The Importance Of Voting Laws

As a democratic government, voting is the foundation of the American government and in extension, the American way of life in general. Voting is considered so important that that it is mentioned in four Constitutional Amendments. These "four separate Amendments – the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th, even use the same powerful language to protect it: 'The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged ...," (Donnelly). The question is however, are new voting laws designed in a way that inherently infringes on the rights of people, or is their purpose primarily to protect the integrity of the voting system? While this issue is controversial, the limits these laws place on some voters infringes on democracy and furthers the agenda of the establishment at the expense of the American people. Voting laws are really nothing new, there have been laws restricting voting rights in the past. A commonly known example are the Jim Crow laws, which restricted African Americans …show more content…
This power that the haves hold in American society allow them to control the have-nots and maintain the status quo. One study found that the high amount of influence that wealthy upper class individuals have in campaign financing influences the policies and decisions of elected officials. The researcher this study in addresses this by stating, "the more money in a state’s electoral system, the more likely it is that wealthier interests will dominate, and policies that benefit low-income citizens (such as public assistance spending) will receive comparatively less attention from policymakers," (Flavin, 79). It is due to the influence of money in politics that policies such as voting laws are put in place, because they increase the power of the wealthy while decreasing the influence of the only advantage the lower and middle class has, which is greater