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Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the "one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion of the young and non-citizens (among others).[1][2][3] At the same time, some insist that more inclusion is needed before suffrage can be truly universal.[4] Democratic theorists, especially those hoping to achieve more universal suffrage, support presumptive inclusion, where the legal system would protect the voting rights of all subjects unless the government can clearly prove that disenfranchisement is necessary.[5] Universal full suffrage includes both the right to vote, also called active suffrage, and the right to be elected, also called passive suffrage.[6]
- ^ "Universal suffrage definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
- ^ "Definition of UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ "Suffrage". Britannica. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ Rosenfeld, Sophia (3 January 2023). "Has the United States Ever Been a Democracy?". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ Hamilton, Vivian E. (2012). "Democratic Inclusion, Cognitive Development, and the Age of Electoral Majority". SSRN 2086875.
- ^ Gwen Jordan, "We Must Forget Every Difference and Unite in a Common Cause - Votes For Woman": Lessons From the Woman Suffrage Movement (Or, Before the Notorious RBG, There Were the Notorious RGBs), 11 ConLawNOW 91 (2020).