Brittany Adkins
Comp 2
Dr. Mohammed Elnahal
Brittanymadkins@student.owens.edu
Voting: A fundamental Right or a Privilege?
One of the most important rights in America is our right to vote for our leaders who
represent us. The idea or common perspective is that voting is a basic fundamental right but that
is not how the constitution defines it. According to the United States constitution voting is in fact
a right but it is also a privilege. This can be seen in each states limitation in who has the right to
vote. Over recent years people have challenged this system and demanded change. The idea is
that everyone should have the right to vote and there shouldn’t be limitations that hinder anyone
from being able to take part in it including deadlines to register to vote. While this is an
admirable concept with great points, voting is also detrimental to our society and should be
handled in a serious manner. While both sides have clashed over a resolution the fact of the
matter is in order for voting to be secure and maintain its purpose limitations need to be set.
Voting needs to be treated with dignity and honor and only should be done by those who honor
our country and have a grave understanding of our government.
The journey that led to who has the right to vote has span over decades. In earlier times,
when segregation and discrimination were at an all-time high, only white men over the age of
twenty-one years old were eligible to vote. This was challenged over the years and in 1920
women in every state were given the right to vote. It wasn’t until over 40 years later in 1965 that
minorities such as African Americans were given the right to vote as well. The voting age was
also amended in 1971 which changed the federal legal voting age from twenty-one years old to
eighteen years old. While all of these amendments were granted to all states federal elections are
administered by state and local governments and election specifics such as how they are
conducted differ from state to state (Our Government, pg 1). Topics such as these have been
challenged in recent years in hope of restoring voting to a fundamental right.
There is one specific group of our population that have been continuously fighting for
their right to vote and that is convicted felons. Only two states, Maine and Vermont, keep felons
from losing their right to vote. Sevent3een states restore felons voting rights after release from
jail, twenty states restore it after completion of probation or parole, and eleven states hold
restrictions on restoration on rights such as a mandated waiting period or completing stripping
their right to vote based on the severity of their crime (NCSL, page 2). Roger Clegg is the
