Sue Bower
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Franchisement means, “The right of suffrage; the right or privilege of voting in public elections. Enfranchisement means “the grant of citizenship.” To vote in a federal election, you must be a U.S. citizen, must meet your state’s residency requirements, must be 18 years of age or older on or before election day, and must be registered to vote by your state’s voter registration deadline. States set their own voting requirements for state elections.
How can you disenfranchise people who have never been franchised? In Missouri, a prospective voter must 1) be a citizen of the United States, 2) be a resident of the state of Missouri, 3) be 17.5 years old to register and be 18 by Election Day, 3) be registered to vote in the jurisdiction the voter’s domicile prior to the election, 4) cannot be imprisoned, 5) cannot be on probation or parole after a felony conviction, 6) cannot have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor connected to voting, and 7) cannot have been declared incapacitated.
Our forefathers wanted voters to be educated, responsible adults, people with a stake in each decision: whether loss of rights, increased taxes, required military service, etc. They thought voters should prove their ability to thoughtfully consider questions in issue by having worked hard enough to own land and be able to read the ballot. Regardless of the early voting bans for women, blacks — which, thankfully, have been corrected — the basic desire to have voters who could understand issues and make sound, prudent decisions in their votes should be important today. We see on TV people who don’t know American history, can’t name our vice president, do not care who wins, cannot enunciate a personal reason for voting for a given person, determining an issue, etc. Do we feel secure about the outcome of any election given the lack of knowledge/interest or the fact that our voters are not always U.S. citizens? Are Missourians this lax when it comes to Missouri elections? Are state elections more important than national elections? Can a Texan vote in Missouri? A Russian in the U.S. election? Can we vote in Canada’s elections? I desire that our elections be decided by U.S./state citizens — prudent, informed, citizens who have a stake in the outcome of the election — thereby, hopefully, educating themselves about the possible outcomes of each side of the matter.