Voter Behavior The Timeline Chapter 6 Voter Behavior The Timeline

1789 white, male, property owner

1810 religious tests end

1855-1857 state adopt literacy qualifications – to prevent Catholics, Irish, African Americans from voting, no property ownership requirements

1869 Wyoming gave women the right to vote

1870 15th Amendment – protects any citizen from being denied the right to vote because of race or color

1889 11 south states adopt a poll tax to discourage African Americans from voting

1895 Grandfather clause – could vote without a literacy test if your father/grandfather voted without one

1900’s voter registration is a common state feature

1920  19th Amendment – prohibited the denial of the right to vote because of sex

1943 Georgia allows 18 year olds to vote (WWII)

1944 Smith v. Allwright – political parties could not exclude people from primary elections

1957 Civil Rights Act of 1957- set up Civil Rights Commission who investigate voter discrimination

Gomillion v. Lightfoot – gerrymandering is outlawed when used for purposes of racial discrimination 1960

1960 Civil Rights Act of 1960 – allowed for voter referees to help discriminated voters to vote

1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 – forbids voter registration or literacy tests in unfair ways

1964  24th Amendment – outlawed poll taxes in all general elections

1965 Voting Rights Act of 1965: challenged the remaining poll tax laws in certain states

1966 Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia still using poll tax

1966 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections – Supreme Court case that said Virginia poll tax violates 14th Amendment

1970 Voting Rights Act Amendment – banned any requirement of more than 30 days residency to vote in Presidential election and banned literacy tests

1971 26th Amendment – no state may set the minimum age for voting in any election at more than 18 (Vietnam) only 4 states had an age lower than 21 until this amendment

1972 58% of 18-20 year olds registered to vote, 48.4% voted

1980 first gender gap appeared, women voted Democrat by 5-10% margin

Motor Voter Laws for all states but North Dakota where you must be able to register to vote when getting a drivers license 1995

2000 40.5% of 18-20 year olds registered to vote, only 28.4% voted

2000 over 80,000,000 Americans who could have voted in the presidential election DID NOT

2004 221,285,099 voting age population; 202,746,417 eligible (due to non-citizen parole/felon, mentally incompetent, dishonorably discharged); 174,800,000 registered; only 123,535,883 voted

2008  About 131 million people reported voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, an increase of 5 million from 2004

2008  2 million more black voters, 2 million more Hispanic voters and about 600,000 more Asian voters, while the number of non-Hispanic white voters remained statistically unchanged.

2012 ?