Opinion: Renters deserve more freedom to display political messaging

Since the earliest days of the American democratic experiment, property ownership and political representation have been closely linked. 

After independence, the federal government established no uniform standard for voting qualifications. 

13 states. 13 sets of exclusions and regulations.

Black men, free or enslaved, were barred from voting under the original constitutions of Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. Women were barred everywhere but New Jersey.

Yet, one qualification present in all 13 original state constitutions required voters to demonstrate sufficient economic standing through taxation or property ownership. In effect, capital-based voting requirements disenfranchised swaths ...