Unit 2: Topic - Voters & Voter
Behavior
The Right to Vote
“It is not enough that people have the right to
vote…People must have the reason to vote as well.”
Jesse Jackson
Major Ideas/Questions
The history of voting rights in the United States
Constitutional restrictions on the States’ power to set
voting qualifications
Why does this matter?
Democratic government can succeed only if it’s citizens
vote!
What is suffrage? Franchise? Electorate?
History of Voting Rights
The founding fathers of the Constitution left
the power to set suffrage qualifications to each
State.
Suffrage – The right to vote
Franchise is another term for suffrage with
the same meaning – The right to vote
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So who has been left out from voting in
American history?
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Turn around to the person behind you and come up
with some examples. 2-3 Minutes.
Suffrage
Today, all people who can vote is considered the
electorate
Electorate – The potential voting population
The American Electorate is about 220 million people
strong
But not everyone could vote, such as women and
African Americans.
Even some whites couldn’t vote. When the Constitution
went into effect in 1789, only white male property
owners could vote.
Suffrage
Extending suffrage occurred in five stages. All stages
were based on lifting restrictions from voting based on
religion, property ownership, tax payment, race, and
sex.
15th Amendment – Ratified in 1870. Intended to
protect any citizen from being denied the right to vote
because of race or color. But was this enforced? How
were blacks still left out from voting?
19th Amendment – Ratified in 1920. Allowed women to
vote.
The power over who has the right to vote has been
taken from the States’ and has been assumed by the
Federal Government instead.
Suffrage
•
The 24th amendment, ratified in 1964 eliminated the
poll tax
This, along with the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s finally
gave blacks the “true” right to vote.
Orange – Poll Tax
Red – Cumulative
Poll Tax (If you
didn’t pay in the last
election, you had to
pay for that too)
Gray – No Poll Tax
How did some States deny the
right to vote?
Literacy Tests (You’ll all take an actual literacy
test)
Poll taxes
Intimidation
Gerrymandering – Drawing electoral districts
in order to limit the voting strength of a
particular group or party. This particularly hurt
African Americans.
How did some States deny the
right to vote?
But couldn’t these ways of systematically denying
voting rights to blacks also hurt whites?
Yes, because some whites were illiterate or couldn’t
afford to pay a poll tax as well
As a result, “grandfather clauses” were created in some
States. This meant that any man, or his male
descendants, who had voted in the State before the 15th
amendment could become a voter without literacy tests
or poll taxes.
Suffrage/Conclusion
The latest stage of suffrage was the adoption of the 26th
amendment.
The 26th amendment was ratified in 1971 and sets the
voting age from 18 and up.
Why do you think the Federal Government took over
more and more control of voting qualifications from
the States?
Just a mere 55 years ago, hundreds of thousands people
were denied their right to vote. Today, all those 18
years & older can vote…but not all do.
DON’T TAKE YOUR RIGHTS
FOR GRANTED!
6.2 – 6.3 – Voter
Qualifications & Civil Rights
We know the 26th amendment grants voting
rights to those 18 and older
There are three universal requirements to vote:
Citizenship
Residence
Age (18 & older)
Citizenship
You must be a citizen of the United States to
vote.
What about non-citizens?
Non-citizens – Foreign born residents who
have not become citizens
Non-citizens are generally denied the right
to vote, yet nothing in the Constitution says
that non-citizens cannot vote, and
technically any State could allow them to do
so if it chose.
Residence
In order to vote, one must be a legal resident of the
State in which he or she wishes to cast a ballot.
In most States, a person must have lived in the State
for a certain amount of time before he or she can vote
Why?
Because it prevents the political machine from
importing/bribing outsiders to influence an
outcome of a state/local election.
Allow new voters at least some time to become
familiar with the candidates and issues in an
election
Residence
It would probably be weird if people from Ohio or
Texas could vote in Virginia’s state and local elections,
right?
Today, residence length requirements have been
shortened.
30 days is the longest a state/locality can require until
voting.
This is a result of the 1970 Voting Rights Act
Amendments and the 1972 Supreme Court decision in
Dunn v. Blumstein.
Residence
But what about traveling salesmen, a military member,
or a out-of-state college student? Could they vote in
their state?
No! They are called transients
Transients – Persons living in a State for only a short
time
In nearly every State, transients are prohibited from
voting.
Age
As we know, the 26th amendments makes the voting
age 18 & older
Up until the 26th amendment in 1971, the voting age
was 21
A major argument in lowering the voting age was:
Age
So do us young people vote?!
Sadly…no
In the 2000 election, only 28% of voters aged 18-20
voted.
2004 election: 38%
2008 election: Our best turnout yet - about 50%.
66% voters aged 18-29 voted for Obama.
In my opinion, young people won the
presidency of Barack Obama
Other Qualifications
Registration – A procedure of voter identification
intended to prevent fraudulent voting.
All states except North Dakota require that most or
all voters be registered to vote.
There are some who argue that the registration
requirement should be abolished, everywhere.
Why?
The Federal Government has tried to make it easier
by establishing the Motor Voter Law
The Motor Voter Law (1995) – Allows all
eligible citizens to register to vote when they
apply for or renew a driver’s license
6.4 – Voter Behavior
“Your Vote is Your Voice. Use it.” – Rock the Vote.
The word “idiot” came to our language from the
Greek. In ancient Athens, idiots (idiotes) were those
citizens who did not vote or otherwise take part in
public life.
Why People Don’t Vote
We have millions of eligible voters who choose not to
vote.
Why?
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Cannot Voters
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These are voters where it is true that they do not vote,
but the fact is that they cannot vote as well
•
•
•
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Resident non-citizens
Voters who were sick/physically disabled
Unexpected travelers
People in mental health care facilities
Why People Don’t Vote
Actual Nonvoters
Americans who could vote, but choose not to
Millions of people fall into this category
They are convinced that it makes little real
difference who wins a particular election
Some actual nonvoters feel alienated or ignored by
politicians, and they don’t trust the political
process or political institutions.
No sense of political efficacy.
Political Efficacy – One’s own influence on
politics.
Other Factors
Inconvenient
Inconvenient election procedures
Long lines at the polls
Bad weather
“Time-Zone Fallout” – In Eastern/Central time-zones,
we close the polls earlier than out West where they are
a few hours behind. Results start getting announced
and people out West get discouraged to vote.
Work/School/Busy
Predictors of a Voter
People most likely to vote:
Higher levels of income
Education
Occupational Status
Well integrated in community life
Older
People unlikely to vote:
Younger than 35
Unmarried
Unskilled
Uneducated
Southerners
Live in rural areas
So, what are factors that
influence voters to vote?
Sociological Factors
Income, Occupation
Voters in who don’t make much money with manual labor jobs tend
to vote for Democrats
Voters with higher incomes with professional or business jobs tend to
vote for Republicans
Gender, Age
Women & Men vote differently on abortion, health care, and other
social issues.
Gender Gap – Women tend to vote Democrat, Men tend to vote
Republican
Young voters tend to vote Democrat. Older voters tend to vote
Republican.
Religious, Ethnic Background
Protestants tend to vote Republican, Catholics and Jews tend to vote
Democrat.
More factors
African American (second largest minority in the U.S.)
voters tend to vote Democrat
For Latino’s, it depends:
Cuban Americans tend to vote Republican
Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans tend to vote
Democrat
Geography
Democrats tend to get votes from big cities and in the
Northeast.
Republicans tend to get votes from the suburbs and
rural areas
Family – If your parents are Republican, you’re more
likely to vote Republican! (Same if they are Democrats)
Conclusion
Certain factors, like age, gender, education level, and
your job is a predictor of who you vote for
But millions choose not to vote for various reasons
Your vote is a right that many before you did not have,
so use your vote as your voice!