Voting in America

1. Voting in America

2. The Right to Vote

3. History of Voting Rights • The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State.

4. Suffrage/ Franchise • Both of these terms have the same meaning: • The RIGHT or PRIVILEGE to vote.

5. Voter Statistics in US

6. Expansion of Electorate • When the Constitution went into effect in 1789, who was allowed to vote? • White, male, property owners

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Extending Suffrage • The growth of the American electorate to its present size and shape has come in five fairly distinct stages:

10. The 1st Stage • When: • Early 1800s • What: • Elimination of religious, property, and tax requirements.

11. The 2nd Stage • When: • Post Civil-War Era. • What: • Race or color could not block right to vote. • 15th Amendment.

12. The 3rd Stage • When: • 1920 • What: • Women get the right to vote in Federal elections. • 19th Amendment

13. 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

14. The 5th Stage • When: • 1971 • What: • Minimum age of voting can be no higher than 18 years old.

15. Voter Qualifications

16. Universal Requirements • Today, every state requires that any person who wants to vote must be able to satisfy qualifications based on (3) factors:

17. 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

18. 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.

19. Residency • Transients: • persons living in a State for only a short time; are prohibited from voting in nearly every state.

20. 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..

21. Age

22. Other Qualifications • The States have imposed a number of other qualifications over time. • Registration • Literacy • Tax Payment • Persons Denied the Vote

23. 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.

24. Registration • Some people argue that the registration requirement is bar to voter turnout, especially among the poor and less-educated.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. Literacy • What eliminated all of these requirements? • Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970

28. 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.

29. Tax Payment • The 24th Amendment to the Constitution ended this in 1964.

30. 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.

31. Suffrage and Civil Rights

32. 15th Amendment • First step in the effort to extend the franchise to African Americans. • What does it declare….

33. 15th Amendment • Right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

34. 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:

35. Gerrymandering • Definition: • Drawing district lines to limit or strengthen the voting power of a particular group.

37. White Primaries • Definition: • Practice that excluded blacks from running for office; used in the South. • Eventually ruled unconstitutional.

38. Civil Rights Act 1960 • Allowed for Federal voting referees to help voters register or vote.

39. 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.

40. Injunction • Definition: • A court order that either forces or limits an action by a person.

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. 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

44. Preclearance • Changes that must be approved: • Location of polling places • Boundaries of districts • Deadlines in election process • Qualifications of candidates

45. Amendments tothe Act • Additions to the law include: • extensions for existing provisions • help for language minorities (ballots in several languages)

46. Voter Behavior

47. 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.

48. 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!!!

49. 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.

50. 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.