re: Should Illegal Aliens count towards congressional representation?

quote:

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appropriations are based on the data. If, and only if, states denied eligible voters the right to vote, then the Constitution allows for their proportion of the population can be reduced accordingly

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Where does it state this?

It only says “denied.” Not “improperly denied.” Not “denied by the State.”

Are illegals allowed to vote? No. They are denied (deprived of) that right.

In fact (perhaps more importantly), look just past the qualifications of the denial (being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States,) to what follows them: “or in any way abridged.” Care to guess what the old meaning of abridged was? Deprived.

So, we have, as the text is written, that it isn’t an action taken by a state, and it applies to anyone that in “any way” isn’t allowed to vote. Then it directs the representation to be reduced to an amount that would be proportional to having only counted the number of eligible voters.

*Edit for predictive text errors.