CH 6 Voters and Voter Behavior

1. CH 6 Voters and Voter Behavior

2. Suffrage • 148 the right to vote. • Electorate • 148 Those Americans eligible to vote, registered or not.

3. registration • 154 • Procedure of voter identification to prevent voter fraud. • One must be registered in order to vote. • Placed on a list • Done by party preference

4. The Right to Vote • Literacy • 156 Ability to read and write. • Once used as a criteria for voter eligibility.

5. gerrymandering • 159 • Questionable practice of drawing electoral district lines. • To set boundaries for people a political official will represent. • Done to limit or strengthen the support of a party or group. • Redistricting is done after the US census is done (every 10 years).

6. Preclearance • 164 Federal approval of state and local laws that guarantee fair and equal: • Poll location • Boundaries of election districts • Deadlines in the election process • Elections from ward to district to at-large.

7. Voter Behavior • 164 Off-year election • Held in even-numbered years between presidential elections. • AKA: midterm elections

8. Voter Behavior • Political efficacy • 166 Voter’s feeling of influence or effectiveness in their act of voting. • Political socialization • Process by which people gain or learn their political attitudes and opinions.

9. Voter Behavior • Gender gap • 169 difference in male and female voting trends. • Party identification • 171 loyalty of a voter to a particular political party. • Straight-ticket voting • 171 A voter only supports candidates or issues of his/her own party.

10. Voter Behavior • EC: Split-ticket voting • 171 a voter supports candidates or issues of different parties, not just their own party. • Independent • 171 any voter who has no party affiliation.

11. Presidential Election, 2012 • Solid GOP • Solid Dem • Which states should a GOP candidate concentrate on? • Which states should a Dem candidate concentrate on? • Which states must both candidates battle it out over?

12. Hwk Concepts, Class Work, to Know

13. The Right to VoteConcepts:Ch 6, pp. 148-175 • EC: Describe two long-term trends that have characterized the history of suffrage in the United States (2) • 148 Gradual elimination of voting restrictions • Expansion of Federal government’s control over voting

14. EC: The Right to Vote • Describe the five distinct stages in the growth of the American electorate (5) • 148 early 1800s, removed religious, property, and tax payment qualifications • Post-Civil War: universal male suffrage • 1920: Women’s suffrage • 1960s: Civil Rights Acts; 23rd and 24th Amendments: end poll taxes, and allow District of Columbia to vote • 26th Amendment: extends voting age to 18.

15. EC: The Right to Vote • What restrictions does the Constitution place on the States in setting suffrage qualifications? (3) • 148 voters must be able to vote in all elections • No discrimination by race, sex, age (18+) • No taxes as voter qualification.

16. EC: Voter Qualifications • Why do most states require voter registration? (2) • 152 prevents fraud • determines eligibility in closed primaries

17. EC: Voter Qualifications • Why do election officials have poll books? • 152 keep track of all registered voters • Why are poll books purged? • 152 keep the books current: eliminate voters who have moved or passed away, felons.

18. EC: Voter Qualifications • Why were poll taxes declared unconstitutional by SCOTUS? • 152 only allowed wealthy to vote • Discriminated against African Americans

19. EC: Suffrage and Civil Rights • What is gerrymandering? • 159 drawing electoral districts to favor a particular party

20. EC: Suffrage and Civil Rights (5) • What voting devices were used to disenfranchise African-Americans? • 159 • gerrymandering • Violence • Social pressures • Literacy tests • Poll taxes

21. The Right to Vote • Images: • 146: compare to modern campaigning • No technology, only voice • Still involves travelling long distances

22. Voter Qualifications • Images: • 154: questions • A. • Though he has specific opinions about government and politicians, he feels his vote won’t make a difference. • B. • That such attitudes are part of the problem.

23. Voter Qualifications • Images: • 155: interpret the graph a, b, • A • 10 percent wore a button or put a sticker on their car; • 8 percent gave money • 4 percent worked in a campaign or for a candidate. • B: • make sure your answer is supported by the graph. • + what do the last two categories say about people caring about the outcome? discussion.

24. EC: Voter Qualifications Images: • 156: questions, + what do you think many Jim Crow states did to avoid the issue? • They disqualified White, male voters.

25. Voter Qualifications • Images: • 157: question • Discourages people who might feel they would fill out the application incorrectly • Frightens people who might not want their names to appear in the newspapers.

26. Voter Qualifications • Images: • 158: question, • That voter apathy is just as dangerous as a dictatorship. • + is there really a problem with the US voting system? Explain.

27. Voter Behavior • Images: • 161: questions • 1. 15th, 19th, 26th amendments • General trend has been toward a more democratic (popular) system. • 162: question. • About 1.7 million new African American voters registered.

28. EC: Voter Behavior (10) • List three sociological factors that affect political behavior • 164 income • Occupation • Education • Gender (orientation) • Age • Religion • Ethnic background • Geography • Family • Peer groups

29. Voter Behavior • 165: questions • 1968 • 1968 • 166: question • Nonvoters outweigh the voters • Suggest their refusal to vote has a huge impact on elections.

30. Voter Behavior • 167: question • Nonwhites, who have consistently voted Democratic.

31. Gerrymandering 270 Map, question • Neither party wants to lose seats in Congress as a result of combining districts.

32. EC: Voter Behavior • Look at the image on this slide. • What percentage of voters turned out for the presidential election in 1964? In 1988? • Ans: 61.9 percent, 50.1 percent • Which year shows the greatest difference between voter turnout for presidential elections versus non-presidential elections? • 1984

33. EC: Voter Behavior • Look at the image on this slide. • What percentage of voters turned out for the presidential election and the non-presidential election in 1976? • presidential, • 53.5 percent; • non-presidential, • 34.9 percent

34. Electoral Process • You are working on a committee to examine whether 16-year-olds in your State should vote. Make up three to five questions that you would ask 16-year-olds to determine if they should gain the right to vote. • Do you read the newspaper, read blogs or Internet sources, or listen to/watch news about state, national, and world events? • What is your opinion of our current President? • What is your opinion of our current Congress? • Are you concerned about having the right to vote? • Would you vote in the next general elections if given the opportunity to do so, and why?

35. Electoral Process • What was Benjamin Franklin suggesting about the government when he said that a man whose only property was a jackass would lose his right to vote if the jackass died? • Franklin may have been suggesting that the government was biased toward property owners and that such a bias was unfair because property ownership in no way makes a person more qualified to vote. • One’s rights stay with them all their life.

36. Electoral Process • Why is the issue of voter rights so important in the United States? • If the United States is to remain a true democracy, the voting rights of all people must be secured and guaranteed. Otherwise, certain groups will not find representation in government and will not be able to take part by holding public office. Because the Constitution did not establish voter rights for all groups, subsequent government actions had to be taken to do so.