Political Participation Nonvoting Rise of the American Electorate

Voter Turnout Voter turnout can be measured in two different ways: (1) Proportion of the registered voters that actually voted in a given election (2) Percentage of the eligible voters (voting age population) that vote

Voter Turnout According to recent figures, American statistics look much better if the first method is employed (percentage of registered voters who participate in elections)

Voter Turnout If we take the proportion/percentage of the registered voters, between 75-80% voted in recent presidential elections

Voter Turnout If we take the percentage of the voting-age population, only about 50% actually voted Figure is much lower than most other democracies

Voter Turnout Great Britain, Canada—about ¾ of all eligible voters vote in major elections Italy, Australia—90% of eligible voters vote

Voter Turnout: U.S. Main problem is voter registration Challenge: Increasing the number of eligible/voting age population registered to vote

Rise of the American Electorate Originally the Constitution let individual states determine the qualifications for voting States varied widely in their laws

Rise of the American Electorate All states: Excluded women Most denied blacks voting rights Property ownership was usually required

Expanding Suffrage Expansion of the right to vote resulted from: (1) Constitutional amendment (2) Changing federal statutes (3) Supreme Court decisions

Lifting of Property Restrictions At first, all states required voters to be property owners Varying standards for how much property a man had to own to merit the right to vote

Lifting of Property Restrictions During the 1830s when Andrew Jackson was president, most states loosened their property requirements to embrace universal manhood suffrage

Lifting of Property Restrictions By the end of Jackson’s presidency (1829-1837), most states had lifted property restrictions from their voting rights NJ—property restrictions were not abolished until 1844

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves After the Civil War three (3) important amendments intended to protect civil rights for newly freed former slaves were added to the Constitution

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves Last of the three was added in 1870—15th Amendment “Right of citizens of the U.S. to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S. or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves Reading those words today, one would assume that they gave African Americans the right to vote

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves That is not what the Supreme Court during the 1870s thought they meant By a series of decisions, it held that the 15th Amendment did not necessarily confer the right to vote on anybody

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves It merely asserted that if someone was denied that right, the denial could not be explicitly on the grounds of race And the burden of proving that it was race fell on the black who was turned away at the polls

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves This interpretation opened the door to several state strategies to keep blacks from voting

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves Despite the amendment, many states passed Jim Crow laws: Literacy tests, poll taxes, and the grandfather clause Prevented blacks from voting until well past the mid-20th century

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves During the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, the Supreme Court declared various Jim Crow laws unconstitutional

Suffrage for Black Americans & Former Slaves Voting Rights Act of 1965 & other federal laws prohibit states from using discriminatory practices, such as literacy tests

Women’s Suffrage In contrast to black Americans, until the early 20th century women were kept from the polls by law more than intimidation

Women’s Suffrage An aggressive women’s suffrage movement began before the Civil War, but it brought no national results until social attitudes toward women changed during the Progressive Movement of the early 20th century

Women’s Suffrage Result was the passage of the 19th Amendment Extended the vote to women in 1920 19th Amendment doubled the size of the electorate

18-21-Year-Olds A final major expansion of voting rights occurred in 1971 with the passage of the 26th Amendment Changed the minimum voting age from 21 to 18

18-21-Year-Olds A few states (Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii) had allowed younger people to vote before 1971 Increased political activism of young people, particularly on college campuses during the 1960s, inspired this expansion of voting rights