the role of the voter in elections text chapter 6

The Role of the Voter in Elections

Text Chapter 6


“The Franchise,” in political-speak, simply means “the right to vote.”

Qualifications for the franchise have changed throughout US History

1700s: only white males who were Christian and owned property could vote

How has that changed since then?


After the Civil War, once black persons were no longer slaves and now citizens, some states tried to limit their access to the franchise

The most common means were: The poll tax The literacy test The “Grandfather clause”


The poll tax: a fee that a voter had to pay in order to get a ballot.

It was usually low, but since most ex-slaves were sharecroppers, even a 50¢ poll tax was high

Sometimes, white politicians would pay the tax for a black voter – IF the voter would mark his ballot for that politician

The Role of the Voter in Elections The literacy test: Voters would have to read aloud to the

poll worker, before being given a ballot White voters would be given a very

simple passage to read Black voters would be required to read

something complicated Usually, the black voter would fail the

test


The Grandfather Clause Was the hardest one to “beat” A simple rule: if your grandfather had

not voted before 1860, you couldn’t vote, either.

Think it through: this simple rule kept generations of black citizens from voting


Most – but not all – states kept women from voting until 1920

Two exceptions: Wyoming, Michigan Women’s suffrage advocates sought to

change that Suffrage is another term for the franchise

– 19th century ways of saying “the right to vote”


The 19th Amendment in 1920 forbade states to keep women from voting simply because they are women

Guaranteeing black citizens protection at the polls was more complicated

The 24th Amendment in 1964 made poll taxes illegal in every state

The Civil Rights Act in 1964 made it a federal crime for any state to keep black people from voting,

States were also forbidden to allow any attempt to frighten black people from voting


States today still place some restrictions on voting

A voter has to be a citizen A voter has to reside in the area where

he/she votes A voter must show proof of being 18 A voter must be registered with his/her

county’s Voter Registration system.


There are still some legal ways to prevent people from voting, even if they meet all of these qualifications:

A person who is a convicted felon, severely mentally handicapped, or a prison inmate may not vote.

An ex-prisoner must petition his state to have voting privileges restored


Most states have primary elections during the year before the general presidential election (every 4 years)

Political parties all encourage their members to come out and vote in these elections.

In a primary election, the voter must state his/her political party before voting; a voter can only vote in one party primary

In the general election, the voter is not required to publicly state his/her party; the ballot is totally secret


NO voter can ever be required to reveal who he or she votes for; all US ballots are secret

Since this system was first used in Australia, it’s sometimes called “The Australian ballot”


Every state uses a different kind of voting device

Whatever system is used, there have to be safeguards for privacy, and against tampering

Each political party is allowed to send “poll watchers” to a voting place, to make sure the other party doesn’t try to fix the results


In a general election, a voter might decide to choose a president from one party, but a senator or voter from another party.

This is perfectly legal; it’s called a “split ticket”


Voters use many criteria for choosing candidates:

Party affiliation Philosophy shared with candidate Religion shared with candidate Appearance, or speaking skills “eeny meeny minie moe….”

The Role of the Voter in Elections Some citizens just choose not to vote “I only vote in presidential years, no

other time” “It’s too much trouble” “They’re all crooks anyway” “The weather was bad on election day” “I don’t understand the issues” “My vote is only one vote – it doesn’t

matter”


Non-voters are, needless to say, bad for American society.

Non-voting allows unqualified people to get in office

Non-voting makes politicians more likely to be involved in corruption, because it seems as if “nobody’s watching”


Who pays the expenses of candidates who run for office?

Their families and friends often lend large sums of money

Their political party contributes Individual supporters contribute


A huge amount of money comes from groups called “Political Action Committees” or PACS for short.

A PAC represents a group of individuals (such as a union, or an industry like the insurance or automobile industry)

This group wants to make sure elected officials make decisions that will help them


PACS can legally donate up to $5,000 during an election season; this makes their influence stronger than any one voter can be

The Federal Election Commission has sought to limit the amount PACS can contribute; PACS complain that such rules limit their “freedom of speech and expression


Many reformers think that all private money should be taken out of elections

They think that if too many private interests can give huge amounts to a candidate, they are literally buying an election

Such reformers think tax dollars should pay election expenses

So far, candidates and parties have been successful in preventing any such campaign finance reform

the role of the voter in elections text chapter 6

Documents

voting slide

elections states

primary elections

test slide

politician slide

black people

black voters

grandfather clause slide