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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Ben Shapiro argues that the U.S. Constitution does not contain an affirmative federal right to vote, and that voting qualifications and election rules are primarily set by the states, subject only to specific constitutional amendments that bar discrimination. He argues that current voting rights disputes, such as the Save America Act and the Louisiana v. Callais decision, should be judged against this text rather than broader policy goals like universal mail voting or automatic registration.
Key Points
- The original 1787 Constitution contains no general right to vote; Article 1, Section 2 ties House voter qualifications to those set for the state legislature's most numerous branch, and Article 1, Section 4 leaves the "times, places, and manner" of elections to the states, with Congress holding a backstop power.
- Article 2, Section 1 lets each state appoint presidential electors "in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct," and South Carolina had legislators pick electors until the Civil War.
- The Founders deliberately built a constitutional republic with filters like the Electoral College, the original legislative selection of senators, and life-tenured judges, partly to limit popular passions and factions, as Madison warned in Federalist No. 10.
- The 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments are written as prohibitions (race, sex, poll taxes, and age 18+), telling states what they cannot do rather than granting a federal right to vote.
- Shapiro argues that neutral rules such as photo ID, voter registration deadlines, and accurate voter rolls are not discrimination, and that ballot harvesting weakens chain of custody.
- Louisiana v. Callais (6-3, Justice Alito) held that the Voting Rights Act did not require a second majority-Black district, making that map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and tightened the Gingles framework.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The video gives no step-by-step voting procedure, but its actionable points are: check whether your state law sets qualifications for its legislature (these typically also govern congressional voting); use chain-of-custody principles by avoiding third-party handling of your mail ballot; and if you favor a national voting right, pursue a constitutional amendment through the two-thirds and three-quarters process rather than relying on current law. Shapiro also recommends asking politicians who call state election laws unconstitutional to point to the constitutional text supporting that claim.
- Ballot harvesting is described as collection of others' mail ballots by third parties, which the 2005 bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission (co-chaired by Jimmy Carter) said should be prohibited. Arizona criminalized it with exceptions for family, household members, and caregivers; California allows broad collection. The Supreme Court upheld Arizona's law in Brnovich, with Justice Alito writing that states need not wait for fraud to occur.
- The Save Act (renamed the Save America Act in the video) passed the House 218 to 213 in February, requires documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo ID to vote, and is stalled in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes against a 53-seat Republican majority.
- Shapiro cites Georgia's 2021 election law, which Biden called "Jim Crow on steroids," and claims MLB moved its All-Star Game out of Atlanta costing an estimated $100 million, followed by record turnout in the next election. He also cites polling, not further detailed, that more than 80% of Americans support photo ID, including majorities of Black and Hispanic Americans.
- Shapiro contrasts the 2021 H.R. 1 bill, which would have created federal control over election rules, with the state-run design, and notes that the Court's Callais ruling leaves Section 2's nationwide ban on racial voting discrimination in place.
Bottom Line
Shapiro's position is that voting rights debates should start from the constitutional text: it guarantees non-discrimination in voting but leaves most election rules to the states, so disputes over ID, mail voting, and districting should be argued as policy questions within that framework.
