American Government Unit 4

1. American Government Unit 4 Chapter 6: Voters and Voter Behavior

2. Bellringer • Have all adult Americans always had the right to vote? • Which groups had been excluded from voting earlier in US history? • Which groups are excluded today?

3. I. The Right to VoteA) The History of Voting Rights • Suffrage – right to vote • Franchise – synonym for the right to vote • Electorate – voting population • Disenfranchised – citizens denied the right to vote. • Poll tax – tax to have to pay to vote • removed religious and property qualifications by 1850’s • 15 Amendment gave African American men • 19th Amendment gave women suffrage • Voting Rights Act of 1965 – secured African Americans suffrage • 26th Amendment – 18 year olds

4. B) The Power to Set Voting Qualifications • States have power except 5 restrictions the Federal government place on States. • Same voters must be allowed to vote in each election • Cant deprive people from voting based on race • Sex • No poll taxes • 18 years old

5. Review

6. II. Voter Qualifications

7. Objectives • Identify the universal qualifications for voting in the US. • Explain the other requirements that States use or have used as voting qualifications.

8. A) Universal Requirements • Must be a citizen to vote – can allow Aliens but none have • Aliens – foreign-born residents • Must live in the state you vote in (30days) • Transients – persons who live in a state for only a short time (college) • 18 years – can make it lower (17)

9. B) Registration • Registration – procedure of voter identification to prevent fraudulent voting. • Usually 30 days – some allow day of vote • Purging – remove names from the registered voting lists • Poll books – official lists of qualified voters in each precinct • Motor Voter Act – law passed to make it easier to vote – DMV and by mail

10. C) Literacy, Tax Payment • Some states made people pass a literacy test to vote – make sure educated people voted • Usually used to stop immigrants and African Americans from suffrage • Grandfather clauses – laws that allowed people to bypass literacy or poll taxes. • Poll tax used to discourage African Americans • Mental institutions, felonies, dishonorable discharged

11. Review

12. Bellringer What does this picture say about voting?

13. III. Suffrage and Civil Rights • Voting has been a life or death issue for some • In the Deep South – civil rights workers suffered arrest, beatings, electric shocks with cattle prods, even death.

14. A) 15th Amendment • 1870 – 15th Amendment passed – didn’t say anything about enforcing it – 90 years until reality • Literacy tests, poll taxes, “white primaries” and Gerrymandering • Gerrymandering – draw electoral boundaries to limit voting strength of a group • 1944 – Smith v. Allwright outlawed white primaries • 1960 – Gomillion v. Lightfoot outlawed racial gerrymandering • Using Supreme Court - slow

15. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior • Born in Atlanta from a prosperous family. Did not graduate HS but enrolled in college at 15. • 2 degrees in Theology, 1 in Sociology, and a PhD in Philosophy. • Montgomery Bus Boycott (Carpool insurance) – 1955 – Rosa Parks – 1 year • Picked 27 year old King • Studied Gandhi – civil disobedience – non-violence. • Used church organizations for Civil Rights – allowed • Birmingham 1963 – arrested to fill the jails – used children – sheriff used water houses – TV – 2 months • 1963 March on Washington – I have a dream • 6:01, Memphis Tennessee, April 4th, 1968

16. Videos • Last speech - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8 • Cronkite – assassination http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmOBbxgxKvo • Pride - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDRWvDx8h4&feature=related • RFK (no riots) –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6mxL2cqxrA&feature=related

17. B) Early Civil Rights Legislation • In late 1950’s, Congress passed acts to enforce 15 Amendment. • Civil Rights Act of 1957 – created the US Commission on Civil Rights – gave authority to Attorney General to seek federal court orders to prevent abuse of allowing people the right to vote • Civil Rights Act of 1960 – created federal voting referees – help register and observe polling places • Civil Rights Act of 1964 – ended discrimination in jobs, registering to vote (Title 9) • Injunction – court order that either compels or restrains the performance of a private or public official. Can go to Jail, Prison, or fined. • March on Selma Alabama – 3 murdered most beaten on TV – nation saw it. Voter registration drive.

18. C) Voting Rights act of 1965 • Applied to all elections in the country • Outlawed literacy tests • Poll taxes • Preclearance – no new election laws, and no changes in existing election laws, could go into effect in any states with problems, unless first approved by the Department of Justice – preclearance. • Location of polling places, boundaries of election districts, deadlines, going from wards to at-large. • Today, 6 states are still covered by Preclearance

19. Review • Can people that cannot vote still influence lawmakers? • Turn to page 169

20. Bell Ringer • Turn to page 172. Lets read the cartoon. • What does this cartoon suggest about voter apathy?

21. IV. Voter Behavior • 5 options – • vote for A • Vote agaisnt A • Vote for B • Vote against B • Not vote

22. A) Nonvoting • Word idiot comes from the Greeks over 2500 years ago as someone who does not vote. • 2008 – 228 million people who can vote – only 131 million did (60%), 121 million voted for Congress? 10 million? • Off-year election – congressional elections held in between presidential election • Ballot fatigue – voters exhaust their patience and their knowledge as they work there way down the ballot.

23. B) Why People Do Not Vote • Cannot-Vote – illegal aliens, mental health, prison, religion, pressure • Nonvoters – people who think everything is fine and the alienated ones – meaningless • Political efficacy – lack any feeling of influence or effectiveness in politics – vote doesn’t count • Time-zone fallout – west already know who won – don’t vote • Lack of interest – good that they don’t vote.

24. C) Voters and Voting Behavior • Political socialization – the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions – life • Voters personal characteristics – age, income • voter’s group affiliation – family, friends

25. D) Sociological factors • Gender – Women vote Democratic more than men • Gender gap – difference between gender in partisan choices • Race – African Americans vote heavily Democratic • Age – Older vote Republican • Income – over $60,000 vote Republican • Education – Republican voting tends to rise with level of education • Party Identification : D-39%,R-32%, I-29% • Religion – Catholics and Jews vote Democratic • Geography – South and Midwest are Republican – coast and big cities Democratic

26. E) Psychological factors • Party identification – loyalty of people to a particular political party. • Straight-ticket voting – vote all one party. • Majority of Americans identify with party and seldom change no matter what. (going down) • Split-ticket voting – voting for candidates of both parties • Independents – people that have no party affiliation – usually vote same party though. • New group of independents – education, good income, good job • Candidates and Issues – some people actually vote on who the candidate is and what is there stance on issues.

27. Review