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The Reason Why Voting Is Restricted
A closer examination of the subject
shows us the motive which causes the right of suffrage to be
based upon the supposition of incapacity. The motive is that the
elector or voter does not exercise this right for himself alone,
but for everybody. The most extended elective system and the most
restricted elective system are alike in this respect. They differ
only in respect to what constitutes incapacity. It is not a
difference of principle, but merely a difference of degree.
If, as the republicans of our
present-day Greek and Roman schools of thought pretend, the right
of suffrage arrives with one’s birth, it would be an
injustice for adults to prevent women and children from voting.
Why are they prevented? Because they are presumed to be
incapable. And why is incapacity a motive for exclusion? Because
it is not the voter alone who suffers the consequences of his
vote; because each vote touches and affects everyone in the
entire community; because the people in the community have a
right to demand some safeguards concerning the acts upon which
their welfare and existence depend.
Clark Simmons, Webmaster
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