by Fred Tolleson

Created on: December 08, 2007

Should mentally ill people be allowed to vote? The answer is a "qualified No". When I define mentally ill people, I refer to those whose symptoms keep them confined in mental insti-tutions, or are so serious, their awareness of the world around them is seriously impaired. This includes the vast majority of who have been diagnosed by competent authority to be a danger to others or to themselves.

Beyond those categories, there are probably folks who shouldn't vote because of skewed ideas about how society is structured and to whom the process of living a normal life is unknown. For instance, if you have the mental capacity of a 6 yr old, you probably fit into one of the definitions noted above and would not be allowed to vote.

Where we get into problems are the cases where no answer has been constructed to this point. For example, an arsonist is a person attracted (or addicted) to flames and enjoys setting fires immensely. Would you want that person to vote. They look just like you and me. Their views on eating, dating, family and marraige are probably just as good as yours and mine. But turn to their weakness (fire) and they are lost. What part of our above definitions keeps them from voting? Are they mentally ill? Yes, and when apprehended they go to some form of confinement for many years. The answer for this class of person simply has not been constructed yet.

For a large segment of our population drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking pot and using drugs is a day to day occurrence. These persons are sometimes diagnosed as mentally ill.
Is a drunk allowed to vote - in almost every case, if they show up, sign the sheet, they are given a ballot.

What now should we do about voting that occurs as a result of mail ballots. These voters never see a ballot box, a screen in front of an electronic counting mechanism, or any form of screening by the ballot worker. And a larger and larger percentage of our electorate votes as a result of ballots sent through the mail.

Various courts of our land have seen cases where the right of a citizen to vote has been challenged on one basis or another. Almost all decisions have come down in favor of the voter. Very few decisions have ever stripped a person of the right to vote due to mental illness. Voter registration often is regarded as the right to vote. The mentally ill often need the voter registration document because they do not drive and have very few public documents that are of use to positively and legally identify themselves.

Many mentally ill persons now vote and have voted for years. Did the system collapse - no!
Should we change it to deny mentally ill persons the right to vote? I think, if the above definitions were adopted, that would cover the field of right to vote with a large clause indicating recovery from mental illness should re-entitle one to vote again!

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