Outline/Notes:
American
Government & Economy
These are a few notes that I created for
a government class:
Chapter 6 Section
1
The Constitution
and the Right to Vote
1.
History of voting rights
1.
Framers of the Constitution left suffrage qualifications to
the states
1.
Suffrage: right to
vote
2.
Franchise: similar
meaning, i.e. before the 1960's many blacks were disenfranchised
3.
Electorate: potential
voting population
2.
1789 when the Constitution went into effect only
white male property owners could vote
1.
That is 1 in 15 adult white males could vote
2.
Thomas Paine complained in his book, Common Sense:
(1)
AA man whose only property was a jack ass, would lose the
right to vote if the jack ass died . . . now tell me, which was the voter, the
man or the jack ass?@
3.
History of suffrage has been marked by two long term
trends:
1.
A gradual elimination of voting restrictions
(1)
religious beliefs
(2)
property ownership
(3)
tax payment
(4)
race
(5)
sex
2.
Federal government slowly assumed much of the states
control over voting rights
4.
The five stages in the struggle to extend voting rights:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Notice the phrasing of the amendments, the do not guarantee
anything they only prohibit discrimination against the group.
2.
The power to set voting qualifications
1.
2.
3.
3.
Extent of suffrage today
1.
Current size of American electorate is nearly two million
2.
Almost all adults over the age of 18 are able to vote
1.
Who cannot vote in
(1)
under 18
(2)
unnaturalized immigrants
(3)
illegal immigrants
(4)
felons (persons with convictions)
(5)
lawyers (joking)
2 Voter Qualifications Among the States
4.
Key Terms:
1.
Registration:
2.
Literacy:
3.
Poll
Tax:
5.
Citizenship:
1.
A
person must be a citizen to vote (in most cases)
2.
Generally,
aliens are denied the right to vote in
1.
right is not prohibited by the Constitution.
2.
Occasionally
some aliens do vote
6.
Residence:
1.
Most
States require a person to live within the State for a period of time before
voting because:
1.
Residence
requirement prevented >Political Machines= from importing or bribing out of
State voters
2.
A
voter needs time to familiarize themselves with candidates & issues
2.
Traditional
residency requirements:
1.
1
year for State elections
2.
60
to 90 days for county elections
3.
30
days for local elections
3.
Today=s
residency requirements:
1.
Most
States are similar with minor variations
2.
2
of States require voters to live within the State for 30 days
3.
10
days in
4.
50
days in
5.
Shorter
requirements due to 1970 law & 1972 Supreme Court ruling
(1)
1970
Voting Rights Act: no more than 30 days before one can vote in a
Presidential election
(2)
1972
Dunn v. Blumstein, the Supreme Court
found
6.
Most
States prohibit transients from gaining residency thus the vote
7.
Age:
1.
26th
Amendment (1971) sets minimum age at 18 years
2.
Prior
to 1971 average age was 21
1.
2.
3.
4.
3.
Some
States now allow 17-year-Olds the vote in primary elections if they are 18 by
the general election
8.
Miscellaneous Qualifications:
1.
Registration or Enrollment: A procedure of voter identification which is intended
to prevent fraud
1.
All
States but North Dakota require voter registration
2.
Voters
remain or are not allowed to register unless:
(1)
move
(2)
die
(3)
convicted
of a serious crime
(4)
committed
to a mental institution
(5)
fails
to vote for a certain number of years or months
(6)
dishonorable
discharge from the military (some States)
(7)
homeless (some States)
(8)
polygamists (some States)
3.
Registration
can be used as a way to discriminate against potential voters:
(1)
poor
& uneducated
(2)
vast pool of disenfranchised citizens who find it difficult or inconvenient
to register. . .
(3)
fine
line between discouraging fraud and easing standards
(4)
1993
Motor Voter Law:
(1)
designed
to ease process of registration
(1)
all
eligible citizens automatically register when applying for or renewing license
(2)
voter
registration by main
(3)
forms
available in all govt. offices
(2)
Created
controversy:
(1)
most
(up to 75%) unregistered voters are working class or low income & would
vote Democrat
(2)
many
Republicans feel this creates an unfair advantage
(3)
Some
States fought this law including
1)
PA
told to allow registration for National elections pending court decision
4.
Main
& Wisconsin allow registration up to the day of the election
9.
Literacy:
1.
No
State basis voter qualifications on literacy
2.
Original
intent was said to allow only informed voters to cast ballots
1.
(1)
aimed
at limiting the Irish Catholic vote
3.
Later
intent was to discriminate against ethnic groups and the poor
1.
Many
requirements asked white citizens to read from the Constitution while asking
African Americans to very complex questions about the selection
4.
1970
Voting Rights Act: eliminated literacy as a qualification
5.
Oregon v. Mitchell upheld the literacy ban in 1970
10.
Poll Tax:
1.
Proof
of tax payment on land was a original suffrage requirement
2.
Starting
in 1889 many southern States introduced the poll tax to limit the black vote
1.
It
required proof of a tax payment at the time you vote
2.
Was
largely uneffective in its goal
3.
Very
unpopular both inside and outside the south
4.
Equally
discriminated against poor whites
3.
24th
Amendment (1964) outlawed the poll tax in federal elections
4.
Harper v.
Section
Objective: To understand the necessity for civil rights
laws and the effects of those laws on suffrage
A. The 15th Amendment
1.The purpose of the 15th Amendment (1870) was to grant
suffrage to newly freed slaves.
2.white supremacists in the South devised many ways to
prevent African Americans from voting.
3.Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Congress passed a number
of civil rights laws designed to end the disfranchisement of African Americans.
B. The Civil Rights
Acts of 1957 and 1960
1. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 set up a federal
Civil Rights Commission and
gave the attorney general the power to seek injunctions
against any person or
group that sought to interfere with the voting rights of
qualified persons.
2.The Civil Rights Act of 1960 provided for the
appointment of federal voting referees, who could be sent anywhere a federal
court found discrimination.
C. The Civil Rights
Act of 1964
1 The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed job discrimination.
2 It also forbade States to use voter
registration requirements in a discriminatory manner.
D. The Voting Rights
Act of 1965 and Its Amendments
1. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a vigorous
attempt to enforce the 15th
Amendment by attacking
discriminatory practices in the South and sending
in federal officials
to ensure that African Americans were allowed to vote.
2.The law has been extended three times, expanding its
coverage to States and counties outside the South and to Alanguage
minorities@ -Hispanics, native Americans, Asian Americans, & Alaskan
natives.
Nonvoting
Section Objective: To understand voter turnout and
nonvoting in American elections
A. The Size of the Problem
1.Only about half of eligible voters
turn Out in presidential elections.
2.Only about a third of eligible voters
turn out in off-year elections.
3.Little - Recognized Aspects of the
Problem:
a.
More
people vote in federal than in State and local elections.
b. hi general, the farther down the ballot an office is, the
fewer the number of votes that will be cast for it. This phenomenon is called
"ballot fatigue."
c. Turnout
is lower in off-year elections, primaries, and special elections than it is in
presidential-year elections.
B. Why People Do Not Vote
1."Cannot-Voters"
a. Nearly 20
million Americans do not vote because they cannot.
b. Cannot-voters
include aliens, the mentally or physically handicapped, And
people in prison.
c. Some
people cannot vote because their religious beliefs forbid them to participate
in government.
d. Some are
still prevented from voting because of discriminatory electoral practices.
2. Actual
Nonvoters
a.
Many people do not vote because they are satisfied
with the political system as it is and believe that the outcome of elections
will not affect them.
b.
Many others do not vote because they distrust the
political process and do not think that they have any effective political
power.
c.
Bad weather, "time-zone fallout," and
cumbersome election procedures keep some away from the polls.
3.Factors Affecting Turnout
a.
Voters
are most likely to be people at the higher end of the social, economic, and
educational ladder, active in their communities, and who experience few
cross-pressures.
b. Nonvoters are most likely to be
under 35, unmarried and unskilled, and living in the South or in a rural
area.