Article VI, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution
As amended November 6, 2001:
(a) The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State: (1) persons under 18 years of age; (2) persons who have been determined mentally incompetent by a court, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make; and (3) persons convicted of any felony, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make.
(b) The legislature shall enact laws to exclude from the right of suffrage persons who have been convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes.
Editor Comments
As adopted in 1876, this section read: "The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State, to-wit: First—Persons under twenty-one years of age. Second—Idiots and lunatics. Third—All paupers supported by any county. Fourth—All persons convicted of any felony, subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may make. Fifth—All soldiers, marines and seamen, employed in the service of the army or navy of the United States."
In 1971, the XXVI Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. In 1997, to conform with the federal constitution, this section was amended to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Dickson v. Strickland, 265 S.W. 1012, 1015 (Tex. 1924) ("The qualifications of public officers, when defined by the Constitution, are as clearly beyond change by the Legislature as are the qualifications of electors when fixed by constitutional provision. It is the declared law, by both the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court of this state, that it is beyond the power of the Legislature to add an additional qualification for an elector to those prescribed by the Constitution. Solon v. State, 54 Tex. Cr. R. 261, 114 S.W. 349; Koy v. Schneider, 110 Tex. 378, 218 S.W. 479, 221 S.W. 880.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (multi-volume and up-to-date resource available at all law and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (one-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (two-volume resource available at most law and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (resource published online and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (resource published online and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)