US GovernmentOctober 28, 2015

Daily Warm-up: 10-28-15

“No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” Where have you seen this restriction? Do you

think it is fair to place that restriction on paying customers?

Daily Objectives:

Students will be able to… identify the universal requirements for voting in the U.S.

explain the other requirements that States have used or still use as voting qualifications.

Agenda:

1. Daily Warm-up

2. Daily Objective Review

3. Voting Rights Explained Video

4. Voters and Voter Behavior: Voter Qualifications PWPT

5. Chapter 6 Section 2 Assessment pg. 157 #1-6

Homework: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 6th Periods-Work on your project!

Voting Rights Explained Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrDvOhQqWAQ

Universal Requirements

Every State requires that any person who wants to vote must meet the following 3 factors: Citizenship

Residency

Age

Universal Requirements

Citizenship Aliens—foreign born residents who have not become

citizens—generally cannot vote.

Nothing in the Constitution states that aliens cannot vote and any State could allow them to do so if they chose to.

During different times, about 1/4 the States permitted aliens who applied for naturalization the right to vote.

Today, only two States draw distinctions between native-born and naturalized citizens:

Minnesota requires a person to have been a citizen for at least 3 months prior to voting; Pennsylvania requires at least 1 month of citizenship

Universal Requirements

Residence You must be a legal resident in the State in which you wish

to vote.

States adopted residence requirements for 2 reasons: to keep a political machine from importing (bribing) enough

outsiders to affect the outcome of local elections

to allow new voters at least some time to become familiar with the candidates and issues in an election

Traditionally, residency was achieved after living in the State for a year, 60-90 days in the country, 30 days in the local precinct.

Universal Requirements

Residence Today, residency requirements aren’t as long; typically 30

days Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970

Dunn v. Blumstein 1972

States prohibit transients—people living in the State for only a short time, from gaining a legal residence there

College students, members of the armed services, etc. cannot vote in a State where they have temporary residence

Some States allow college students to vote if they claim the campus as their legal residence

Universal Requirements

Age The 26th Amendment extends suffrage to citizens who are

at least 18 years of age. Any State could set the age at less than 18 if it chose to do so

Until 1970, the age requirement for voting was 21 Georgia allowed 18 year olds in 1943; Kentucky 1955; Alaska

1959 (voting age of 19); Hawaii (voting age of 20)

26th Amendment is largely attributed to “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote”

1972-48% of 18-20 year olds voted; 2000-28% of 18-20 year olds voted

Other Qualifications

States have imposed a number of other qualifications over time: Literacy requirements

Tax payment

Registration (survived)

Other Qualifications

Registration 49 States (all but ND) require voters to register

Registration—procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting

Also helps identify voters’ party preference

Purging—the process of removing names of those who are no longer eligible to vote.

Happens every 2-4 years; often ignored

Poll Books—the official list of qualified voters in each precinct—tend to become clogged with ineligible voters

Some view registration as a bar to voting, especially by the poor and less educated

Other Qualifications

Registration The U.S. is the only democratic country where people have to

decide whether or not they will register to vote

Motor Voter Law 1993 directs each State to: Allow all eligible citizens to register to vote when they apply/renew a

driver’s license

Provide voter registration by mail

Make registration forms available at the local offices of State employment, welfare, and other social service agencies

Each State must mail a questionnaire to registered voters every 4 years to purge poll books

By 2000, 8 million people had registered to vote by the Motor Voter Law

Other Qualifications

Literacy No State has a suffrage qualification based on

literacy—a person’s ability to read/write In most cases it was used unfairly to prevent certain

groups from voting

Connecticut 1855; Massachusetts 1857—limit voting by Irish Catholic immigrants

Other Qualifications

Literacy Mississippi 1890; southern States followed—limit African

American vote

Grandfather clauses—changes to State Constitutions to assist white males in voting who could not pass the literacy tests

Stated that any man, or his male descendants, who had voted in the State before the adoption of the 15th Amendment could become a legal voter without passing literacy tests or paying taxes

Guinn v. United States 1915

Other Qualifications

Literacy Other States outside the south also adopted literacy tests

Wyoming 1889; California 1894; Washington 1896; New Hampshire 1902; Arizona 1913; New York 1921; Oregon 1924; Alaska 1949

Congress eliminated literacy as a qualification for suffrage in 1970 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act Amendments

Oregon v. Mitchell 1970

Other Qualifications

Tax Payment Property ownership (payment of taxes on that property)

was a suffrage qualification

Several States also demanded the payment of a poll tax as a condition of voting

Southern States adopted the poll tax after 1889 to discourage African American voting

The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, outlawed the poll tax as a condition of voting

Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections 1966

Other Qualifications

Persons Denied the Vote None of the 50 States allows people in mental institutions,

or others who have been found mentally incompetent the right to vote

Several States prohibit anyone committing a serious crime from gaining or regaining the right to vote

In some States, those who are dishonorably discharged from the military are not allowed to vote