Right to vote and universal suffrage
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 21. In the US Constitution: 15th / 19th / 24th / 26th Amendments (bans on exclusion).
Note on this measure. VOTERES is inverted (1 = restrictions exist). The US Constitution never affirmatively guarantees universal suffrage; it only bans specific grounds of exclusion, so VOTEUN = 2.
Does declaring it change anything?
Distribution of practiced scores, split by whether the constitution declares the right. If the two distributions look alike, the words on the page are not doing much work on their own.
Mean practiced score: 77% where declared, versus 85% where silent.
What the text actually says
Passages tagged with this topic, from the Constitute Project.
Amendment XVAmendment XV Section 1 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XIXAmendment XIX The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The President of the Republic shall be elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage.
The members of the People’s National Assembly shall be elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage.
Country by country
| Country | Declared | Practiced |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 100% | 69% |
| Argentina | 100% | 95% |
| Equatorial Guinea | 100% | 58% |
| Guatemala | 100% | 80% |
| Iraq | 100% | 73% |
| Japan | 100% | 93% |
| Mozambique | 100% | 72% |
| Albania | 50% | 76% |
| Angola | 50% | 73% |
| Armenia | 50% | 81% |
| Azerbaijan | 50% | 56% |
| Bahrain | 50% | 67% |
| Belarus | 50% | 54% |
| Benin | 50% | 71% |
| Bolivia | 50% | 87% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 50% | 76% |
| Brazil | 50% | 87% |
| Bulgaria | 50% | 88% |
| Cameroon | 50% | 65% |
| Cape Verde | 50% | 91% |
| Central African Republic | 50% | 67% |
| Chad | 50% | 100% |
| China | 50% | 100% |
| Comoros | 50% | 55% |
| Croatia | 50% | 89% |
| Cuba | 50% | 58% |
| Cyprus | 50% | 91% |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 50% | 70% |
| Djibouti | 50% | 65% |
| Dominican Republic | 50% | 82% |
| Ecuador | 50% | 86% |
| Egypt | 50% | 62% |
| Ethiopia | 50% | 70% |
| Fiji | 50% | 77% |
| France | 50% | 93% |
| Gabon | 50% | 65% |
| Georgia | 50% | 76% |
| Ghana | 50% | 81% |
| Greece | 50% | 95% |
| Guinea | 50% | 100% |
| Guinea-Bissau | 50% | 88% |
| Guyana | 50% | 75% |
| Haiti | 50% | 100% |
| Honduras | 50% | 80% |
| Hungary | 50% | 75% |
| India | 50% | 80% |
| Indonesia | 50% | 86% |
| Israel | 50% | 92% |
| Italy | 50% | 95% |
| Ivory Coast | 50% | 68% |
| Jordan | 50% | 73% |
| Kazakhstan | 50% | 71% |
| Kenya | 50% | 77% |
| Kosovo | 50% | 87% |
| Kuwait | 50% | 85% |
| Laos | 50% | 55% |
| Latvia | 50% | 94% |
| Lebanon | 50% | 79% |
| Lesotho | 50% | 88% |
| Liberia | 50% | 83% |