1. Analyzing Primary Sources – Political Polarization  As a class we will read the intro.  E is hard to decipher, but do your best.  With the person next to you please read each primary source and answer questions 1-3.  As a class we will discuss “What will you do?” So please read it and think about it.

2. Monday 2/8 RAP What is the origin of the word “idiot”? Today: Voting-Ch. 6

3. Idiot  The word ‘idiot’ came to our language from the Greeks.  In ancient Athens, idiots (idiotes) were those citizens who did not vote or otherwise take part in public life.  Informal. an utterly foolish or senseless person  Tens of millions of Americans vote in presidential and congressional elections, state elections and in city, county and other public elections.  However, many more do not vote, there are a few who have legitimate reasons for not voting, but most choose not to vote.

4. Objective:  Understand the history of voting.  Be able to state the voting requirements in the United States.

5.  Please read  Making it easier to vote vs. guarding against election fraud.  Please answer the 3 questions at the end of the reading in your notes.

6. Suffrage  Suffrage : right to vote  The Constitution, originally, did not give the Federal Government the power to set suffrage qualifications, this was left to the States.  Originally under the Constitution, only white, male, property owners were allowed to vote.

7. Voting Requirements: 1. U.S. Citizen 2. Resident of a state (subject to State definition of resident) 3. Age – 18 years old

8. However, the Constitution puts restrictions on how the States use that power: 1. Any person that meets the qualifications to vote MUST be allowed to vote for representatives and senators in Congress. 2. No State can deprive any person of the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude ” (15 th Amendment). 3. No State can deprive any person of the right to vote on account of sex (19 th Amendment). 4. No State can require payment of any tax as a condition for voting (Voting Right Acts of 1965). 5. No State can deprive any person who is at least 18 years of age the right to vote (26 th Amendment).

9. What’s next?  Voters must register to vote.  Registration is a procedure for voter identification and is intended to prevent fraudulent voting.  Nearly every State prohibits transients from gaining a legal residence there. (i.e. traveling sales agent)  Some states do allow students to vote in their college state if they claim the campus community is their legal residence.  You can request an absentee ballot from your home state!

10. 15 th Amendment: (1870)  Abolishment of slavery in 1865.  15th Amendment prohibited government from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (though denial based on gender was not prohibited meaning women could not vote).  One effect of this amendment was to enfranchise African American Men (former slaves).

11. Problems with the15 th Amendment:  There were no means to enforce the Amendment.  This resulted in African Americans being kept from the polls in much of the South.  Literacy tests : Voters had to prove they could read. Very hard for former slaves who had no previous education.  Poll taxes : A special tax needed when a person voted.  Violence : Threats towards African Americans for voting.

12. Voting Rights Act: 1965  This Act was in response to 15 th Amendment violations. This prohibited states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.“  This applied to all elections held anywhere in the U.S. in ANY election (State, local and Federal).  Suspended literacy tests, and poll taxes.

13. Voting Rights Act continued…  It provided for the appointment of federal voting referees. These officers were to serve anywhere a federal court found voter discrimination. They were given the power to help qualified persons register and vote in federal elections.

14. Supreme Court: 2013  Section 5 of The Voting Rights Act requires states with a history of discrimination( Southern states) to get federal approval before changing how they conduct elections. This has been used to block strict voter ID laws.

16. Summer 2013: USSC has struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

17.  The 5-4 ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, ruled in Shelby County v. Holder that “things have changed dramatically” in the South in the nearly 50 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965. 5-4 ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts The Voting Rights Act has recently been used to block a voter ID law in Texas and delay the implementation of another in South Carolina. Both states are no longer subject to the preclearance requirement because of the court’s ruling.

19. How do ‘We the People” feel about the USSC decision?  An ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that 51 percent disapprove of the decision, with 15 percent undecided.  Most feel that the landmark civil rights legislation NO LONGER fully protects minority voters from state-enacted voter suppression laws -- especially in the South - - as it has effectively done for nearly 4 decades. Many feel this is a serious blow to democracy.

20. Tuesday 2/9  RAP  What are the requirements to vote in the U.S.?  Should these stay the same or should we adjust something? Explain.  Today:  Review Ch. 6  Ch. 7 handout

21. Women’s Suffrage:  Started before the Civil War because many women had been strong leaders of the abolition movement. Middle- and upper-class women generally became more politically active during the war.  The first convention for women took place in 1850. It was held in Massachusetts.  1,000 participants of men and women

22. Women’s Suffrage continued:  Wyoming was the first state in which women were able to vote, although it was a condition of the transition to statehood.  Utah was the second territory to allow women to vote, but the federal Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 repealed woman's suffrage in Utah.  Colorado was the first established state to allow women to vote on the same basis as men towards the end of the 19th century

23. 19 th Amendment:  It was ratified on August 18, 1920.  Prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex.

24. 26 th Amendment: (1971)  “The right of citizens of the United Sates, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”  Why is this important?  What occurred during this time?

25. Because….  Before the 26 th Amendment the voting age requirement in States was 21.  Until 1970 only four states had the voting age under 21.  VIETNAM WAR  “Old enough to die, old enough to vote.”

26. 2012 Presidential Election: State Registered Voters Total Vote%REG Virginia 7,647,2073,854,48950.4% Alaska 506,434300,49559.3% Arizona 3,124,7122,306,55973.8% Arkansas 1,618,3281,069,46866.1% California 18,245,97013,050,01371.5%

27.  A report estimating the percentage of eligible voters who cast ballots in the 2012 election shows the rate was lower than in the past two presidential contests, though it surpassed the rate from 2000. From the Center for the Study of the American Electorate:  2012 voter turnout was 57.5% of all eligible voters  2008 voter turnout was 62.3%  2004 voter turnout was 60.4%  2000, the turnout rate was 54.2%.

28. Who votes?  The majority of the population that votes are older, educated, white Americans.  The majority that do not vote are younger people, uneducated people and minorities.

30.  In the 2010 midterm elections, younger voters were more racially and ethnically diverse than the electorate as a whole.  Among younger voters,  66% White  14% Black  5% Hispanic  3% Asian  2% "all others"

31. Voting Statistics:  CIRCLE estimated youth turnout in 2008 was 52%. That means that 2004, 2008, and 2012 have been three strong elections in a row for youth, with turnout in the vicinity of 50% each time, compared to just 37% in 1996 and 41% in 2000. THE CENTER FOR INFORMATION & RESEARCH ON CIVIC LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT

32. Primary source “The Youth Vote”  Please analyze the primary sources and answer the 4 questions at end in your notes.  Make sure you title it with the above title.

33. Who cannot legally vote? 1. Those found to be mentally incompetent by a court. 2. Convicted of serious crimes (felonies ).  Different per state Arizona:  People who have been convicted of one felony, served all their prison time, completed their parole or probation, and paid all their fees and fines, their voting rights are automatically restored  People with more than one felony, must wait two years after they've paid all their debts to society, then they must apply to the sentencing court for the restoration of their rights.

34. What do you think?  By voting for nobody (i.e. not voting) is a person indirectly choosing the winner?  Is this a good idea?

35. Look in your notes: What are the requirements to vote in the U.S.?  U.S. Citizen  Resident of a state (subject to State definition of resident)  Age – 18 years old  What Amendment changed the voting age?  26 th amendment

37. Ch. 7: Electoral Process  Page 176-177  Please read and answer the questions on the worksheet. Thank you.  Handout due Thursday!!

38. “Our history has shown us that insecurity threatens liberty. Yet, if our liberties are curtailed, we lose the values that we are struggling to defend.” —THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES  9/11 Interview with President Bush  Please think about the role of the President during a time of crisis.  When we get to reading about the executive office think back to President Bush and his reactions and actions during the terrorist attack on 9/11.