Voters & Voter Behavior

The Right to Vote “It is not enough that people have the right to vote…People must have the reason to vote as well.” Jesse Jackson

History of Voting Rights Founding Fathers left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State. Suffrage – The right to vote Franchise is another term for suffrage with the same meaning: The right to vote Who has been left out from voting in American history?

Suffrage Electorate – The potential voting population The American Electorate is about 220 million people But not everyone could vote, such as women and African Americans. Even some whites couldn’t vote. When the Constitution went into effect in 1789, only white male property owners could vote.

Suffrage Extending suffrage occurred in 5 stages. All stages were based on lifting restrictions from voting based on property ownership, tax payment, race, and sex. 15 th Amendment – Ratified in Intended to protect any citizen from being denied the right to vote because of race or color. 19 th Amendment – Ratified in Women gain right to vote. Power over who has the right to vote has been taken from the States and has been assumed by the Federal Government instead.

Suffrage The 24 th amendment, ratified in 1964 eliminated the poll tax This, along with the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s finally gave blacks the “true” right to vote. Orange – Poll Tax Red – Cumulative Poll Tax (If you didn’t pay in the last election, you had to pay for that too) Gray – No Poll Tax

How did some States deny the right to vote? Literacy Tests Poll taxes Intimidation Gerrymandering – Drawing electoral districts in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party. This particularly hurt African Americans.

How did some States deny the right to vote? Couldn’t these ways of systematically denying voting rights to blacks also hurt whites? Yes, because some whites were illiterate or couldn’t afford to pay a poll tax as well As a result, “grandfather clauses” were created in some States. This meant that any man, or his male descendants, who had voted in the State before the 15 th amendment could become a voter without literacy tests or poll taxes.

Suffrage/Conclusion The latest stage of suffrage was the adoption of the 26 th amendment. Ratified in 1971 and sets the voting age from 18 and up. Why did the Federal Government take more control of voting qualifications from the States?

6.2 – 6.3 – Voter Qualifications & Civil Rights Three universal requirements to vote: Citizenship Residence Age (18 & older)

Citizenship Must be a citizen of the U.S. to vote. What about non-citizens? Non-citizens – Foreign born residents who have not become citizens Non-citizens are generally denied the right to vote, yet nothing in the Constitution says that non-citizens cannot vote.

Residence Must be legal resident of the State in which he or she wishes to cast a ballot. In most States, a person must have lived in the State for a certain amount of time before he or she can vote Why? Prevents the political machine from importing/bribing outsiders to influence an outcome of a election. Allow new voters at least some time to become familiar with the candidates and issues in an election

Residence Imagine if people in Maryland could vote in a Virginia election for our governor and legislature. Today, residence length requirements have been shortened. 30 days is the longest a state/locality can require until voting. Result of the 1970 Voting Rights Act Amendments and the 1972 Supreme Court decision in Dunn v. Blumstein

Residence What about traveling salesmen, a military member, or a out- of-state college student? Could they vote in their state? No, - they are called transients Transients – Persons living in a State for only a short time In nearly every State, transients are prohibited from voting.

Age Up until the 26 th amendment in 1971, the voting age was 21 A major argument in lowering the voting age was:

Age Do young people vote at a high rate? Sadly…no, but turnout is improving. In the 2000 election, only 28% of voters aged voted election: 38% 2008 election: Best turnout yet - about 50%. 66% voters aged voted for Obama.

Other Qualifications Registration – Procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. All states except ND require that most or all voters be registered to vote. Some argue that registration requirement should be abolished, everywhere, similar to most countries. Federal Govt has tried to make it easier by establishing the Motor Voter Law The Motor Voter Law (1995) – Allows eligible citizens to register to vote when applying for or renew a driver’s license

6.4 – Voter Behavior “Your Vote is Your Voice. Use it.” – Rock the Vote. The word “idiot” came to our language from the Greek. In ancient Athens, idiots (idiotes) were those citizens who did not vote or otherwise take part in public life.

Why People Don’t Vote Millions of eligible voters who choose not to vote. Why? Cannot Voters Resident non-citizens Voters who were sick/physically disabled Unexpected travelers People in mental health care facilities

Why People Don’t Vote Actual Nonvoters Americans who could vote, but choose not to Millions of people fall into this category Convinced it makes no difference who wins an election May feel alienated or ignored by politicians, and don’t trust the political process or political institutions. No sense of political efficacy. Political Efficacy – One’s own influence on politics.

Other Factors Inconvenient Inconvenient election procedures Long lines at the polls Bad weather “Time-Zone Fallout” – In Eastern/Central time-zones, we close the polls earlier than out West where they are a few hours behind. Results start getting announced and people out West get discouraged to vote. Busy with work/school

Predictors of a Voter People most likely to vote: Higher levels of income Education Occupational Status Well integrated in community life Older People unlikely to vote: Younger than 35 Unmarried Unskilled Uneducated Southerners Live in rural areas

Factors that Influence Voters to Vote Sociological Factors Income, Occupation Voters who don’t make much money/have manual labor jobs tend to vote for Democrats Voters with higher incomes with professional/business jobs tend to vote for Republicans Gender, Age Gender Gap – Women tend to vote for Democrats, Men tend to vote Republican Young voters tend to vote Democrat. Older voters tend to vote Republican. Religious, Ethnic Background Protestants tend to vote Republican, Catholics and Jews tend to vote Democrat.

More Factors African American (second largest minority in the U.S.) voters tend to vote Democrat For Latino’s, it depends: Cuban Americans tend to vote Republican Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans tend to vote for Democrats Geography Democrats tend to get votes from big cities, Northeast, and the coasts. Republicans tend to get votes from the suburbs, rural areas, and the South. Family – This is the biggest influence of a voter, the political ideology of one’s parents.