1. [ 10.2 ] Your Right to Vote

2. [ 10.2 ] Your Right to Vote
Learning Objectives
Identify and explain constitutional restrictions on the States' power to set voting qualifications.
Understand the criteria for voting in elections.
Understand the voter registration process and the controversies surrounding voter registration.
Explain the other requirements that States use or have used as voting qualifications.

3. [ 10.2 ] Your Right to Vote Aliens transients Registration purging
Key Terms
Aliens
transients
Registration
purging
poll books
literacy
William O. Douglas

4. Voting Qualifications and the Federal Government
The history of American suffrage has been marked by two long-term trends. You’ve already read about the first—the gradual expansion of the electorate. Second, a significant share of what was originally the States’ power over the right to vote has been gradually assumed by the Federal Government. While the Constitution reserves the power to set suffrage qualifications to the States, several constitutional provisions do limit the role of State governments in this area.

5. Voting Qualifications and the Federal Government
This lithograph celebrates the passage of the 15th Amendment in Analyze Images What potential effects of the amendment does the lithograph portray?

6. Universal Criteria for Voting
Are you qualified to vote? Probably not—at least not yet. Do you know why? In this section, you will see how the States, including yours, determine who can vote. You will also see that the various qualifications they set are not very difficult to meet.

7. Citizenship Criteria Residence Criteria Laws and Court Actions
Universal Criteria for Voting
Citizenship Criteria
Residence Criteria
Laws and Court Actions
Age Criteria
The Youth Vote

8. Universal Criteria for Voting
In 1882 when this photograph was taken, the adults in this immigrant family could probably vote in State elections if they had applied for citizenship.

9. Universal Criteria for Voting
The Federal Government does not set any voting qualifications based on residence, but the States can and do set such requirements. Analyze Charts What is the purpose of residency requirements?

10. The Voter Registration Process
One other significant qualification, registration, is nearly universal among the States today. Registration is a procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. It gives election officials a list of those persons who are qualified to vote in an election. Several States also use voter registration to identify voters in terms of their party preference and, thus, their eligibility to take part in closed primaries.

11. Registration Requirements Controversies Surrounding Registration
The Voter Registration Process
Registration Requirements
Controversies Surrounding Registration
Voter ID Laws

12. The Voter Registration Process
Registering to vote has become more convenient in recent years. Analyze Charts What is the purpose of 'streamlining' voter registration?

13. The Voter Registration Process
A woman proudly shows her ink-stained finger after voting in Iraq, where democratic elections are relatively new. Like registration requirements, the ink is meant to prevent election fraud.

14. Historical Criteria for Voting
Suffrage qualifications based on two other factors—literacy and tax payment—were once fairly common among the States. They had a fairly long history but are no longer to be found anywhere.

15. Literacy Qualifications Grandfather Clauses Literacy Tests Banned
Historical Criteria for Voting
Literacy Qualifications
Grandfather Clauses
Literacy Tests Banned
Poll Taxes
Qualifications for Voting

16. Historical Criteria for Voting
A man studies a practice form for a voter registration test in Until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many States used literacy tests to disenfranchise minority voters.

17. Historical Criteria for Voting
This is one extreme example, from Louisiana, of the literacy tests once used throughout the South. Analyze Charts What observation can you make about these test questions?

18. Quiz: Voting Qualifications and the Federal Government
Which of the following does the Constitution prohibit?
A. setting residence requirements for voting
B. setting citizenship requirements for voting
C. setting registration requirements for voting
D. setting tax payment requirements for voting

19. Quiz: Universal Criteria for Voting
All States have residency requirements for voting. Which of the following is one reason for those requirements?
A. to allow only those voters who have lived in the State the longest to vote
B. to allow voters to make the most informed vote possible
C. to allow voters to decide if they will remain a resident before voting
D. to allow only those voters who own property to vote

20. Quiz: The Voter Registration Process
What is the MAIN purpose of the Motor Voter Act?
A. to expand the electorate by making it easier to register to vote
B. to improve the electoral process by ensuring that States purge their poll books
C. to encourage voter turnout by allowing any voter to register on election day
D. to encourage voter turnout by allowing any voter with a driver's license to vote

21. Quiz: Historical Criteria for Voting
Which of the following BEST explains why Connecticut and Massachusetts adopted literacy tests in the 1800s?
A. to ensure that only the most informed citizens could vote
B. to comply with the Motor Voter Act
C. to prevent certain segments of the population from voting
D. to give white candidates an advantage over African American candidates