|
Can this be considered evidence of fictional state?
Just checked my state constitution and found the following under Right of Suffrage - Electors:
Every [white] [male] citizen of the United States of the age of 21 years , ... some residency stuff ... , shall be entitled to vote at all elections....
The terms [white] and [male] have been eliminated by amendments. The above paragraph was enacted in 1857 when the entire constitution was re-written. I haven't been able to find a copy of the original constitution that had been in affect for over 10 years prior to 1857.
My question is - if citizenship is a concept of municipal law and the concept of a United States citizen only came into being in 1868 with the 14th amendment then who was entitled to vote in elections in my state for 11 years between 1857 and 1868. Had United States citizens somehow existed in this state for years before the federal government discovered the concept? Does this possibly give certain rights to how the term 'United States citizen' is defined and used to the state since the state use of the term preceeded the federal use?
If there were no 'qualified' citizen electors from the beginning then when did they start existing? Even more to the point, do they exist now? Also, if they had constitutional rights in 1857 reserved from the federal government then why do these rights not exist now for someone who makes the same claim to the same citizenship?
Another point is that these historical fictional electors could only vote (and still may only vote?) if they are of 21 years of age AND NO OTHER AGE. My OPINION is that the original drafters of this paragraph intended to say 21 years OR OLDER but that is not the wording . Wonder if the Secretary of State might not be improperly certifying the elections of state officials. So, who exists today in an official capacity if improperly elected?
|
