As friedo stated, that’s a matter of state law. The one state law cited in this thread says only if the person is adjudicated to be mentally incompetent and has not regained his mental competency. This is consonant with the general rule as far as person being able to act. Sui juris is the legal term, meaning possessing full social and civil rights; not under any legal disability. Generally, you are not under any legal disability until a court says you are.
Because states are allowed to set restrictions on who can vote, so long as there’s nothing in the Constitution keeping them from setting those restrictions. So, in some states, ex-felons can’t vote, for example.
Then, of course, there are the residents of territories, who are US citizens, but can’t vote (for President).
Well, felons lose the franchise. It’s part of their punishment, at least while they’re behind bars.
I can’t imagine a comatose person casting a meaningful ballot, but I’m sure some manage to in some states.
Of course, you need a minimum of brains to register and actually make the decision to hie thee to a polling place on time. I believe that is the Major Determinant in this country.
I don’t know. Is someone with Down’s syndrome allowed to have a driver’s license?
I’m completely ignorant on this. It has come up a few times in GD, and I’ve always assumed that someone who is severely mentally retarded couldn’t vote. Not sure how I see that it makes sense to allow this and not allow a 17 yr old. Of course you have the sticky problem of defining mental ability. Where do you draw the line?
I really don’t know and am interested in how this is handled.
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I’m starting to think that the difficulties that would entail if we tried to restrict the vote would not be worth the potential abuses, given the relatively small number of individuals involved and the fact that both sides of any issue could easily find their willing supporters among the mentally impaired.
