Voter ID laws: Everyone has an ID, right? Nope

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yeah, originally all citizens didn't have the right to vote. the framers didn't think everyone should be able to.
explains why there had to be amendments made to the constitution. and those amendments came looong after the framers had all shuffled off this mortal coil.


an excerpt from an article i found:

Some Americans hoped the Constitution would clarify, unify, and perhaps expand voting rights nationally. It did not. Hayden wrote: "Under the constitution, then, the breadth of the right to vote for both state and national elections was fixed by state law. And at the time of ratification, this meant that many people—including most women, African Americans, Native Americans and propertyless white men—could not vote."

By not addressing the suffrage issue more broadly, the Constitution's authors fostered a long-running battle over voting rights. This struggle lasted well into the twentieth century, forming a focal point for the civil rights and women's rights movements.

http://www.history.org/foundation/jo.../elections.cfm

The electoral college system was conceived because the founders were afraid to give the full power of selection to the general public.
A correct assumption was made that people are suckers and could easily be fooled into electing someone completely unqualified.