Voting in America
Voting in America. The Right to Vote. History of Voting Rights. The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State. Suffrage / Franchise. Both of these terms have the same meaning: The RIGHT or PRIVILEGE to vote.
Voting in America
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Presentation Transcript
The Right to Vote
History of Voting Rights • The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State.
Suffrage/ Franchise • Both of these terms have the same meaning: • The RIGHT or PRIVILEGE to vote.
Expansion of Electorate • When the Constitution went into effect in 1789, who was allowed to vote? • White, male, property owners
Expansion of Electorate • Today the size of the American electorate(potential voting population) is around 210 million people • Who is allowed to vote today? • Nearly all citizens who are at least 18 years old.
Expansion of Electorate • That big number is a result of some 200 years of continuing, often bitter and sometimes violent struggle. • The history of suffrage has been marked by (2) long-term trends: • The gradual elimination of restrictions on the right to vote • The State’s power over the right to vote has been assumed by the Federal government.
Extending Suffrage • The growth of the American electorate to its present size and shape has come in five fairly distinct stages:
The 1st Stage • When: • Early 1800s • What: • Elimination of religious, property, and tax requirements.
The 2nd Stage • When: • Post Civil-War Era. • What: • Race or color could not block right to vote. • 15th Amendment.
The 3rd Stage • When: • 1920 • What: • Women get the right to vote in Federal elections. • 19th Amendment
The 4th Stage • When: • 1960s • What: • 23rd Amendment allows District of Columbia to vote in presidential election • 24th Amendment – No poll tax • Voting Rights Act 1965
The 5th Stage • When: • 1971 • What: • Minimum age of voting can be no higher than 18 years old.
Voter Qualifications
Universal Requirements • Today, every state requires that any person who wants to vote must be able to satisfy qualifications based on (3) factors:
Citizenship • Aliens (foreign born residents who have not become citizens) are denied the right to vote. • States have power to regulate this. • Pennsylvania? • Citizen for 30 days • Resident of PA for 30 days
Residency • Why is there a residency requirement? • Political Machines cannot bring voters in from different areas. • New voters can become familiar with candidates and issues of an area.
Residency • Transients: • persons living in a State for only a short time; are prohibited from voting in nearly every state.
Age • 26th Amendment (1971) set the minimum age for voting in any election at no more than 18. • Vietnam War was key. • What is the impact of 18-20 years olds in voting? • NONE: they have the lowest percentage of all voting groups..
Other Qualifications • The States have imposed a number of other qualifications over time. • Registration • Literacy • Tax Payment • Persons Denied the Vote
Registration • Procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. • A prospective voter must register his/her name, age, place of birth, present address, length of residence, and similar facts. • What is purging? • Reviewing the lists of registered voters and removing the names of the ineligible.
Registration • Some people argue that the registration requirement is bar to voter turnout, especially among the poor and less-educated.
Registration • In 1993 Congress passed a law dubbed “the Motor- Voter Law”. • What did this do? • Register by mail • Register when applying/renewing driver’s license.
Literacy • Today no state has a suffrage qualification based on voter literacy– a persons ability to read or write. • States had these in place to keep a group away from the polls – African Americans, Native American, Irish Catholic immigrants.
Literacy • What eliminated all of these requirements? • Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970
Tax Payment • Poll tax = payment of a tax in order to vote. • Beginning with Florida in 1889, each of the 11 southern states enacted this to keep African-Americans away from the polls.
Tax Payment • The 24th Amendment to the Constitution ended this in 1964.
Denied the Vote • Some states deny the right to vote to certain persons: • People in mental institutions. • Persons found legally incompetent. • Persons convicted of serious crimes.
Suffrage and Civil Rights
15th Amendment • First step in the effort to extend the franchise to African Americans. • What does it declare….
15th Amendment • Right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
Federal Government • Yet for almost 90 years (1870-1960), the Federal government paid little attention to voting rights for African Americans. • During this period, blacks were kept from the polls by a mix of violence, literacy tests, poll taxes and other devices:
Gerrymandering • Definition: • Drawing district lines to limit or strengthen the voting power of a particular group.
White Primaries • Definition: • Practice that excluded blacks from running for office; used in the South. • Eventually ruled unconstitutional.
Civil Rights Act 1960 • Allowed for Federal voting referees to help voters register or vote.
Civil Rights Act 1964 • This Act was much broader and more effective than either two of the earlier measures. • Outlawed discrimination in several areas – especially job related matters. • It relied on judicial action to overcome racial barriers.
Injunction • Definition: • A court order that either forces or limits an action by a person.
Dr. Martin Luther King • Voter registration march in Selma, Alabama were met with violence - showing a need for new and stronger legislation. • What played a role in getting the nation’s attention? • The violence shown on national TV.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 • This act applied to ALL elections held anywhere in this country – state and local as well as federal. • Originally, the Act was to be in effect for 5 years but Congress has extended its life three times.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Suspended us of literacy tests. • Gave Federal government power to oversee elections. President Johnson and Dr. King at signing of Voting Rights Act
Preclearance • Changes that must be approved: • Location of polling places • Boundaries of districts • Deadlines in election process • Qualifications of candidates
Amendments tothe Act • Additions to the law include: • extensions for existing provisions • help for language minorities (ballots in several languages)
Voter Behavior
Nonvoters • There are several legitimate reasons for not voting… • But the troubling fact remains that most of the millions who do not vote cannot claim those reasons.
Size of the Problem • Case in point Election Day 2000: • those eligible to vote (205.8 million) and 105.4 million did vote (51.2%) • How many people did not vote at all? • Nearly 100 million people!!!
Size of the Problem • Off-year elections, which are the congressional elections in between a President’s term, have even lower rates of voter turnout. • What does it mean to be a “nonvoting voter”? • Vote for candidates at top of ballot, but no other offices.
Ballot Fatigue • One reason for nonvoting is “ballot fatigue” • many voters get exhaust their patience and/or knowledge as they work they way down the ballot.
