Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel introduced SB 2613 last month, but because it failed to advance, it is now dead. It would have provided that voter registration cards ask voters to choose a party, or independent status.

McDaniel ran in the Republican primary last year for U.S. Senate. He narrowly lost the runoff primary to incumbent Republican Senator Thad Cochran. McDaniel challenged the results in court, arguing that many people who voted in the Republican runoff primary were Democrats who had voted in the Democratic primary a few weeks earlier. However, he was unable to prove that there were enough such voters to have changed the outcome.

On January 21, 2015, Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) re-introduced the proposed Constitutional amendment establishing a right to vote. It is HJR 25 and it now has 24 co-sponsors. Pocan is in his second term. His district is centered on Madison. The Democratic National Committee endorsed the bill on February 21.

The proposed amendment is very short. It says, “Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.”

If this amendment were to be enacted, it would permit imprisoned felons to vote. But it would do nothing to help residents of the District of Columbia, or the U.S. overseas possessions, obtain voting representation in Congress or in the electoral college. The amendment arguably would require that independent voters be allowed to vote in any partisan primary of their choosing. Already, independent voters can vote in some or all partisan primaries in a majority of states, but they can’t vote in any partisan primaries (unless they join a party) in these fifteen jurisdictions: Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the information about Congressman Pocan’s introduction of the Resolution.

On February 21, the Democratic National Committee unanimously passed a resolution in favor of voting rights, and in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to guarantee the right to vote. Here is the language of the resolution, from the Brad Blog. The Brad Blog post was written before the resolution passed. The resolution has many interesting factual details, including data on which national constitutions guarantee the right to vote. Only a handful of nations omit such a guarantee, according to the resolution, and the resolution names those countries.

It would be helpful if the resolution expressed the idea that the right to vote includes the right of choice for whom to vote. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.