Political Participation

Your Right to Vote

• Suffrage/Franchise- right to vote

• 230 million people can vote

• Voting is a state issue, but the Federal Government has intervened quite often. Hill v. Stone

5 stages of extending suffrage

• Religious qualifications- no religious test since 1810. By the mid 1800’s, almost all white males could vote.

• 15th Amendment- gave African Americans the right to vote- disenfranchised

• 19th Amendment- gave women the right to vote in 1920

• 1960’s-various voting rights acts helped ensure African Americans had the right to vote.- No more poll taxes (24th Amendment) in 1964

• 26th Amendment- gave 18 year old’s the right to vote

Setting Qualifications

• Federal Government does not have power to set suffrage qualifications; reserved for the States

• Constitution does place 5 restrictions on States:• If someone is allowed to vote in one election, they are

allowed to vote in all elections• Can’t bar from voting based on race, color, or

servitude• Can’t bar from voting based on sex• Can’t require payment of any taxes to vote• Can’t deprive right to anyone who is at least 18

because of age

Universal Requirements

1. Citizenship

2. Residence

3. Age

#1 Citizenship

• Citizenship- Aliens that are foreign born residents who have not become citizens generally do not have the right to vote (states can give them the right).• States may draw a distinction between native-

born and naturalized citizens with regard to suffrage.

#2 Residence

• In most cases, a person must live in a state before they can vote. Why?• To keep a political machine from bringing in enough

outsiders to affect the outcome of an election• Allow a voter some time to get to know the candidates

• States did impose a year in the State, 60 or 90 days in the county and 30 days in the precinct- AL,LA, SC• Today most States now require that a voter be a legal

resident but do not attach a time period • Dunn v. Blumstein-1972- Congress banned longer than 30

days for waiting period.• No transients- traveling sales, armed services and college

#3 Age

• 26th Amendment- ratified more quickly than any amendment in the Constitution

• 18-20 year olds are the least likely to vote• 1972 election-48%• 2000 election-28%• Nebraska- anyone that is 18 by the first

Tuesday after the first Monday in November can vote anytime that calendar year.

Registration

• Procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting.

• Purging and Poll Books

• Requirements• Most states require a waiting period of 20-30

days, but ME and WI allow voters to register at any time, up to and including election day.

Registration Controversies

• Voter turnout started to decline when states went to mandatory registrations in the early 1900’s.

• Voter turnout is much better in Europe where by law everyone is registered. U.S. in only democracy in the world where registration is a choice.

• Motor voter law-1993 (effective in 1995)• Register to vote, by mail, registration form available

at all state offices. • Crawford v. Marion County Election Board 2008- can

use photo I.d’s

Literacy Requirement

• Today no state has a suffrage qualification based on voter literacy- a person’s ability to read and write.

• 1855 in CN and 1857 in MA prevented Irish immigrants from voting. Southern states adopted by 1890 to keep African Americans from voting.

• Grandfather clause- any man, or male descendants, who had voted in the State before the adoption of the 15th Amendment

• 1970- Oregon v. Mitchell- ban literacy tests

Tax Payment

• 24 Amendment- prevent poll taxes

• Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections- held in conflict with the 14 Amendment

Who does not have the right to vote?

• Mentally ill

• Criminals

• Dishonorably discharged from the armed services

Suffrage

• 15th Amendment- intended that all African American men would have the right to vote.

• White primaries- states only allowed whites in the political parties and would exclude African Americans from critical stage of election process.

• Gerrymandering- practice of drawing electoral district lines in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party- Article

• Gomillion v. Lightfoot-1960- AL redrew district lines to exclude blacks from the city limits in Tuskegee.

Early Civil Rights Legislation

• Act of 1957- Created the United States Commission. Inquire into claims of voter discrimination.

• Act of 1960- appointment of federal voting referees. Given the power to help qualified persons to register and vote in federal elections.

• Civil Rights Act of 1964- injunction- contempt of court, a crime punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.

• Voting Rights Act of 1965• Made the 15th Amendment a true part of the

Constitution• Effect for 5 years..it has been extended 4 times; 1970,

1975, 1982 and 2006• The attorney general challenged the constitutionality of

the remaining state poll tax laws, suspended the use of any literacy test or similar device in any State where less than ½ of the electorate had been registered or had voted in the last presidential election.

• Preclearance- no new election laws, and no changes in existing election laws could go into effect unless approved by the Dept. of Justice.

Voter Behavior

• Are you an idiot?

Nonvoting

• On election day in 2008, 131/228 million people came out to vote for the presidential election

• 121/228 come out to vote for their House of Representative.

• On year v. Off year elections

• Nonvoters who vote- ballot fatigue

Why People Do Not Vote

• Cannot-Voters: out of 100 million people who did not vote in the 2008 election:• 10 million were resident aliens• 5-6 were ill• 2-3 suddenly traveling• 500,000- mental health patients• 2 million in jail• 100,000 can’t vote because

of religious beliefs• Remaining……

Continued…

• 80 million did not vote…why?• Many who generally approve of the way the

public’s business is being managed• Many who feel alienated- don’t trust political

institutions and processes• No sense of political efficacy- don’t believe

that their votes make a difference. • Inconvenient registration requirements, long

ballots, and long lines at polling places, time-zone fallout

Who votes/Who does not

• Higher income, higher levels of education, and occupational status. Usually well integrated into the community, strong sense of party identification and to believe that voting is important.

• Does not?

• Younger than 35, unmarried, and unskilled, live in South and in rural locales. Men are less likely to vote than women

Sociological Factors

• Income and Occupation: Voters in lower income brackets are more likely to be Democrats. Voters with higher incomes are usually Republicans. Professional and business people tend to vote more Republican and manual workers vote Democrat.

• Education: College graduates vote more Republican… so on down the line.

• Gender/age- Gender Gap- women generally tend to favor the Democrats, men favor the Republicans – both by 5-10%

continued

• Younger voters have been more likely to vote Democrat

• Religion, Ethnic Background- Protestants have usually favored the GOP. 55% of voters that go to church once a week marked their ballots for John McCain in 2008.

• Geography: Solid South/Midwest

• Family- 9/10 couples vote the same way, 2/3 follow their parents political attachments.

Psychological factors:

• Party identification- loyalty of people to a particular political party- single most significant and lasting predictor of how a person will vote.

• Straight ticket v. split ticket voting

• Candidate perception and issues