13NFL1-Compulsory Voting
Page 105 of 163
www.victorybriefs.com
EVEN IF CONGRESS COU
LDN’T MANDATE VOTING IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, IT
COULD DO SO FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS UNDER ARTICLE I WITH
ESSENTIALLY THE SAME RESULT.
HLR
– 2007. The Case for Compulsory Voting in the United States Harvard Law Review, Vol.
121, No. 2 (Dec, 2007), pp. 591-612.
Congress's Article II powers are thus not a clear source of authority for enacting compulsory voting laws in presidential elections, although Article I would allow Congress to compel voting in congressional elections. As a practical matter, it may not be important whether Congress has the power to directly compel voting in presidential elections since it may do so indirectly. This is because Americans vote for presidential electors at the same time that they vote for their congressional representatives on Election Day. If Congress forces people to show up at the polls for congressional elections, most people presumably would cast a vote fora presidential candidate while they were there. n
|
