Voters and Voting Behavior

1
Chapter 6

• Voters and Voting Behavior

2
Who Can Vote?

• In 1789, not many people could vote.
• Only white male property owners could vote.
• Today, any citizen 18 years old or over and is a
  legal resident of the state in which he/she votes
  is eligible to vote. (Universal Requirements)
• Registration 49/50
• There was a long evolution to get to where we are
  today.

3
Expanding the Electorate

• Todays electorate (potential voting population)
  is more than 225 million people.
• http//www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p20-562.pdf
• Extending suffrage (franchise) to this large
  group occurred through new legislation, social
  changes and a lot of patience.
• There has been a gradual increase in the federal
  governments power to control suffrage, taking
  power away from the states.

4
Expanding the Electorate (6.1)

• Expanding the electorate occurred in 5 different
  stages.
• 1) Early 1800s Eliminated religious, property
  and tax requirements- Nearly all white adult
  males could vote
• 2) 1870 15th Amendment Racial
  qualifications
• - Still, for another 100 years,
  African-Americans were barred from voting.

5
Expanding the Electorate

• 3) 1920 19th Amendment Gender
• 19th Amendment clip
• 4) 1960s Race
• - African-Americans truly given the right to
  vote
• - Voting Rights Act of 1965, 24th Amendment
  (Poll Taxes)
• 5) 1971 26th Amendment - 18 year old maximum
• - Was 21 Why lower?
• - Younger? Why?

6
Suffrage and Civil Rights (6.3 6.2)

• African-Americans were given the right to vote
  with the 15th Amendment in 1870.
• Not self-executing took nearly 100 years until
  African-Americans could vote.
• Methods of Discrimination
• Poll taxes began in 1889 and spread to each
  state in the South
• Grandfather clause
• 24th Amendment

7
Civil Rights (cont.)

• Methods (cont.)
• Literacy tests
• Began in NE (Irish Catholics)
• Gerrymandering
• Redrawing district lines to limit the vote of a
  group
• http//www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?s
  tatePAdistrict8
• White Primaries
• Political parties are private organizations so
  they can include/exclude who they wanted
  primary elections

8
Literacy Test Examples

• Read or copy part of Constitution
• Difficult passages
• http//www.crmvet.org/info/litques.htm
• Answer civics questions
• http//www.crmvet.org/info/litques.pdf
• Answer literacy trick questions
• http//www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/vo
  ting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_l
  iteracy_test_louisiana.html
• African Americans could also be arrested or
  threatened for traveling to poll places

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Civil Rights Legislation

• Civil Rights Acts of 1957 1960
• Tried to enforce the 15th Amendment prevent
  interference
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Bans discrimination in the workforce
• Bans discriminatory voter registration or
  literacy requirements
• Allowed for injunctions court order forcing (or
  limiting) someone to do something.

10
Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Most important actually enforces 15th Amend.
• Applied to all elections federal and local.
• Originally only 5 years, but has been renewed
  several times.
• Poll taxes, literacy tests, other discriminatory
  policies
• Preclearance State needs prior approval to
  change election laws if found to be
  discriminatory in the past
• Language minority bilingual ballots if 10,000
  people in electorate
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vvQ2j8zSxPgU

11
Voter Behavior Today (6.4)

• Idiots
• A Greek word for someone who did not vote
• Some people have legitimate reasons for not
  voting, but most do not.
• Only 55-60 of the electorate votes in
  Presidential elections.
• Much smaller percentage for off-year elections.
• Less than 50 of 18-24 year olds vote
• Nonvoting voters
• Ballot fatigue

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Why People Do Not Vote

• Cannot-Voters
• These are people with a legitimate reason not to
  vote
• 10 million arent citizens
• 5-6 million who are sick/physically disabled
• 2-3 million who suddenly travel
• 500,000 in mental facilities
• 2 million in jails prisons
• 100,000 because of religious beliefs (idolatry)
• Factors Affecting Turnout
• Comparing Voters and Nonvoters

13
Why People Dont Vote (cont.)

• Actual Nonvoters
• About 80 million people just dont vote
• Some are happy with the way things are so feel no
  need to vote.
• Some dont trust government and the system
• Many lack political efficacy they feel that
  they have no influence

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Why People Dont Vote (cont.)

• Factors Affecting Turnout
• Difficult election procedures
• Registration, long ballots, long lines
• Bad weather
• Time-zone fallout
• Lack of interest
• Solutions?

15
Why People Dont Vote (cont.)

• Comparing Voters and Nonvoters
• More likely to vote wealthier, well-educated,
  good job, involved in community, long-time
  residents, married, over 35, strong party
  loyalty.
• South and rural areas have more non-voters
• The more competitive a race, the more voters.

16
Voter Behavior

• Political Socialization
• Birth - death
• Factors that influence voters
• Sociological Factors
• Income, occupation, education, gender (gender
  gap), age, religion, geography.
• Family
• Psychological Factors
• Straight-ticket vs. Split-ticket voting
• Party Identification loyalty to a party
• Independents