City of Seat Pleasant v. Jones

The Court today holds that it is permissible for election officials to deny a properly registered voter the right to vote so long as they do so negligently and not fraudulently or arbitrarily. With respect, I dissent from that conclusion.

There is no need in this dissent to write a political treatise on the importance of the right to vote. I am sure that my colleagues agree with me that it is the fundamental underpinning of our democratic and republican form of government and must be zealously protected. It was not protected in this case. Brenda Smith, a properly registered voter was denied…