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77 Fla. L. Rev. Forum 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/flrf77 and id is 1 raw text is: WE THE VOTERS: A RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR DOUGLAS Jonathan L. Marshfield* INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. I. THE MULTILAYERED RIGHT TO VOTE................................ II. FLEXING THE POWER OF THE ELECTORATE ....................... CONCLUSION.................................................................................. INTRODUCTION Professor Joshua Douglas's article, The Power of the Electorate Under State Constitutions, is an important and profound contribution to state constitutional theory and the law of democracy.1 Professor Douglas's central claim is that state constitutions contain a multilayered right to vote that has institutional features with no analog under federal constitutional law.2 According to Professor Douglas, the electorate has a protected institutional status in state constitutional structure that is deeper and broader than the individual right to vote.3 From here, Professor Douglas shows how this refraining has important doctrinal implications that should nudge courts toward more critical review of legislative restrictions on voting under state constitutions.4 In this short comment, I focus on two points in response to Professor Douglas's important article. Both points are mostly supportive and tend to buoy more than criticize Professor Douglas's central argument. First, I think Professor Douglas has likely understated the structural significance of the electorate in state constitutionalism. In my view, the institutional features of the electorate under state constitutions (especially of popular majorities) are one of the few throughlines that connect and explain state constitutions across time and space. Below, I explore how the history of state constitutional development likely provides even more support for Professor Douglas's project. * Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Co-Director Center for Governmental Responsibility. 1. Joshua A. Douglas, The Power of the Electorate Under State Constitutions, 76 FLA. L. REV. 1679 (2024). 2. Id. at 1681-82. 3. Id. at 1682. 4. Id. at 1734-43.