Ben Shapiro released a sharp video today that cuts straight to a point I raised two months ago: What The Constitution REALLY Says About Voting Rights.
The core argument is simple and historically solid. The original Constitution does not create a broad federal right to vote. Article I, Section 2 ties House voter qualifications to whatever the states set for their own most numerous legislative body. Article I, Section 4 leaves the “Times, Places and Manner” of elections primarily to the states. Article II leaves the method of appointing presidential electors to state legislatures. The Framers built a republic with deliberate filters against pure majoritarianism. Federalist 10’s warning about faction was not decorative.
The later amendments changed the landscape only in specific, negative ways:
- 15th Amendment: no denial on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
- 19th: no denial on account of sex
- 24th: no poll tax in federal elections
- 26th: no denial to citizens 18 and older
These are anti-discrimination rules. They do not transfer ordinary qualification authority (photo ID, registration rules, citizenship verification, ballot chain-of-custody standards) from the states to Washington. Neutral, evenly applied requirements are not discrimination against a protected class.