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 voteFranchise is another term for suffrage with the same meaning – The right to vote

• So who has been left out from voting in American history?• 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.

SuffrageExtending 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 taxThis, 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

RightsWe know the 26th amendment grants voting rights to those 18 and older

There are three universal requirements to vote:

CitizenshipResidenceAge (18 & older)

CitizenshipYou must be a citizen of the United States to vote.

What about non-citizens?Non-citizens – Foreign born residents who have not become citizensNon-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.

AgeAs 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…noIn 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?

• Cannot Voters• These are voters where it is true that they

do not vote, but the fact is that they cannot vote as well• Resident non-citizens• Voters who were sick/physically disabled• Unexpected travelers• People in mental health care facilities

Why People Don’t VoteActual Nonvoters

Americans who could vote, but choose not toMillions of people fall into this categoryThey are convinced that it makes little real difference who wins a particular electionSome 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 VoterPeople 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, OccupationVoters 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, AgeWomen & 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 BackgroundProtestants 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

GeographyDemocrats 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)

ConclusionCertain 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!