Unit 3, Notes 2

VOTERS AND VOTER BEHAVIOR

Framers left power to set suffrage qualifications to each state

Suffrage = right to voteWhen constitution ratified in 1789

right to vote only allowed white, male, property owner

Most could not voteToday electorate – those allowed

to vote, much larger, almost anyone 18 or older Because of the many changes over

200 years of who is allowed to vote (laws)

Over years this power has gradually been assumed by federal government

VOTING RIGHTS

1) Early 1800s ended any religious test to vote Had been in place during colonial days After that, states began eliminating

qualifications property ownership, and tax payment

2) 15 th Amendment allowed African American to vote Said no citizen can be denied right to vote

because of race or color Still prevented from voting by individual state

laws created to get around this

3) 19 th Amendment – can not be prevented from voting because of sex

5 STAGES OF EXTENDING SUFFRAGE

4) Voting Rights Act of 1965 – African Americans allowed to vote 23rd Amendment – gave D.C.

votes in Presidential electorate 24th Amendment – eliminated

poll tax

5) 26 th Amendment – no state can set minimum voting age at more than 18.

States still allowed power to set voter qualifications

5 STAGES OF EXTENDING SUFFRAGE, CONT.

States determine who can voteoAll states say you must meet qualifications based on 3

factors1) Citizenship2) Residence3) Age

ROLE OF THE STATES

Aliens – foreign born people who live in the US but have not become citizens

Are generally denied the right to vote But nothing in Constitution says they can not or states can

not allow them to vote Some states will allow them to vote if they have applied for

citizenship

CITIZENSHIP

Must be a legal resident of state in which you want to vote Do this for 2 reasons1) keep polit ical parties from bribing outsiders to come in and vote on their elections2) al l new voters (residents of state) t ime to get to know issues of the state and the candidates

o Most say you have to live in state for 30 days

o Most do prohibit transients – person living in state for a short time from gaining legal residence

o College student – only temporarily there so can’t vote

o But many states will allow your campus community to count for residency so you can vote

RESIDENCE

26 th Amendment - must be 18 or olderMinimum age can not be more than 18, can set less

than 18 if states want to Made in 1971 during Vietnam – ratified more quickly than

any other amendment “old enough to fight, old enough to vote” But you people don’t show up to vote

AGE

Registration Must register to vote Procedure of voter identification to prevent fraudulent

voting Gives election officials list of qualified voters Must register name, age, place of birth, present address,

length of residence Local election officials ordered to purge lists of registered

voters remove names of those no longer eligible

Some think that registering should be done away with because it hinders people from voting, especially poor, uneducated

Most states have eased registration process

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

Congressed passed law requiring itMotor Voter Law – states must…

1) allow eligible citizens to register when applying for or renewing license

2) provide for voter registration by mail3) make registration forms available at state employment, welfare, and other social service

agencies 4) requires questionnaires be mailed to

registered voters so poll can be purged for deaths or changes of address

5) can not be purged for failure to vote

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS, CONT.

No state has qualification based on literacy – ability to read or write Was used to make sure voter could cast

informed ballots Used unfairly to keep African Americans

and Native Americans from voting Many white people asked to “understand”

short passages from constitution African Americans given long, highly

complex passages This sometimes hindered whites from voting Enacted grandfather clause

A man or his male descendants who had voted before 15 th Amendment could legally vote without passing literacy test

Voting Rights Acts ended this

LITERACY

Right to vote cannot be denied due to race, color, or previous condition of servitude Intended to ensure that African American

men could vote But al l the amendment did was make this

statement It did not provide a means to enforce and

implement To make it effective congress would have

to act would not happen for 90 years

During that time African Americans were kept from polls in most of south Used violence, threats, would fire them if they

registered to vote “Legal devices” were used – literacy tests Poll taxes

15TH AMENDMENT

Gerrymandering – drawing electoral district line to limit voting strength of particular party“white primaries” – always elected a democratAlso states defined political parties as “private

associations” Can choose to exclude members, only party members

could vote in primary Supreme Court outlawed gerrymandering in Alabama

Gomillion v. Lightfoot AL legislature had redrawn electoral districts around Tuskegee

to not include blacks in city limits Court said this violated 15 th Amendment because it irregularly

shaped district clearly created to deprive blacks of political power

GERRYMANDERING

Civil Rights Act of 1957 – set up US Civil Rights Commission Job to inquire into claims of voter discriminationCivil Rights Act of 1964Broader and more effective

Outlaws discrimination in several areas, especially job-related Forbids use of any voter registration or literacy requirement in

unfair discriminatory manner Relied on judicial action to overcome problems and used federal

courts to order change Injunctions – court order that either compels (forces) or restrains

(limits) the performance of some act by private individual or public official

A violation of an injunction may = prison Many protests and sit-ins all around South

CIVIL RIGHTS AND VOTING RIGHTS

Finally made 15 th Amendment actually effectiveApplied to all elections, federal, state, local

Only for 5 years but congress had extended it each time No more use of literacy test or similar device Gave federal officers right to oversee voting in some areas

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

Throughout history less and less people have been exercising their right to vote Even lower rates of turnout in off year elections

in congressional elections held in even-numbered years between presidential elections

Nonvoter problems more than 10 million persons who voted in last presidential election could also have voted for a congressional candidate but they did not choose to They are called “nonvoting voters” They are much more common in state and local

elections As a general rule, the farther down the ballot an office

is, the fewer the number of votes that will be cast This is sometimes referred to as “ballot fatigue” This suggests that many voters exhaust their patience

and/or knowledge as they work their way down the ballot

VOTER PARTICIPATION

Cannot-votersSeveral million persons who are

regularly identified as nonvoters can be more accurately described as “cannot voters” They don’t vote, but they actually

cannot do soSome of these people are resident

aliensThey are barred from the polls in

every stateOthers may be sick or disabledOther reasons include mental

condition, prison or religious beliefs

WHY PEOPLE DO NOT VOTE

Millions of actual nonvoters Those who could have voted in presidential election but did not Number of reasons for this Many who could vote do not because they are convinced that it

makes little real difference who wins The large group contains two different groups of non-voters

It includes many who generally approve of the way the public business is being managed

They believe no matter who wins things will continue to go well Many other feel alienated Many who deliberately refuse to vote because they don’t trust political

institutions Others believe their vote has no real impact on what

government does or the outcome of the election

ACTUAL NONVOTERS

Other factors affect whether voters show up at pollCumbersome election

procedures inconvenient registration

requirements long ballots, long lines at polling

place Of all reasons the major cause

for nonvoting is lack of interest Most often they do not know even

the simplest facts about the candidates and issues involved

FACTORS AFFECTING TURNOUT

Many differences between them People most likely to vote display characteristics as higher

levels of income, education and occupational status Tend to be long-time residents who are active in or

comfortable with their surroundings Likely to have strong sense of party identification and

believe that voting is an important actNonvoters likely to be younger than 35, unmarried,

unskilledMore in the South and rural areasToday women more likely to vote than men

COMPARING VOTERS AND NON-VOTERS

Parts of voters social and economic life that affect voting Income, occupation

Voters in lower income brackets more like to be democrats Voters in higher income brackets tend to be republicans

Professional and business people tend to vote republicanGender, Age

Women tend to favor democrats, Men = republican Younger voters – more likely democrat

Religious, Ethic Protestants – republican Catholic, Jewish – democrat African American – democrat Latino - democrat

SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS