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维基百科，自由的百科全书
選舉權 (英文Suffrage源自拉丁文suffragium一字，意即"投票") 公民權中與選舉相關之權利，或對該權利之行使，又稱政治權利(political franchise, or “the franchise”)，此詞可追溯至法國人之先祖法蘭克人為自由民之時。
在歷史上，曾有多群的人民，因隸屬於封建領主或其他原因不具備自由民的身份，而不獲選舉權。這種排斥性的作法有時在選罷法中有明文規定；有時以表面上無涉於排除選舉權的施行細則行之（例如，美國南方在權利法案制訂之前，曾以人頭稅與識字要求排除被解放的黑奴的選舉權。）有時某些群體是有選舉權，但因選舉制度或政府體制上的因素使其選票與其他群體並不等值。
民主政府的法統通常須由普選產生。
目录 |
[编辑] 選舉權的形式
[编辑] 普選
普選一詞用以描述投票權不受族裔、性別、信仰或社會地位所限制。選舉權一般不會擴及選區內全體公民或居民，通常以國籍與年齡作區分，偶爾也以精神狀況及被判有罪與否而定。
1893年，紐西蘭成為第一個行使限制性普選的國家。1906年，芬蘭成為第一個行使限制性普選的歐洲國家，同時也是史上第一個全體公民都有資格成為國會議員的國家。
[编辑] 婦女選舉權
婦女選舉權向為其婦女參政論者之主張。此項運動於十九世紀末至廿世紀初期之間，曾為西方許多民主國家主要之自由主義與民主性運動，當時之婦女參政論者強力主張男女平權與女性投票權。相關之知名人士包括Kate Sheppard、Sojourner Truth、Susan B. Anthony、Emmeline Pankhurst、Lucretia Mott、與Elizabeth Cady Stanton。
十九世紀末，婦女選舉權在紐西蘭成為最有力的社會運動。該運動由婦女基督徒自制聯盟（原為地下團體）提倡，並由凱特·許帕領導。
在美國，全國婦女黨(NWP, National Women's Party)領袖愛麗絲·保羅為知名的婦女參政支持者。
全國女性參政運動社團聯盟(NUWSS, National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies)的作為大多以和平方式進行，相信非暴力手段為推進婦女參政權之道，反對行使暴力的女性社會與政治聯盟(WPSU, Women's Social and Political Union)。該聯盟有一次曾在新罕布夏的一處投票所中放出100隻老鼠。
[编辑] 男性公民選舉權
男性公民投票，票票等值。
[编辑] 平等選舉權
平等選舉權有時會與普選混淆。平等選舉意指票票等值，不因投票人之收入、財富、或社會地位等條件而有所差異。
[编辑] 資格性選舉選
資格性選舉選為普選之反義，意即選民之投票資格不均等，依其等級而定（如高收入者較低收入者有較多的選票）。因而在限定範圍內者方具投票權，通常以財產為判斷基準，但仍可能作為全面性選舉，只要眾人皆符合其限定資格。
[编辑] 強制性選舉權
強制性選舉權為法律強制規定有選舉權之公民必須投票之體系。澳大利亞實行此制。
[编辑] 擯斥於選舉權以外的形式
[编辑] 宗教
在英國與愛爾蘭，羅馬天主教徒於1829年之前無權投票。
[编辑] 社會階級
Up until the nineteenth century, many Western democracies had property qualifications in their electoral laws, that generally meant that only people who owned land could vote. Today, those laws have largely been abolished. However, in some countries the practice still applies, although perhaps unintentionally, as most democratic countries require an address for the electors to be qualified to vote. In practice, this may exclude many who have not the means to own or rent living quarters, such as the homeless. Many countries also discriminate on the basis of criminal or psychiatric record (see below), which are very strongly correlated with class and race.
[编辑] 年齡
Despite the best of universal suffrage, all modern democracies require voters to meet age qualifications to vote and deny the right to vote to individuals below the voting age. Often overlooked, young people under the voting age make up 20-50% of the population in some countries, and have no political representation. Worldwide voting ages are not consistent, fluctuating between countries and indeed within countries, usually between 15 (currently only in Iran) and 21.
In all democratic countries, young people are excluded from voting in local and national elections, though the voting age is set generally at 18. The option of qualifying by 'rite of passage' tests to certify a person's competence to vote responsibly is yet to be widely debated. One analogy is this: the 'right' to drive a motor vehicle is taken for granted, but few advocate that people of any age should be free to drive motor vehicles on public roads without first demonstrating practical skills and theoretical knowledge.
There have been proposals to lower the national voting age to 16 in the United Kingdom, one of the arguments for which being that, as people of 16 can marry, join the Army and pay taxes, for example, they should be allowed a say in the country's running.
[编辑] 牢囚與罪犯
Many countries have disenfranchisement of sentenced prisoners. In the United States, voting privileges are denied to prisoners by some states, but several other countries (including most countries of the European Union) allow all prisoners to vote, regardless of time served and nature of the crime. Some countries, such as Canada, allowed only prisoners serving a term of less than 2 years the right to vote. However in Canada, this restriction was found unconstitutional in 2002 by the Supreme Court of Canada in Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer), and as a result, all prisoners were allowed to vote as of the 2004 Canadian Election. Some countries, and some U.S. states, also deny the right to vote to those convicted of serious crimes after they are released from prison. In some cases (e.g. the felony disenfranchisement laws found in many U.S. states) the denial of the right to vote is automatic on a felony conviction; in other cases (e.g. provisions found in many parts of continental Europe) the denial of the right to vote is an additional penalty that the court can choose to impose, over and above the penalty of imprisonment, such as in France or Germany. In the Republic of Ireland, prisoners are not specifically denied the right to vote, but are also not provided access to a ballot station, so are effectively disenfranchised. Another exemption from the right to vote is made by some countries for people in psychiatric facilities. In the United Kingdom, peers who are members of the House of Lords (all up until reforms in 1999) are also excluded from voting in general elections.
[编辑] 哥倫比亞特區
Residents of Washington DC have been excluded, in whole or in part, from voting since Congress took over the District of Columbia in 1801. Under the argument that residents of the District would exert undue influence over the government, the Congress, under the power asserted for it in the Constitution to legislate "in all cases whatsoever" over the District, has denied US citizens the right to vote and be represented, and to control their own local affairs, for the past 200 years (since 1801).
[编辑] 世界各地選舉權之變革
[编辑] 英國選舉權之變革
- 参见：History of British society
- 参见：The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918
Suffrage in the United Kingdom was slowly changed over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries to allow universal suffrage through the use of the Reform Acts and the Representation of the People Acts.
- Reform Act 1832 - extended voting rights to adult males who rented propertied land of a certain value, so allowing 1 in 7 males in the UK voting rights
- Reform Act 1867 - enfranchised all male householders, so increasing male suffrage to the United Kingdom
- Representation of the People Act 1884 - amended the Reform Act of 1867 so that it would apply equally to the countryside; this brought the voting population to 5,500,000, although 40% of males were still disenfranchised, whilst women could not vote
- Between 1885-1918 moves were made by the suffragette movement to ensure votes for women. However the duration of the First World War stopped this reform movement. See also The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918.
- Representation of the People Act 1918 - the consequences of the First World War convinced the government to expand the right to vote, not only for the many men who fought in the war who were disenfranchised, but also for the women who helped in the factories and elsewhere as part of the war effort. Property restrictions for voting were lifted for men, who could vote at 21; however women's votes were given with these property restriction, and were limited to those over 30 years old. This raised the electorate from 7.7 million to 21.4 million with women making up 40% of the electorate. 7% of the electorate had more than one vote. The first election with this system was the United Kingdom general election, 1918
- Representation of the People Act 1928 - this made women's voting rights equal with men, with voting possible at 21 with no property restrictions
- Representation of the People Act 1948 - the act was passed to prevent plural voting
- Representation of the People Act 1969 - extension of suffrage to those over 18
- The Representation of the People Acts of 1983, 1985 and 2000 further modified voting
[编辑] 美國選舉權之變革
In the United States, suffrage is determined by the separate states, not federally. There is no national "right to vote". The states and the people have changed the U.S. Constitution five times to disallow states from limiting suffrage, thereby expanding it.
- 美國憲法第十五修正案 (1870年)：法律不可以種族因素限制選舉權。
- 美國憲法第十九修正案 (1920年)：法律不可以性別因素限制選舉權。
- 美國憲法第二十三修正案 (1961年)：哥倫比亞特區居民可選舉正副總統。
- 美國憲法第二十四修正案 (1964年)：國會與州府皆不可因人頭稅或他種賦稅限制人民在聯邦性選舉中之投票權。
- 美國憲法第二十六修正案 (1971)：對於18歲以上之國民，法律不可以年齡因素限制選舉權。
[编辑] 今日的選舉權
Today, in most democracies, the right to vote is granted as a birth right, without discrimination with regard to race, ethnicity, class or gender. Without any qualifying test (such as literacy), citizens or subjects above the voting age in a country can normally vote in its elections. Resident aliens can vote in local elections in some countries and in others exceptions are made for citizens of countries with which they have close links (e.g. some members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and the members of the European Union).
[编辑] 參見
[编辑] 外部連結
- Index of articles on Voter Registration including many on compulsory registration/voting - article from the ACE Project
- Information on the Renewal of the Voting Rights Act from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
- ReclaimDemocracy.org - Establishing a Much Needed Constitutional Right to Vote
- FairVote - Center for Voting and Democracy Right to Vote Initiative resources page, highlighting information pertaining to the right to vote and the U.S. Constitution
- National Youth Rights Association
- Votes at 16 Campaign to Lower the Voting Age in the UK
- Video about petition to end Women Suffrage in the U.S.A. :)
- VoteSizing.org - The Democratic Empowerment Party promotes sizing votes to favor poorer people.
