McNally v. Tollander 302 N.W.2d 440 100 Wis.2d 490, 302 N.W.2d 440 (Cite as: 100 Wis.2d 490, 302 N.W.2d 440) the right to vote is constitutionally protected. Article III, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution establishes the right to vote generally.[FN5] In addition, the right to vote *501 on the removal of a county seat is **446 specified in Article XIII, Section 8 of the Wisconsin Constitution.[FN6] FN5. "ARTICLE III. SUFFRAGE. Electors. Section 1. (As amended Nov. 1882, Nov. 1908 and Nov. 1934). Every person, of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, belonging to either of the following classes, who shall have resided in the state for one year next preceding any election, and in the election district where he offers to vote such time as may be prescribed by the legislature, not exceeding thirty days, shall be deemed a qualified elector at such election: "(1) Citizens of the United States, "(2) Persons of Indian blood, who have once been declared by law of congress to be citizens of the United States, any subsequent law of congress to the contrary notwithstanding. "(3) The legislature may at any time extend, by law, the right of suffrage to persons not herein enumerated; but no such law shall be in force until the same shall have been submitted to a vote of the people at a general election, and approved by a majority of all the votes cast on that question at such election; and provided further, that the legislature may provide for the registration of electors, and prescribe proper rules and regulations therefor." FN6. "Removal Of County Seats. SECTION 8. No county seat shall be removed until the point to which it is proposed to be removed shall be fixed by law, and a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question shall have voted in favor of its removal to such point." The right to vote is the principal means by which the consent of the governed, the abiding principal of our form of government, is obtained. As this Court stated in State ex rel. Frederick v. Zimmerman, 254 Wis. 600, 613, 37 N.W.2d 473 (1949): "The right of a qualified elector to cast a ballot for the election of a public officer, which shall be free and equal, Page 6 is one of the most important of the rights guaranteed to him by the constitution. If citizens are deprived of that right, which lies at the very basis of our democracy, we will soon cease to be a democracy. For that reason no right is more jealously guarded and protected by the departments of government under our constitutions, federal and state, than is the right of suffrage. It is a right which was enjoyed by the people before the adoption of the constitution and is one of the inherent rights which can be surrendered only by the *502 people and subjected to limitation only by the fundamental law." Because the right to vote is so central to our system of government, this Court has consistently sought to protect its free exercise. In State ex rel. Symmonds v. Barnett, 182 Wis. 114, 195 N.W. 707 (1923), the ballots of certain voters were not counted, because the voter's names did not appear on the voter registration list. These voters were, however, duly registered voters who had voted in the preceding primary election. Only the failure of the registration board to update the registration list explained the omission of their names. This Court ordered that the votes of these voters must be counted, stating: "As a general rule a voter is not to be deprived of his constitutional right of suffrage through the failure of election officers to perform their duty, where the elector himself is not delinquent in the duty which the law imposes on him. State ex rel. Wood v. Baker, 38 Wis. 171; 9 Ruling Case Law, 1093." Barnett, supra, 182 Wis. at 127, 195 N.W. 707. In Ollmann v. Kowalewski, 238 Wis. 574, 300 N.W. 183 (1941), 305 ballots had been initialed by one election clerk on behalf of both election clerks, rather than being initialed by each election clerk individually, in violation of the statutes. This Court held that the 305 ballots were properly counted stating that: "The voter would not knowingly be doing wrong. And not to count his vote for no fault of his own would deprive him of his constitutional right to vote... A statute purporting so to operate would be void, rather than the ballots." Ollmann, supra, 238 Wis. at 578, 300 N.W. 183. © 2006 Thomson/West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works. 329