Full Text of HJR0076 99th General Assembly
HJ0076 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, In a democracy, the right to vote is a moral | 3 | | imperative, the most fundamental legal right and is protective | 4 | | of all other rights; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 | 6 | | Voting Rights Act he said, "The right to vote is the basic | 7 | | right, without which all others are meaningless"; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Each state, except for the State of Arizona, has | 9 | | explicitly enshrined the right to vote with at least some level | 10 | | of protection in its state constitution; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Nowhere in the United States Constitution is there | 12 | | an explicit declaration of the right to vote, which weakens | 13 | | protection in federal courts and undercuts state voting rights | 14 | | protections due to state courts often "lock stepping" rights to | 15 | | the level of support provided federally; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has called the | 17 | | right to vote a fundamental right, this fundamental right | 18 | | should be explicitly guaranteed to all Americans in the U.S. | 19 | | Constitution; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, As President Barack Obama, as a professor of |
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| 1 | | constitutional law at the University of Chicago, began each of | 2 | | his constitutional law classes sharing with his students the | 3 | | surprising fact that an explicit "federal individual right to | 4 | | vote" is not in the U.S. Constitution; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The only reference to an individual right to vote | 6 | | in the original U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights is the | 7 | | requirement that any citizen qualified to vote for a member of | 8 | | a state's most "numerous house of the state legislature" is | 9 | | eligible to vote for Members of the House of Representatives; | 10 | | and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The Constitution has been amended 17 times since | 12 | | the passage of the Bill of Rights and 7 of those amendments | 13 | | pertain to voting - 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 23rd, 24th and 26th - | 14 | | but none of them add the explicit, fundamental, affirmative, | 15 | | individual, citizenship, or federal right to vote to the | 16 | | Constitution; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Three amendments outlaw discrimination in voting, | 18 | | whether on the basis of race (15th) with the 1965 Voting Rights | 19 | | Act serving as the implementing legislation for this amendment | 20 | | 95 years later, sex (19th), or age (26th); and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, A constitutional right to vote would fulfill the | 22 | | promise of the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Of the 119 nations that elect their public | 2 | | officials using some form of democratic elections, 108 have the | 3 | | right to vote in their constitution, but the United States is | 4 | | one of the democratic 11 nations - including Australia, the | 5 | | Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, India, Indonesia, | 6 | | Nauru, Samoa, and the United Kingdom - that does not explicitly | 7 | | contain a citizen's right to vote in its constitution; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, With the exception of certain federal laws such as | 9 | | the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the Help America | 10 | | Vote Act of 2002, and the Military and Overseas Voter | 11 | | Empowerment Act of 2009, the U.S. has virtually no national | 12 | | uniform standards for voting systems controlled by the states; | 13 | | and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Since voting is a state right with virtually no | 15 | | national uniform standards, we have multiple and varied | 16 | | election systems in the 50 states (plus the District of | 17 | | Columbia), 3,143 counties (or county equivalents), and about | 18 | | 13,000 local voting jurisdictions that administer about | 19 | | 186,000 precincts, all organized and controlled and managed by | 20 | | local election officials with 86% of Section 5 of the Voting | 21 | | Rights Act Preclearance objections involving local, not | 22 | | national or state, voting issues; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has unfortunately | 2 | | undermined the right to vote in recent years, notably in its | 3 | | 2013 decision of Shelby County v. Holder which made the | 4 | | preclearance requirement ineffective and, as Freedom Rider, | 5 | | Selma marcher, and US Congressman, John Lewis, so aptly stated, | 6 | | "struck a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act"; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Since 2014 at least 83 restrictive voting rights | 8 | | bills were introduced in 29 states, and the Brennan Center for | 9 | | Justice reports that 21 states have enacted restrictive voting | 10 | | laws since 2011, including North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and | 11 | | Wisconsin, and that in Texas alone this will affect more than | 12 | | 600,000 adult-age citizens who do not have state-issued photo | 13 | | identification; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Voter turnout in November 2014 represented a | 15 | | smaller percentage of eligible voters than in a congressional | 16 | | election since 1942, voter turnout in many primary elections in | 17 | | 2014 was at an all-time low in more than half of states holding | 18 | | primaries, and voter turnout in some major cities is now in | 19 | | single digits; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, A "right to vote" constitutional amendment | 21 | | applies to and should be supported by all Americans because it | 22 | | is (a) nonpartisan - not Democratic, Republican, or | 23 | | independent; (b) non-ideological - not liberal or |
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| 1 | | conservative; (c) non-programmatic - it does not require you to | 2 | | support or oppose any particular legislative program; and (d) | 3 | | non-special interest - its application is not limited to | 4 | | minorities, women, labor, business, seniors, lesbians and | 5 | | gays, or any other special interest groups; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 8 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we support amending the United | 9 | | States Constitution to explicitly guarantee an individual's | 10 | | right to vote; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 12 | | delivered the members of the Illinois congressional | 13 | | delegation.
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