@gollum,
gollum wrote:Doe the U.S. Constitution impinge on allowing felons to vote in elections?
Short answer: no it doesn't. States who want to allow felons to vote can do so under the US constitution.
Background: The US constitution of 1787 left the issue of voting rights completely up to the states. States could grant or deny the right to vote whichever way they saw fit.
Then a series of amendments subsequently reduced the state's power to
deny individuals the right to vote, as Setanta said already. Currently, the constitution forbids states to deny the vote on account of race (15th Amendment), sex (19th Amendment) failure to pay a poll tax (24th Amendment), and any age equal or greater than 18. (26th Amendment). States can still deny the right to vote for other reasons, including your criminal record.
But they don't have to. No amendment to the US constitution ever constrained the states' right to
allow people to vote. This brings us back to the short answer: No, the US constitution doesn't impinge on states allowing felons to vote, because it doesn't impinge on them allowing
anyone to vote.