Right of suffrage

Under the Constitution, the National Government confers American citizenship, but it is left to the States to determine who may vote at both its own and national elections. - Constitution, Article I, section 8, paragraph 4; fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. In America public opinion is the ultimate force of Government. It is the expression of the mind and conscience of the whole Nation, without respect to sectional or partisan alliances. Under the Constitution, voting is the only means provided for the expression of public opinion - it is the exercise of the will of the citizen in the protection of his rights.