Narrow decision says lower court failed to identify ‘fundamental right to vote’, drawing fiery dissent from three of seven justices

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16128511

In a bizarre mixed ruling combining several challenges to a 2021 election law, Kansas’s supreme court has ruled that its residents have no right to vote enshrined in the state’s constitution.

The opinion centering on a ballot signature-verification measure elicited fiery dissent from three of the court’s seven justices. But the majority held that the court failed to identify a “fundamental right to vote” within the state.

The measure in question requires election officials to match the signatures on advance mail ballots to a person’s voter registration record. The state supreme court reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that challenged that. The majority of justices on the state supreme court then rejected arguments from voting rights groups that the measure violates state constitutional voting rights.

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Justice Eric Rosen, one of the three who dissented, wrote: “It staggers my imagination to conclude Kansas citizens have no fundamental right to vote under their state constitution.

“I cannot and will not condone this betrayal of our constitutional duty to safeguard the foundational rights of Kansans.”

  • intensely_human
    11·
    27 days ago

    If we’re getting technical, white men still don’t have the right to vote. We are granted the privilege in return for our selective service registration.

    In other words, we are granted the privilege of voting after we have signed paperwork granting permanent consent for the government to use our bodies to fight wars.