The ability to vote and choose our leaders has laid the foundation for our democracy since 1776. But not everybody has been allowed to cast a vote. We have seen, however, legal and illegal roadblocks throughout our history. Our Constitution has been amended three times to expand voter eligibility:

The 14th Amendment (1868) was passed shortly after the Civil War. Among other things it granted citizenship to former slaves and since only citizens can vote it granted voter eligibility to former male slaves.

The 19th Amendment (1920) allowed women to vote.

The 26th Amendment (1971) lowered the minimum age for voting to 18.

With the 2024 election just 18 months away we already have a candidate who wants to restrict voting. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has proposed a change. Under his plan the voting age would be raised to 25 with exceptions for emergency responders, anyone who served at least six months in the military, or anyone who passes the naturalization exam.

This is purely a political move, a way to attract attention. Since it will need a Constitutional amendment it’s unlikely to go anywhere but it got him some publicity.

But it does point to a troubling trend. If it were to pass it would be the first time we shrank eligibility and made voting more exclusive. It’s also no coincidence that Republicans don’t poll well among young people but they do poll well among members of the military.

I predict that this will not be the last Republican attempt to disenfranchise voters they don’t like. Instead of appealing to them it’s easier to get rid of them.

Stay tuned.

Yes,it’s that time again. We are a little less than 18 months from the next Presidential election. We’re only six months out from the last Congressional election and 30 months since the last Presidential election and already we’re gearing for November 2024. Hard to believe that in 1960 John Kennedy announced his candidacy on January 2, 1960 and eight years later his brother Robert announced his bid for the 1968 election on March 16, 1968.

Since 2016 I’ve made a few changes. I no longer list the candidates on the left side; elections come and go and I like the continuity of keeping the look of the page the same. Also I used to list everyone I could find who was running, including independents. I started doing it to give at least some publicity to people who didn’t have the resources to run a national campaign. Unfortunately I found most of them were people in need of either stronger medication or more supervision.

The list of candidates is fluid; new people announce while others see the handwriting on the wall and drop out. As major candidates announce I’ll link to their web pages.

Democratic Candidates:

• Joe Biden
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Marianne Williamson

Republican Candidates:

• Larry Elder
• Nikki Haley
• Asa Hutchinson
• Donald Trump
• Vivek Ramaswamy

This is the beginning of a long road. We assume several others will run but they have not announced. I’ll update when they do.