CHAPTER 6Voters and Voter Behavior

Terms

Suffrage – the right to vote (a.k.a. franchise) Electorate – the potential voting population Disenfranchised – citizens denied the right to vote Poll Tax – a tax imposed as a qualification for voting Aliens – foreign-born residents who have not

become citizens Transients – persons who plan to live in a state for

only a short time Registration – a procedure of voter identification Purging – the removal of names of those who are

no longer eligible to vote Poll Books – the official lists of qualified voters

Terms

Literacy – a person’s ability to read and write

Gerrymandering – the practice of drawing electoral lines in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party.

Injunction – a court order that either compels or restrains the performance of some act by a private individual or public official.

Preclearance – the act of allowing new election laws

The Right To Vote

Generally restricted to white landowning males only.

Restrictions on the right to vote were typically because of religious belief, property ownership, tax payment, race, and gender.

5 Stages to Expand the Electorate

1. Eliminate the religious requirements from the colonial times – early 1800s

2. 15th Amendment – intended to protect any citizen from being denied the right to vote because of race or color

3. 19th Amendment – people couldn’t be denied the right to vote because of their sex.

4. during the 1960s African Americans were given the right to vote in all states. (Amendments 23,24)

5. 1971 – 26th Amenedment

Universal Requirements

Every state requires that any person who wants to vote must be able to satisfy qualifications based on 3 factors: citizenship, residence, and age.

You must be a legal resident in the state in which you cast a ballot.

No state can set the voting age at more than 18 but any state can lower the age to under 18 if they choose to do so.

15th Amendment

Protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which created the United States Commission on Civil Rights and also gave the attorney general the power to seek federal court orders to prevent interference with any person’s right to vote in any federal election.

Also protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1960 which added the safeguard of federal voting referees.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Most effective because it outlaws discrimination in several areas especially in job-related matters and, in regards to voting, it forbids the use of any voter registration or literacy requirement in an unfair or discriminatory manner.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Applied to all elections throughout the country (state, local, & federal) and made the 15th Amendment a truly effective part of the Constitution.