The United States has a history of ambiguity about its own citizens’ participation in elections. The Founding Fathers believed that only a few people should vote. They excluded from voting: all women, all slaves, most Catholics and anyone who did not own land.
The 1845 law that established the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November as the uniform federal election day for all of the states operates under the same presuppositions as the Founding Fathers. Only the owners of farms and shop owners could take time off to vote, or could travel to vote. Tuesday was chosen as a day that would not interfere with Sunday worship or Wednesday market.
Even today, there seems to be strong disagreement among Americans whether voting is a privilege, a right, or a duty.
Those who believed that voting was a privilege have used many tactics to limit access to the ballot box as much as possible, even for eligible voters. Often the tactics used were indirect. For example, when women’s suffrage was first approved less than a century ago, many polling places were located in neighborhood bars, where no decent woman would show her face and where women were generally excluded during business hours.
Women had to fight to move the polling places to schools and other public buildings that were accessible to everyone.
In the South, of course, many obstacles were placed in the way of voters, but usually only enforced against African American citizens. Poll taxes and exotic literacy tests were widely used. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated these tests and direct taxes for voting.
Present day proposals and restrictions that have been enacted in a number of states indirectly limit voter participation. The latest photo ID requirement is an example of such an obstacle.
Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the teaching authority of the church has advocated voting as both a right and a duty. It is a right that should be afforded to every citizen on the basis of equality. If people are really equal, they should have equal access to the ballot. When the government places obstacles in the way of voting, it is violating the principle of equality. If a government is concerned about voter fraud, it should provide voter IDs free of charge and make them easily accessible.
One principle of Catholic Social Teaching is that of participation. All people are encouraged by the official teachings of church leaders to participate in the public life of the society. All are encouraged to base their decisions on principles such as the “common good” of all and “solidarity.” These principles urge the individual voter to think not only of his/her own self interest, but the well-being of everyone and the overall good of society.
Participation also presumes that all eligible voters have a duty and a responsibility to vote in elections. In “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States” first published in 2008 and recently republished with a new introduction, the American Catholic bishops presume that all eligible voters will vote in the elections.
The record of citizen participation in voting in the United States lags behind that of other advanced nations. In Western Europe and Australia (where voting is compulsory, with small fines for those who fail to vote), the turnout is often above 90 percent. Since 1945, turnout in Western Europe has averaged 82 percent. For the USA, the average has been below 60 percent. Since most U.S. presidents are chosen by fairly narrow margins—slightly above 50 percent—this means that the individual who becomes president is the choice of 31 percent of the U.S. electorate. As a beacon of democracy, our country should encourage greater participation and voter turnout.
The Catholic Church perceives voting as a right and a duty, not a privilege reserved for the few. Current restrictions on voting, such as photo ID laws, discourage greater participation in our democracy.
Kevin Hickey is chair of the Racial Justice Commission, Diocese of Camden.
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