Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-71_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 31

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

7 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

For  this  reason,  the  Voter  Qualifications  Clause  gives 
States  the  authority  not  only  to  set  qualifications  but 
also  the  power  to  verify  whether  those  qualifications  are
satisfied. 

This  understanding  of  Article  I,  §2,  is  consistent  with
powers  enjoyed  by  the  States  at  the  founding.    For  in-
stance, ownership of real or personal property was a com-
mon  prerequisite  to  voting,  see  Keyssar  306–313  (Tables
A.1  and  A.2).  To  verify  that  this  qualification  was  satis-
fied,  States  might  look  to  proof  of  tax  payments.    See  C. 
Williamson,  American  Suffrage  from  Property  to  Democ-
racy,  1760–1860,  p.  32  (1960).    In  other  instances,  States 
relied  on  personal  knowledge  of  fellow  citizens  to  verify
voter eligibility.  Keyssar 24 (“In some locales, particularly
in the South, voting was still an oral and public act: men
assembled  before  election  judges,  waited  for  their  names
to  be  called,  and  then  announced  which  candidates  they 
supported”).  States have always had the power to ensure
that  only  those  qualified  under  state  law  to  cast  ballots
exercised the franchise. 

Perhaps  in  part  because  many  requirements  (such  as
property  ownership  or  taxpayer  status)  were  indepen- 
dently  documented  and  verifiable,  States  in  1789  did  not 
generally  “register”  voters  using  highly  formalized  proce-
dures.  See  id.,  at  122.  Over  time,  States  replaced  their 
informal  systems  for  determining  eligibility,  with  more 
formalized pre-voting registration regimes.  See An Act in 
Addition  to  the  Several  Acts  for  Regulating  Elections,
1800 Mass. Acts ch. 74, in Acts and Laws of the Common-
wealth  of  Massachusetts  96  (1897)  (Massachusetts’  1801
voter  registration  law).    But  modern  voter  registration
serves  the  same  basic  purpose  as  the  practices  used  by
States  in  the  Colonies  and  early  Federal  Republic.    The 
fact that  States have liberalized voting qualifications and 
streamlined  the  verification  process  through  registration 
does  not  alter  the  basic  fact  that  States  possess  broad