Voting and Electoral College How do the people of the U.S. elect officials?

African-American Vote The first African Americans were used as slaves Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) Not given the right to vote until the 15th amendment in 1870

Women Abigail Adams “Remember the ladies” Not given the right to vote until the 19th amendment in 1920

23rd/24th amendment Originally Washington D.C could not vote b/c they were not a state 23rd amendment gave Washington D.C. 3 electoral votes 24th amendment also outlawed the poll tax

18-20 year olds During the 1960s the U.S. drafted soldiers to fight in Vietnam Draft age was 18 but voting age was 21 26th amendment gave year olds the right to vote

Who can Vote in NE? Voting Requirements –18 yrs. Old –Resident of the state (lived here for 30 days) –Mentally Competent –No felony charges (unless pardoned)

Voter Turnout

Who Votes? Does Does Not WhiteMinority EducatedUneducated Middle-agedYoung

How to get people to vote? Campaign Ads Political Parties Motor Voter Law –Allows citizens to register to vote when they get their drivers license

Why don’t people vote? High Apathy = don’t care Low Efficacy = my vote doesn’t count Not important

Electoral College Used to Elect the President of the United States Not elected by POPULAR VOTE Each state is granted electors that vote for president –Electors may or may not vote for who their state supports

How do you know how many electors you get? Each state gets one elector for each Representative in the House and Senator in the Senate –Example: Nebraska has 3 Representatives and 2 senators so we have 5 electoral votes –IA = 7 CA = 55

What were they thinking? Makes up for uneducated public Tried to keep small and large states happy Made the system more stable

Cont.

So does the EC favor big or small states? Gives smaller states more representation per person than large states Gives larger states more votes than smaller states

Positives of the system Keeps smaller states involved Promotes stability Keeps radical third parties out of office

Negatives of the System Smaller states are ignored Less democratic Third party has little chance of winning Electors can vote for who they want –many faithless electors in Am. History