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The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy. Chief Justice Earl Warren, for example, wrote in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964): "The right to vote freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government ...
Women in Rhode Island earn the right to vote in presidential elections. [27] Women in New York, Oklahoma, and South Dakota earn equal suffrage through their state constitutions. [27] 1918. Women in Texas earn the right to vote in primary elections. [34] Women in South Dakota earn the right to vote with the passage of the Citizenship Amendment. [35]
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vote is called active suffrage , as distinct from passive suffrage , which is the right ...
Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.
Voting is an important part of the formal democratic process. The European Parliament is the only international organ elected with universal suffrage (since 1979).. In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, which almost always meant a minority of the male population. [7]
For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has (in theory) equal weight, and the freedom of eligible citizens is secured by legitimised rights and liberties which are typically enshrined in a constitution, [19] [20] while other uses of "democracy" may encompass direct democracy, in which citizens vote on issues directly.
Women in South Australia achieved the same right and became the first to obtain the right to stand for parliament in 1895. [11] In the United States, women over the age of 21 were allowed to vote in the western territories of Wyoming from 1869 and Utah from 1870, as well as in the states of Colorado and Idaho from 1893 and 1896 respectively ...
Women in India were allowed to vote right from the first general elections after the independence of India in 1947 unlike during the British rule who resisted allowing women to vote. [144] The Women's Indian Association (WIA) was founded in 1917. It sought votes for women and the right to hold legislative office on the same basis as men.