A Real Right to Vote: Richard L. Hasen

March 14, 2024

March 14th, 2024

“We're all political equals in this country; we should all have an equal ability to vote.”

Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law and Political Science at UCLA and director of UCLA Law’s Safeguarding Democracy Project. We discuss his most recent book, A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy.

A country that believes that its people are equal should ensure equal voting rights. However, the US Constitution does not currently protect the right to vote. All adult non-felon citizens should have a constitutional right to vote where they reside. That vote should be equally weighted and eligible voters should not face unnecessary burdens to voting. Furthermore, minority voters should have voter protection and Congress should have broad powers to protect voting rights. Even though the US has not enacted a constitutional amendment since the 1970s, Americans should start thinking about a movement toward passing a voting rights amendment with the expectation that it might take decades. Rick Hasen reminds us that “Nobody is coming to save American democracy. We have to do it ourselves, and people are stepping up.”

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