1. Securing the Right to Vote
The elimination of property qualifications (1800–1840)
The Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
Continued denial of voting rights (1871–1964)
The Civil Rights Act, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, and the Voting Rights Act, 1964–1965

2. Voter Turnout in Presidential and Congressional Elections

3. Voting: Registration
Spanish language registration forms, where they are used, may ease the burden of registration for some.

4. Voting: Registration
In an effort to make registration easier, states have made registration forms available at motor vehicle stations, schools, public buildings, and even highway tollbooths.

5. Changes in Voting Eligibility Standards since 1870

6. Why People Don’t Vote

7. Voting on the Basis of Party
Party Identification
An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood
In the absence of reasons to vote otherwise, people rely on party identification to simplify their voting choices.
Dramatic increase in self-declared Independents since 1970s

8. Voting on the Basis of Candidates
Candidate Appeal
How voters feel about a candidate’s background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities
1980s mark a critical threshold in the emergence of a candidate-centered era.
Increasingly, campaigns focus on the negative elements of candidates’ history and personality.

9. Voting on the Basis of Issues
Prospective Issue Voting
Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected
Retrospective Issue Voting
Holding incumbents responsible for past performance on issues