voting in america
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Voting in America. The Right to Vote. History of Voting Rights. The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State. Suffrage / Franchise. Both of these terms have the same meaning: The RIGHT or PRIVILEGE to vote. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Voting in America
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The Right to Vote
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• The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State.
History of Voting Rights
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• Both of these terms have the same meaning:–The RIGHT or
PRIVILEGE to vote.
Suffrage / Franchise
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Voter Statistics in US
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• When the Constitution went into effect in 1789, who was allowed to vote? –White, male, property owners
Expansion of Electorate
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• Today the size of the American electorate (potential voting population) is around 210 million people
• Who is allowed to vote today? –Nearly all citizens who
are at least 18 years old.
Expansion of Electorate
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• That big number is a result of some 200 years of continuing, often bitter and sometimes violent struggle.
• The history of suffrage has been marked by (2) long-term trends:1. The gradual elimination of restrictions on the
right to vote2. The State’s power over the right to vote has
been assumed by the Federal government.
Expansion of Electorate
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• The growth of the American electorate to its present size and shape has come in five fairly distinct stages:
Extending Suffrage
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• When: –Early 1800s
• What:–Elimination of
religious, property, and tax requirements.
The 1st Stage
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• When:–Post Civil-War Era.
• What:–Race or color could
not block right to vote.
–15th Amendment.
The 2nd Stage
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• When:–1920
• What:–Women get the
right to vote in Federal elections.
–19th Amendment
The 3rd Stage
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• When:–1960s
• What:–23rd Amendment allows District of
Columbia to vote in presidential election–24th Amendment – No poll tax–Voting Rights Act 1965
The 4th Stage
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• When:–1971
• What:–Minimum age of
voting can be no higher than 18 years old.
The 5th Stage
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VoterQualifications
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• Today, every state requires that any person who wants to vote must be able to satisfy qualifications based on (3) factors:
Universal Requirements
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• Aliens (foreign born residents who have not become citizens) are denied the right to vote.
• States have power to regulate this.
• Pennsylvania?–Citizen for 30 days–Resident of PA for 30
days
Citizenship
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• Why is there a residency requirement?1. Political Machines
cannot bring voters in from different areas.
2. New voters can become familiar with candidates and issues of an area.
Residency
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• Transients: –persons living in a State for only a
short time; are prohibited from voting in nearly every state.
Residency
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• 26th Amendment (1971) set the minimum age for voting in any election at no more than 18.
• Vietnam War was key.• What is the impact of 18-20
years olds in voting?–NONE: they have the
lowest percentage of all voting groups..
Age
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Age
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• The States have imposed a number of other qualifications over time.
1. Registration2. Literacy3. Tax Payment4. Persons Denied the Vote
Other Qualifications
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• Procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting.
• A prospective voter must register his/her name, age, place of birth, present address, length of residence, and similar facts.
• What is purging? –Reviewing the lists of registered voters and
removing the names of the ineligible.
Registration
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• Some people argue that the registration requirement is bar to voter turnout, especially among the poor and less-educated.
Registration
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• In 1993 Congress passed a law dubbed “the Motor- Voter Law”.
• What did this do? 1. Register by mail2. Register when
applying/renewing driver’s license.
Registration
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• Today no state has a suffrage qualification based on voter literacy – a persons ability to read or write.
• States had these in place to keep a group away from the polls – African Americans, Native American, Irish Catholic immigrants.
Literacy
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• What eliminated all of these requirements? –Voting Rights Act
Amendments of 1970
Literacy
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• Poll tax = payment of a tax in order to vote.
• Beginning with Florida in 1889, each of the 11 southern states enacted this to keep African-Americans away from the polls.
Tax Payment
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• The 24th Amendment to the Constitution ended this in 1964.
Tax Payment
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• Some states deny the right to vote to certain persons:–People in mental institutions.–Persons found legally incompetent.–Persons convicted of serious crimes.
Denied the Vote
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Suffrageand
Civil Rights
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• First step in the effort to extend the franchise to African Americans.
• What does it declare….
15th Amendment
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• Right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
15th Amendment
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• Yet for almost 90 years (1870-1960), the Federal government paid little attention to voting rights for African Americans.
• During this period, blacks were kept from the polls by a mix of violence, literacy tests, poll taxes and other devices:
Federal Government
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• Definition:–Drawing district
lines to limit or strengthen the voting power of a particular group.
Gerrymandering
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• Definition:–Practice that
excluded blacks from running for office; used in the South.
–Eventually ruled unconstitutional.
White Primaries
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• Allowed for Federal voting referees to help voters register or vote.
Civil Rights Act 1960
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• This Act was much broader and more effective than either two of the earlier measures.
• Outlawed discrimination in several areas – especially job related matters.
• It relied on judicial action to overcome racial barriers.
Civil Rights Act 1964
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• Definition:–A court order
that either forces or limits an action by a person.
Injunction
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• Voter registration march in Selma, Alabama were met with violence - showing a need for new and stronger legislation.
• What played a role in getting the nation’s attention? –The violence shown on
national TV.
Dr. Martin Luther King
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• This act applied to ALL elections held anywhere in this country – state and local as well as federal.
• Originally, the Act was to be in effect for 5 years but Congress has extended its life three times.
Voting Rights Act
of 1965
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1. Suspended us of literacy tests.
2. Gave Federal government power to oversee elections.
Voting Rights Act
of 1965
President Johnson and Dr. Kingat signing of Voting Rights Act
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• Changes that must be approved:–Location of polling
places–Boundaries of districts–Deadlines in election
process–Qualifications of
candidates
Preclearance
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• Additions to the law include: –extensions for existing
provisions–help for language
minorities (ballots in several languages)
Amendments tothe Act
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VoterBehavior
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• There are several legitimate reasons for not voting…
• But the troubling fact remains that most of the millions who do not vote cannot claim those reasons.
Nonvoters
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• Case in point Election Day 2000: – those eligible to vote
(205.8 million) and 105.4 million did vote (51.2%)
–How many people did not vote at all? • Nearly 100 million
people!!!
Size of the Problem
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• Off-year elections, which are the congressional elections in between a President’s term, have even lower rates of voter turnout.
• What does it mean to be a “nonvoting voter”?–Vote for candidates at top
of ballot, but no other offices.
Size of the Problem
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• One reason for nonvoting is “ballot fatigue” –many voters get
exhaust their patience and/or knowledge as they work they way down the ballot.
Ballot Fatigue
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• There are any number of reasons for not voting:–Belief that it makes
no difference who wins.
–Others are satisfied with the political world as they it.
Actual Nonvoters
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• Define–People who lack any
feeling of influence or effectiveness in politics.
• Why do people have it?–They believe they
have no impact on what the government does.
Political Efficacy
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• Cumbersome election procedures (registration, long lines and ballots)
• Bad weather can also effect turnout.
Turnout Factors
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• Time-Zone Fallout–polls on East Coast
close before other time-zones
–Announcing East Coast results might discourage West Coast voters.
Turnout Factors
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• A simple factor is, purely and simply, a lack of interest!
Turnout Factors
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• Voters and Non-voters.
• One useful way to get a handle on the problem of nonvoting is to contrast those who go to the polls regularly and those who do not…
Comparing …
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• High level of income, education and job status.
• Strong sense of party identification.
• Long time residents who are active in their community.
• Unmarried, unskilled and under the age of 35.
• Live in rural areas of country.
• Women vote more than men.
Comparing …
Voters Non-Voters
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• Voting has been studied more closely than any other form of political participation.
• Why is this? The importance of the topic and the great amount of data available.
Voter Behavior
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• Most of what is known about voter behavior comes from (3) sources:
Studying Voters
The Results of Particular elections
• Studying the returns from areas populated with a specific group will indicate how they voted.
The Field of Survey Research
• Scientific polling of public opinion can determine voter outcome.
Studies of Political Socialization
• This involves studying experiences and relationships in people’s lives
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Sociological Factors• Sociology is
the study of groups and how people behave within groups.
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Income, Occupations
• Lower income tend to be Democrat, higher income Republicans.
• Occupations : –professionals, business
people tend to vote Republican
–manual labor, union workers tend to vote Democrat.
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Education…• College grads vote
for Republicans in higher percentages than do high school grads; High school grads vote GOP more than grade school grads.
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Gender• The Gender Gap in
politics:–Women tend to favor
Democrats by 5-10%, and men tend to favor Republicans by the same amount.
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Protestants
• Historically, a majority of Protestants have voted Republican.
• Social issues are key to most Protestants voters.
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Catholic• Traditional, have
voted Democrat.• Immigration in early
1900s.• Recent trend is that
they are swing voters:–2004 52% for Bush–2008 58% for Obama
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Jewish• Traditionally have
always voted Democrat.• Immigration in early
1900s.• Recent trend:
–2004 75% for Bush–2008 79% for Obama
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African-American • For decades, African
Americans have supported the Democratic Party consistently and massively.
• 95% in 2008
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Latinos• Do not vote as a block
• Cuban-Americans:–Tend to vote Republican
• Mexicans and Puerto Ricans:–Tend to vote Democrat
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Geography• The part of the country in which a person
lives has an impact on voting.• Solid South:
–Starting with the end of the Civil War, the South voted solidly Democrat for over 100 years.
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Family
• Married couples and family members tend to vote the same way.
• What is the role of parents?–2 of 3 voters follow the
political attachments of their parents
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Psychological Factors• Psychology is
the study of the mind and of individual behavior.
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• A majority of Americans identify with one of the major parties – and many NEVER change.
• This is the SINGLE most significant predictor of how a person will vote.
Party Identification
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Straight/Split Ticket
• Straight Ticket :–Voting of candidates
of ONLY one party• Split Ticket:
–Voting for candidates of MORE than one party
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• Term used for people with no party affiliation.
• New breed of:–Often young and
above average in education, income and job status.
Independents
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• Candidates:–An impression a
candidate makes on a voter can cause a switch in party
• Issues:–An important issue can
cause a switch in party for a voter.
Short Term Factors