Political Participation

Your Right to Vote Suffrage/Franchise- right to vote Suffrage 230 million people can vote Voting is a state issue, but the Federal Government has intervened quite often. Hill v. Stone

5 stages of extending suffrage Religious qualifications- no religious test since By the mid 1800’s, almost all white males could vote. 15 th Amendment- gave African Americans the right to vote- disenfranchised 19 th Amendment- gave women the right to vote in th Amendment- 1960’s-various voting rights acts helped ensure African Americans had the right to vote.- No more poll taxes (24 th Amendment) in th Amendment- gave 18 year old’s the right to vote

Setting Qualifications Federal Government does not have power to set suffrage qualifications; reserved for the States Constitution does place 5 restrictions on States: If someone is allowed to vote in one election, they are allowed to vote in all elections Can’t bar from voting based on race, color, or servitude Can’t bar from voting based on sex Can’t require payment of any taxes to vote Can’t deprive right to anyone who is at least 18 because of age

Universal Requirements 1.Citizenship 2.Residence 3.Age

#1 Citizenship Citizenship- Aliens that are foreign born residents who have not become citizens generally do not have the right to vote (states can give them the right). States may draw a distinction between native-born and naturalized citizens with regard to suffrage.

#2 Residence In most cases, a person must live in a state before they can vote. Why? To keep a political machine from bringing in enough outsiders to affect the outcome of an election Allow a voter some time to get to know the candidates States did impose a year in the State, 60 or 90 days in the county and 30 days in the precinct- AL,LA, SC Today most States now require that a voter be a legal resident but do not attach a time period Dunn v. Blumstein Congress banned longer than 30 days for waiting period. No transients- traveling sales, armed services and college

#3 Age 26 th Amendment- ratified more quickly than any amendment in the Constitution year olds are the least likely to vote 1972 election-48% 2000 election-28% Nebraska- anyone that is 18 by the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November can vote anytime that calendar year.

Registration Procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. Purging and Poll Books Requirements Most states require a waiting period of days, but ME and WI allow voters to register at any time, up to and including election day.

Registration Controversies Voter turnout started to decline when states went to mandatory registrations in the early 1900’s. Voter turnout is much better in Europe where by law everyone is registered. U.S. in only democracy in the world where registration is a choice. Motor voter law-1993 (effective in 1995) Register to vote, by mail, registration form available at all state offices. Crawford v. Marion County Election Board can use photo I.d’s

Literacy Requirement Today no state has a suffrage qualification based on voter literacy- a person’s ability to read and write. literacy 1855 in CN and 1857 in MA prevented Irish immigrants from voting. Southern states adopted by 1890 to keep African Americans from voting. Grandfather clause- any man, or male descendants, who had voted in the State before the adoption of the 15 th Amendment Oregon v. Mitchell- ban literacy tests

Tax Payment 24 Amendment- prevent poll taxes Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections- held in conflict with the 14 Amendment

Who does not have the right to vote? Mentally ill Criminals Dishonorably discharged from the armed services

Suffrage 15 th Amendment- intended that all African American men would have the right to vote. White primaries- states only allowed whites in the political parties and would exclude African Americans from critical stage of election process. Gerrymandering- practice of drawing electoral district lines in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party- Article GerrymanderingArticle Gomillion v. Lightfoot AL redrew district lines to exclude blacks from the city limits in Tuskegee.

Early Civil Rights Legislation Act of Created the United States Commission. Inquire into claims of voter discrimination. Act of appointment of federal voting referees. Given the power to help qualified persons to register and vote in federal elections. Civil Rights Act of injunction- contempt of court, a crime punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Made the 15 th Amendment a true part of the Constitution Effect for 5 years..it has been extended 4 times; 1970, 1975, 1982 and 2006 The attorney general challenged the constitutionality of the remaining state poll tax laws, suspended the use of any literacy test or similar device in any State where less than ½ of the electorate had been registered or had voted in the last presidential election. Preclearance- no new election laws, and no changes in existing election laws could go into effect unless approved by the Dept. of Justice.

Voter Behavior Are you an idiot?

Nonvoting On election day in 2008, 131/228 million people came out to vote for the presidential election 121/228 come out to vote for their House of Representative. On year v. Off year elections Nonvoters who vote- ballot fatigue

Why People Do Not Vote Cannot-Voters: out of 100 million people who did not vote in the 2008 election: 10 million were resident aliens 5-6 were ill 2-3 suddenly traveling 500,000- mental health patients 2 million in jail 100,000 can’t vote because of religious beliefs Remaining……

Continued… 80 million did not vote…why? Many who generally approve of the way the public’s business is being managed Many who feel alienated- don’t trust political institutions and processes No sense of political efficacy- don’t believe that their votes make a difference. Inconvenient registration requirements, long ballots, and long lines at polling places, time-zone fallout

Who votes/Who does not Higher income, higher levels of education, and occupational status. Usually well integrated into the community, strong sense of party identification and to believe that voting is important. Does not? Younger than 35, unmarried, and unskilled, live in South and in rural locales. Men are less likely to vote than women

Sociological Factors Income and Occupation: Voters in lower income brackets are more likely to be Democrats. Voters with higher incomes are usually Republicans. Professional and business people tend to vote more Republican and manual workers vote Democrat. Education: College graduates vote more Republican… so on down the line. Gender/age- Gender Gap- women generally tend to favor the Democrats, men favor the Republicans – both by 5-10%

continued Younger voters have been more likely to vote Democrat Religion, Ethnic Background- Protestants have usually favored the GOP. 55% of voters that go to church once a week marked their ballots for John McCain in Geography: Solid South/Midwest Family- 9/10 couples vote the same way, 2/3 follow their parents political attachments.

Psychological factors: Party identification- loyalty of people to a particular political party- single most significant and lasting predictor of how a person will vote. Straight ticket v. split ticket voting Candidate perception and issues