1. Changes in U.S. Electoral History

3. Extending Suffrage
15th Amendment
1870

5. What did the 15th Amendment really do?
Grandfather Clause
Poll Taxes
24th Amendment
Literacy Tests
White Primaries
V.R’s. Act 1965
Smith v. Allwright (1944)

6. Direct Election of Senators
17th Amendment
1913

7. 19th Amendment (1920)

8. 26th Amendment (1971)

12. The 23rd Amendment
D.C. Voters
1960

13. The 24th Amendment Outlawed Poll Taxes 1964
Harper v. Virginia State B.O.E. (1966)

14. Jim Crow

20. Sit-Ins

21. Freedom Rides (1961)

26. Bull Connor

30. Freedom Summer (1964)

37. 1964
Freedom Summer

38. Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge

39. “When you pray, move your feet.”

41. Less than five months after the last of the three marches, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965

44. "This time when I looked there were women's faces and there were black faces among the troopers. And this time when we faced them, they saluted." -Hon. John Lewis

45. Voting Rights Act of 1965 Suspended the use of literacy tests.
Real Change!
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Suspended the use of literacy tests.
Federal Examiners and Poll Watchers

48. Voter Turnout in the U.S.

49. Voter Turnout in the United States (recent)
Presidential Elections– 49% - 62%
Midterm (Congressional) Elections– 40%
State and Local Elections– 20% to 25%
Austria and Sweden-- +90%

50. 2010 Midterm turnout rate to 40.3% OHIO-
VEP- 46.0%
VAP- 44.7%
18 and older- 8,880,1202.2%
Prisoners- 51,606

51. A little over a century ago, voter participation in these United States was outstanding.
Nearly 80% of eligible voters turned out to vote
states had over 90% turnout
1896- Indiana had 97% turnout
In the last few decades, turnout has hovered around 50%

52. Decline in Voting: Apparent or Real???
Parties Printed Ballots and Counted Votes
Floaters and Repeaters
"VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN!"

53. “In Counting there is strength.”

54. The decline in turnout was in response to things other then voter lethargy, apathy, and just plain ‘slothiality’!

55. Progressive Era Reforms
Australian Ballot
Longer residency requirements
Aliens could no longer vote
Registration was made burdensome

56. More Hurdles to Clear = Fewer Voters
Registration Made More Difficult
Residency Requirements
The Australian Ballot

57. Practical Impact of Reform
Participation Rates Fell Dramatically

58. Participation in presidential elections fell by 10%
1960 to 1980
Participation in presidential elections fell by 10%

59. Voter Fatigue
Voters in the United States have the opportunity to vote in more elections and more often than any other democracy in the world.

60. Motor-Voter Bill
Registration made less burdensome
1995

61. 1996
Turnout fell below 50%
2000
51.3%

62. 2004
60.7%
Turnout

63. 2008
62%
Turnout