Chapter 6:1: Voting and Voting Behavior

• Jos_24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Chapter 6:1: Voters and Voter Behavior:

o We will summarize the history of

voting rights in the U.S.

o We will identify and explain

constitutional restrictions on the

State’s power to set voting

qualifications.

The History of Voting Rights:

o The framers of the Constitution

purposely left the power to set

suffrage qualifications to each

State.

o Suffrage means the right to vote.

o Franchise means for the right to

vote.

The History of Voting Rights:

o When the Constitution went into

effect, in 1789 the right to vote was

generally restricted to White male

property owners.

o Today the size of the American

electorate, the potential voting

population is more than 230 million

people, nearly all citizens who are at

least 18 years of age qualify to vote.

Two Trends That Extend Suffrage:

o The gradual elimination of several restrictions on the right to vote; such as race, gender, and property ownership.

o Second, a significant share of what was originally the State’s power over the right to vote was gradually assumed by the Federal government.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o (1) Early 1800s, religious

qualifications disappeared.

o By 1810 no state had a religious

test for voting.

o Then one by one, states began to

eliminate property ownership and

tax payment qualifications.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o (2) Electorate broadened after the Civil War.

o The 15th Amendment ratified in 1870 intended to protect any citizen from being denied the right to vote because of race or color.

o Still for nearly another century African Americans were barred from voting and were the largest group of disenfranchised citizens or citizens denied the right to vote.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o (3) 19th Amendment prohibited

the denial of the right to vote

because of gender.

o Its ratification in 1920 completed

the third expansion of suffrage.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o (4) Fourth extension, in the 1960s

Federal legislation and court

decision focused on securing

African Americans a full role in the

electoral process in all States.

o Civil Rights Act of 1965; racial

equality became a reality in voting.

o 23d Amendment added voters of

the District of Columbia.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o The 24th Amendment

eliminated the poll tax and any

other tax as a condition for

voting in any federal election.

o A poll tax was a tax imposed by

several states as a qualification

for voting.

Extending Suffrage: The Five Stages:

o (5) The Fifth and latest expansion of the electorate came with the adoption of the 26th Amendment in 1971.

o It provides that no state can set a minimum age for voting at more than 18 years of age.

Power to set voting qualifications:

o Constitution does not give the

Federal Government the power to

set suffrage qualifications.

o Rather, that matter is reserved to

the States.

o The Constitution does however

place five restrictions on the ability

of the States to exercise the power.

Power to set voting qualifications:

o (1) Any person whom a state allows to vote for members of the most numerous branch of its own legislature must also be allowed to vote for representatives and senators in Congress.

o Today, with minor exceptions, each of the States allows the same voters to vote in all elections within the state.

Power to set voting qualifications:

o (2) No state can deprive any person of the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (15th Amendment).

o (3) No state can deprive any person of the right to vote on account of sex (19th Amendment)

Power to set voting qualifications:

o (4) No State can require payment of any tax as a condition for taking part in the nomination or election of any federal officeholder.

o That is no states can levy any tax in connection with the selection of the President, Vice President, or members of Congress (24th Amendment).

o (5) No state can deprive any person who is at least 18 years of age of the right to vote because of age (26th Amendment).

• What type of issues do you think would

influence young people to vote? (List Three

and explain why).