Chapter 6: Voters and Voter Behavior

Section 1

Objectives
1. Summarize the history of voting rights in
the United States.
2. Identify and explain constitutional
restrictions on the States power to set
voting qualifications.

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Key Terms

suffrage: the right to vote

franchise: a synonym for the right to vote
electorate: the potential voting population
disenfranchised: denied the right to vote
poll tax: a fee charged before allowing
someone to vote

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Slide 3

Introduction
How have voting rights changed over the course
of American history?
Over time, voting rights have been extended to more
Americans.
Voting qualifications based on property ownership,
religion, race, and sex have all been eliminated
through federal laws and constitutional amendments.
The age requirement for voting has been reduced.
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The Electorate
The Constitution originally gave the power to
decide voter qualifications to the States.
At first most States allowed only white male property
owners to vote.

Since 1789, many restrictions on voting rights

have been eliminated.
At the same time, the power to decide who has
the right to vote has been shifting from the
States to the federal government.
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Stage 1
Checkpoint: What was the first voting qualification to
disappear?
Religious qualifications for
voting were eliminated
by 1810.
This was followed in the
early 1800s by the gradual
elimination of property
ownership and tax
payment qualifications.
By 1850, almost all white
males could vote in every
State.
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Stage 2
After the Civil War, the
15th Amendment made it
illegal to deny any citizen
the right to vote based on
their race or color.
In theory, this
amendment gave African
Americans the right to
vote.
However, the spirit of this
law was violated for
nearly 100 years as
African Americans were
denied the vote in many
places.
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Stage 3
In 1920, the ratification of the 19th
Amendment gave women the right to
vote.
By 1920, more than half the States had
already followed the example set by Wyoming
in 1869 and given women the vote.

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Womens Suffrage in 1919

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Stages 4 & 5
During the 1960s, the civil rights
movement led to new protections for
African American voting rights.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 defended
racial equality in voting.
The 24th Amendment eliminated the poll tax
in federal elections.

In 1971 the 26th Amendment gave those

18 and older the right to vote.
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Voting Qualifications
The Constitution sets five restrictions on the
ability of the States to set voter qualifications.
Anyone allowed to vote for members of their State
legislature must be allowed to vote for members of
Congress.
The 15th Amendment bans the States from depriving
any person of the right to vote on account of their
race, color, or having once been enslaved.

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Slide 11

Voting Qualifications, cont.

Under the 19th
Amendment, no State
can deprive any person
of the right to vote
based on their sex.
No State can levy a tax
on the right to vote for
President, Vice
President, or members
of Congress.
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Voting Qualifications, cont.

Under the 26th
Amendment, no
State can deprive any
person who is at least
18 years of age of the
right to vote because
of their age.

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Voting Qualifications, cont.

In addition, no State can violate any other
provision in the Constitution when setting
its voting qualifications.
For example, a State cannot set suffrage
qualifications that violate the Equal Protection
Clause of the 14th Amendment.

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Slide 14

Review
Now that you have learned about how
voting rights have changed over the
course of American history, go back and
answer the Chapter Essential Question.
Why do voters act as they do?

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Slide 15