power to vote can only be suspended by the provisions outlined in the Charter itself—mere legislation, whether local or federal, can’t do that.