AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

 Every state requires that any person that wants to vote must satisfy three factors:  1) citizenship  2) residence  3) age  CITIZENSHIP  Aliens—foreign-born residents who have not become citizens—are generally denied the right to vote

 Nothing in the Constitution says that aliens cannot vote  Any state could allow aliens to vote  At one time about ¼ of states permitted aliens who had applied for naturalization to vote  Now only 2 states draw a distinction between native-born and naturalized citizens

 Minnesota—must be a citizen for 3 months  Pennsylvania—must be a citizen for 1 month  RESIDENCE  One must be a legal resident of the State in which he or she wishes to cast a ballot  States adopt residence requirements for 2 reasons:

 1) to keep the political machine from importing (bribing) enough outsiders to affect the outcome of local elections (a once common practice)  2) to allow new voters at least some time to become familiar with the candidates and issues in an election  For decades the resident requirement was very lengthy  Example: One year in the state, six months in the county, and 3 months in the precinct.

 Most states now require that a person be a legal resident but no longer attach a time requirement.  Shorter requirements come from 2 items:  1) Voting Rights Act Amendment 1970— Congress banned any requirement of longer than 30 days for voting for president  2) Dunn v. Blumstein 1972—TN’s requirement of year in the state & 90 days in the county unconstitutional—unsupportable discrimination of new residents and it was in conflict with the XIVth Amendment (Equal Protection Clause)

 Nearly every state does prohibit TRANSIENTS (persons who live in the state for a short time) from gaining legal residence  Examples: traveling salesman, armed forces, college students (with exception)  AGE  XXVIth Amendment (1971) sets the voting age at 18.

 Before the amendment the generally accepted age was 21  Exceptions: GA-18 in 1943; KY-18 in 1955; AK-19 in 1959; HI-20 in 1959  Response of year-olds about voting: not very good  1972—48%; %; 2004—38%  Americans 65 & older—60%+

 REGISTRATION  All states except ND require registration  REGISTRATION—procedure of voter ID intended to prevent fraudulent voting  Became a common feature in the early 1900s  State law allows officials to PURGE (remove) names of those people no longer eligible to vote  Motor Voter Law (1995)—allows citizens to register to vote when renewing a drivers license

 LITERACY  No state has suffrage requirements based on a literacy test—a person’s ability to read and write  TAX PAYMENT  POLL TAX—special tax assessed to vote

 PERSONS DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE  Persons in mental institutions  Persons found to legally mentally incompetent  Some state prohibit those who have committed serious crimes from voting