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Voting in free, fair, and meaningful elections is a human right. The United States has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Here’s the text of Article 25 of that document. (1/8)
How do we ensure that the right to vote isn’t subject to unreasonable restrictions? In General Comment 25, the ICCPR’s treaty body, the Human Rights Committee, has tried to provide some clarity. (2/8) https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fc22.html
Among the many requirements listed, governments are required to make sure there is no discrimination in political participation on the basis of “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” (3/8)
Likewise, governments must ensure that everyone has the right to vote and not allow voter registration to serve as a restriction on that right. (4/8)
People should be able to make their choices “free of violence or threat of violence, compulsion, inducement or manipulative interference of any kind…The results of genuine elections should be respected and implemented.” (5/8)
“If conviction for an offense is a basis for suspending the right to vote, the period of such suspension should be proportionate to the offence and the sentence.” (6/8)
As you might suspect from all of this, the United States typically underperforms on the right to participate in government, especially compared to other high-income OECD members as shown in this graph from @rightsmetrics. We must do better. (7/8)
So, just a reminder for those of us in the US over the coming days: It is a human right to cast meaningful votes in free and fair elections. Any argument that votes should go uncounted is an argument for violating the human rights of the people that cast those votes. (8/8)
