Notes for Government Voters and Voter Behavior

Chapter 6 Voters and Voter Behavior

Section 1 The Right to Vote
Suffrage, also called franchise, is the right to vote.
In 1789 only white male property owners had this right.
Today, the American electorate, or the people eligible to vote, includes nearly all citizens who
are at least 18 years of age.
Two trends caused this change:
1.
2.

the elimination of suffrage

the assumption of much of the States power over suffrage by the federal government

The Constitutions Framers left the power to set suffrage qualifications to the States; they did, however, forbid
States from setting different qualifications for who can vote in State and federal elections.
Also, State qualifications could not violate any part of the Constitution.
The struggle to extend voting rights began in the early 1800s.
Laws were passed to prevent States from restricting suffrage to the extent that they had been.
By the mid-1800s, restrictions based on religion and property had been eliminated, and nearly
all white adult males could vote.

acts in the

In 1870, the 15th Amendment eliminated restrictions based on race; in practice, however,
African Americans were not totally free to vote until the passage of several civil rights
1960s.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment said that States could not make the payment of a tax a condition for
voting.
Most recently, in 1971 the 26th Amendment said that States could not deny anyone 18 or
older the right to vote.

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Section 2 Voter Qualifications

States decide voter qualifications.
Over time, the qualifications have changed to include many more people.
Today, all States require voters to be citizens and legal residents of the State in which they wish to vote.
In most cases, people will have lived in a State for a certain period of time before they may vote there
a practice meant to give people time to get to know the States issues as well as to prevent outsiders from
affecting local elections.
Most States also forbid transients or people living in a State for only a short time, from voting
there.
Most States also forbid transients or people living in a State for only a short time, from voting there.
In 1971 the 26th Amendment established 18 as the age at which a state may not deny a person the right to
vote.
Forty-nine States all except North Dakota require voter registration, which is the act of signing up with
local election officials.
This requirement gives officials lists of registered voters, called poll books.
State law tells officials to periodically review the poll books and purge them.
Purging them means removing from them names of those no longer eligible to
vote.
Today, no State has a voter requirement of literacy the ability to read or write.
Nor does any State require a poll tax, a tax paid for voting.

Chapter 6 American Government

All States deny the right to vote to people in mental institutions or those legally considered mentally
incompetent.
Most States also deny the right to vote to anyone who has been convicted of a serious crime.

Section 3 Suffrage and Civil Rights

In 1870 the 15th Amendment established that the right to vote may no be denied because of race.
The amendment was ignored by some southern States, where tactics such as violence, threats, literacy
testing, and gerrymandering were used to keep African Americans from voting.
Gerrymandering is the drawing of electoral district lines in way that limits a particular groups
voting strength.
The civil rights movement pressured Congress to ensure African American voting rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 set up the Civil Rights Commission to investigate voter discrimination
claims.
The Civil Rights Act of 1960 called for federal referees to help all eligible people to register and
vote in federal elections.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 emphasized the use of injunctions, or orders from the courts to do
or stop doing something to ensure that eligible citizens were not kept from voting.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made the 15th Amendment truly effective by applying it to all elections local,
State, and federal.
It forbade practices that prevented qualified voters from using the polls.
Additionally, in those States where a majority of the electorate did not vote in 1964, this act gave
the Department of Justice preclearance, or the right to approve new election laws, to prevent
these laws from weakening minority voting rights.
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The act was to stay in effect for five years, but it has been extended three times and is now
scheduled to expire in 2007.

Section 4 Voter Behavior

Millions of Americans who are qualified to vote do not.
Voter turnout is low for presidential elections and lower still for off-year elections, the congressional;
elections that are held between presidential elections.
Those who chose not to vote often lacked a feeling of political efficacy.
That means they do not feel that their votes make a difference.
They are convinced that government by the people has been taken over by politicians,
powerful special interests, and the media.
Studies of voter behavior focus on the results of particular elections, polls, and political socialization the
process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions.
These sources show that certain sociological factors income, occupation, education, gender, age,
religion, ethnicity, region of residence, and family influence each persons voting choices.
For example, there are measurable differences between the electoral choices of men an women,
a phenomenon known as gender gap.
Psychological factors including party identification and perception of the candidates and issues also
contribute to voter behavior.
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Party identification is loyalty to a political party.

A person loyal to one party may vote only for candidates of that party, a practice called straightticket voting.
Many recent voters call themselves independents, or people not identified with a party.
They may vote for candidates from both major parties in the same election, which
is called split-ticket voting.

Chapter 6 American Government