Voting Rights & Elections
Who the Constitution says may vote, who controls elections, and what religious traditions teach about equal standing in a community's decisions.
15 questions
- What the Constitution Says About the Right to VoteReligious traditions affirm the equal moral standing of all people — the premise on which any case for broad voting rights rests.
- Federal Voter ID Laws and the Founding DocumentsReligious traditions consistently condemn systems that apply different effective burdens to rich and poor.
- Does Gerrymandering Align with Founding Principles?Religious traditions condemn systems designed to predetermine outcomes — and gerrymandering is precisely such a system.
- Shelby County and the Supreme Court's Impact on the Voting Rights ActThe Voting Rights Act was the most consequential civil rights statute in American history — and the religious traditions whose moral language shaped it (the…
- How Secure Is Mail-In Voting? What the Evidence SaysReligious traditions are unanimous: truth matters more than politically useful narratives.
- Which Election Policies Best Reflect Equal Citizenship?Religious traditions affirm the equal moral standing of every person — the foundation of any concept of equal citizenship.
- Can a President Nationalize Elections? States as 'Federal Agents'The Constitution assigns election authority to state legislatures and Congress — the president is not mentioned.
- Federal Seizure of a County's Election RecordsThe Constitution gives states — not the president — authority over elections. When the federal executive seizes a county's entire election record while…
- A Mail-Ballot Executive Order and the Elections ClauseThe argument over this executive order is not, at bottom, about mail voting — it is about who writes the rules of an election the rule-writer is in.
- Louisiana v. Callais: What Is Left of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act?Every major religious tradition holds that the equal dignity of every person includes a meaningful voice in the community's decisions.
- The Mid-Decade Gerrymandering Arms RaceReligious traditions condemn the use of crooked weights and measures because they corrupt the system itself.
- Voter-Approved vs. Legislator-Drawn RedistrictingThere is a meaningful moral difference between asking voters directly and having legislators act alone.
- Courts Striking Voter Reforms but Allowing Legislative GerrymandersReligious traditions are unanimous on a narrow point: justice requires that the same standard be applied to all parties.
- DHS Threats Against State Election Officials Over Voter RollsAccurate voter rolls are a legitimate goal, and no religious tradition asks a community to be indifferent to the integrity of its decisions.
- Betting on Elections: Prediction Markets and the MidtermsGambling on election outcomes: what the Quran, Torah, Gospels, and Buddhist teaching say about betting, and what the Constitution and federal law say about markets that price democracy.