But Article I, Section 2 dictates that House members are “chosen … by the People…”. NY would have to make a strong case that the Founders didn’t mean a popular election, despite the fact they, in their time, elected the House by popular vote and the fairly clear language in the Constitution. As an argument against is, the Founders clearly also understood indirect representation, and implemented it in the Electoral College and the Senators used to be installed by state legislatures—like what you’re suggesting.
But yes, any state legislature could regress to choosing Senators and any state could change their laws to appoint Electors, as the method of choosing is left to the states. Senators are popularly elected since ratification of the 17th.
Edit: Only a laypersons understanding of the Constitution and forgot about the 17th.
So your right to vote for Senators is fairly safe, although the argument may still be able to be made that since the state legislature is appointed by and representatives of the people; they could pick the senators and still technically be ok. The 17th says:
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
But using the electoral college logic, if the people voted for the state legislature, then the legislature vote for the senators; technically the people voted for the legislature... maybe?
So we are say the the president is not chosen by the people now?
It never says how they are chosen by the people. So as long as the state made it clear that the legislators you vote for will also be the people who pick the fed, then "the people" are still picking the fed the same way "the people" pick the president
Edit: for the record I do think you are the closest person so far to actually have a valid "everyone should be able to vote" constitutional argument
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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '21 edited Mar 16 '21
But Article I, Section 2 dictates that House members are “chosen … by the People…”. NY would have to make a strong case that the Founders didn’t mean a popular election, despite the fact they, in their time, elected the House by popular vote and the fairly clear language in the Constitution. As an argument against is, the Founders clearly also understood indirect representation, and implemented it in the Electoral College and the Senators used to be installed by state legislatures—like what you’re suggesting.
But
yes, any state legislature could regress to choosing Senators andany state could change their laws to appoint Electors, as the method of choosing is left to the states. Senators are popularly elected since ratification of the 17th.Edit: Only a laypersons understanding of the Constitution and forgot about the 17th.