The Right to Vote Chapter 6 - Government

The History of Voting Rights The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State. Two Terms we will use when talking about the right to vote: 1.Suffrage means the right to vote. 2.Franchise is another word with the same meaning

EXPANSION OF THE ELECTORATE -- the body of persons entitled to vote in an election When the Constitution was put into law, only white male property owners could vote. Today just over 206 million people are eligible to vote in the U.S.  This is the result of over 200 years of struggling for individual voting rights.

1.The elimination of several restrictions on the right to vote. Religious belief Property ownership Tax payment Race Sex 1.The elimination of several restrictions on the right to vote. Religious belief Property ownership Tax payment Race Sex

2.The share of state power over voting gradually being turned over to the federal government.

1 st Stage : In the early 1800’s, Religious qualifications disappeared.  No state has had a religious test since 1810  States then eliminated property ownership and tax payment qualifications  By 1850 almost all white adult males could vote in every state EXTENDING SUFFRAGE: The Five Stages

2 nd Stage: Following the Civil War, the 15 th Amendment was ratified in  Intended to protect citizens from being denied the right to vote based on race or color.  African Americans, however, were systematically prevented from voting for almost another century. EXTENDING SUFFRAGE: The Five Stages

4 th Stage: In the 1960’s, the government passed and enforced a number of civil rights acts to promote racial equality at the voting booths.  23rd Amendment passed in 1961 – voters of Washington D.C. could vote for president  24th Amendment passed in 1964 – eliminated a poll tax as a condition for voting  Voting Rights Act of prohibits states and local governments from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting…." EXTENDING SUFFRAGE: The Five Stages

5 th Stage: The 26th Amendment was ratified in  Those 18 years and older were given the right to vote. EXTENDING SUFFRAGE: The Five Stages

 The Constitution does not give the Federal Government the power to set voting qualifications. It does, however, place five restrictions on how the States use that power: 1.Voters are allowed to vote in all elections within the State (Senate, House of reps) 2.No state can deprive someone of the right to vote based on race. 3.No state can deprive someone of the right to vote based on sex. 4.No state can require the payment of a tax in selecting a candidate. 5.No state can deprive someone of the right to vote if 18 years old or more. The Power of Set Voting Qualifications

Voter Qualifications Universal Requirements Every state requires any person who wants to vote to fulfill three qualifications 1.citizenship 2.residence 3.age

Voter Qualifications CITIZENSHIP & RESIDENCE

Voter Qualifications AGE The 26 th Amendment states: People 18 years and older can legally vote. States could set the age at lower than 18 if they wanted, but they couldn’t set the minimum age higher. The minimum age before the 26 th Amendment was 21. The 26 th Amendment was the fastest amendment ever ratified behind the argument “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.”

Registration - is a procedure for voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting State law requires local election officials to review the lists of registered voters and remove the names of those who are no longer eligible – this is called purging. If purging is ignored the poll books soon become clogged with the names of a lot of people who are now ineligible to vote.

Historical Criticism of Registration Laws LITERACY No state now has a qualification based on literacy. For many years our country had these laws to make sure a voter could make an informed decision. For many years, however, it was used as a way to keep African Americans from voting Congress eliminated literacy tests in 1970 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act Amendments of TAX PAYMENT Poll taxes were once found in the South. This discouraged African Americans from voting. The Supreme Court finally outlawed all poll taxes in 1966.

Persons Denied the Right to Vote People in Mental Institutions Those who commit a serious crime Some states disallow those you were dishonorably discharged from the armed forces.

Suffrage and Civil Rights The Fifteenth Amendment A general principle without providing a means to enforce it was not enough to carry out the intentions of the 15 th Amendment. For almost 90 years, the Federal Government paid little attention to the voting rights of African Americans.

Weapons used against African Americans 1.Violence 2.Firing people from their jobs 3.Threats 4.Subtle ways like denying credit, etc. 5.Literacy tests 6.Poll taxes 7.“White Primaries” 8.Gerrymandering – drawing geographical district lines in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party.

Early Civil Rights Legislation The first law passed by Congress to implement the 15 th Amendment was the Civil Rights Act of Set up the Civil Rights Commission.

Early Civil Rights Legislation The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was much more effective than earlier laws. It outlawed discrimination in several areas, especially job- related matters. It also forbids the use of any voter registration or literacy requirement that was unfair or discriminatory. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was good in theory, but when Dr. Martin Luther King led a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama, it was met with violence. Two Civil Rights workers were murdered. Tougher legislation was passed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Early Civil Rights Legislation The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally made the 15 th Amendment a truly effective part of the Constitution. It applied to all elections held anywhere in this country – State, local, or federal.

Preclearance No new laws the change election rules can be put into effect unless first approved, or given PRECLEARANCE - by the Department of Justice.

Provisions & Amendments to the Voting Rights Act In 1975, the law was extended to cover any state or county that has more than 5% of the voting-age population belonging to certain “language minorities” Spanish Heritage Native Americans Asian Americans Alaskan Natives

Non - Voters The word idiot came to our language from the Greek In Ancient Athens, idiots were those citizens who did not vote.