1. Chapter 6 Voters and Voter Behavior
American Cit.
Chapter 6
Voters and Voter Behavior

2. Section 1
The right to vote

3. The History of Voting Rights
Suffrage
The right to vote (AKA Franchise)
Expansion of the Electorate
The U.S. electorate includes some 210 million citizens
potential voting population
originally a state power, however progressively a federal power

4. The History of Voting Rights (Con’t)
extending suffrage: Five Stages
first stage: Early 1800’s
religious, ownership, tax payments banned
second stage: 1870
15th amendment all races allowed to vote
Third stage: 1920
19th amendment gave women suffrage
Fourth stage: 1960’s
voting Rights Act of 1965 removed any remaining barriers to African American suffrage
Fifth stage
lower voting age to 18 yrs. Old

5. The Power to set voting Qualifications
Still state power, however it can not be unconstitutional

6. Section 2
Voter qualification

7. Universal Requirements
Citizenship
Most require you to be an American citizen
Residence
Must be a permanent resident of the state you vote in
Most states do not set a requirement time period today
Transients generally can not vote in new state
person living in the state for only a short time
Age
Until 26th amendment, states varied with age from 21 to 18

8. Other Qualifications Registration
A procedure of voter identification intended to prevent transient voting
Purging
removing individuals who are not longer eligible to vote
Poll Books
the lists of all registered voters in each precincts
Fight over how to stream-line it and avoid fraud

9. Other Qualifications (Con’t)
Literacy
A person’s ability to read or write
No longer required, however it was used to discourage African-American slaves
forced creation of “Grandfather Clause”
Tax payment
demanded payment of a special tax called a Poll Tax
However found unconstitutional
Persons denied the vote
declared mentally incompetent
felons

10. Section 3
Suffrage and Civil Rights

11. Fifteenth Amendment Gave nearly all slaves the right to vote
However the right was still denied for nearly 90 years
Violence used to persuade
Literacy test
Gerrymandering
drawing of electoral district lines
Democrats continually denied blacks into primary’s in the South

12. Early Civil Rights Legislation
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Inquired into claims of voter discrimination
Civil Rights Act of 1960
Allowed federal voting referees

13. The Civil rights Act of 1964
Forbid voter registration or literacy in an unfair or discriminatory manner
Use judicial branch to determine discrimination
Used injunctions
court order that forces or restrains certain actions by public or private officials

14. The Voting Rights Act of 1965
Applied to all elections and cemented 15th amendment
Preclearance
Approval by the Department of Justice
Amendments to the Act
Requirement to language
10,000 or more, minority

15. African Americans at the Polls1 2 4
Chapter 6, Section 3

16. Section 4
Voter Behavior

17. Nonvoters
The word idiot is Greek and it means citizens who do not vote

18. The Size of the Problem Off-year elections
Congressional elections held in the even-numbered years between presidential elections
Many choose not to vote due to “voting fatigue”
Presidential elections most voter population and participation

19. Why People do not vote Cannot voters Actual voters
Resident aliens are denied access to vote
Disabled
Actual voters
Convinced there is no purpose
Political efficacy
lack any sense of their own influence or effectiveness in politics
they feel popular sovereignty is no longer alive

20. Why People do not vote (Con’t)
Factors affecting voters
Mostly lack of interest
Comparing voters and nonvoters
Voters tend to have higher income, education, and occupational status
Unvoters are generally younger than 35, unmarried and unskilled
However multiple factors affect it.

21. Voters and voting Behavior
Studying voting behavior
Political socialization
the process by which people gain their political attitudes and opinions
Gender, Age
gender gap
measurable difference between the partisan choices of men and women
Men more likely GOP and women more likely Democrat
Younger people more likely vote Democrat and older people more likely vote GOP

22. Voters and voting Behavior (Con’t)
Religious, Ethnic Background
Protestants more likely vote GOP
Catholics and Jews tend to vote Democrat
FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s moved majority of African-American votes to Democrats
Latino’s are more unpredictable
Geography
GOP has drawn good support from the South, and Democrats to the North
Democrats tend to get the bigger cities, while GOP draws the rural areas of the country
Family and Other Groups
9/10 married couples vote the same way

23. Psychological Factors
Voters perceptions of politics
Party Identification
Loyalty to Political Party
Straight Ticket Voting
The practice of voting for candidates of only one party in an election
Weakened over the years
as evident by more split-ticket voting
also the rise of people who consider themselves independent
Candidates and Issues
Exit polls greatly reveal the role of the Candidates character and their stance on issues, in determining their electorate

24. Sociological Factors
Voter preferences can’t be predicted by just one sociological factor. Voter opinion is a combination of all of these factors and more. 1 2 3
Chapter 6, Section 4