ch. 6

The 24th Amendment forbids states from requiring payment of any tax as a condition to vote for any federal officer (President, Vice President, or member of Congress).

How did the 24th Amendment change voting requirements in the states?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave federal officers the power to oversee the conduct of elections in certain states.

What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 accomplish?

The history of American suffrage since 1789 has been marked by two trends. These are the gradual elimination of several restrictions on the right to vote and an increase in federal power over the right to vote.

What has been a trend in the history of American voting rights?

Candidates and political events may influence voters who have always voted within their political party. During times of heightened concern over the state of the nation, certain issues may lead people to vote for a person outside of their political party.

How are political scandals, economic problems, and wars likely to affect voter behavior?

Unlike previous laws, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 applied to all elections held anywhere in the United States

How did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 differ from previous voting laws?

In 1920, the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to women. Before that, women could only vote in certain states.

In 1920, how did the 19th Amendment expand the electorate?

In early 1965, Dr. King mounted a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. The registration efforts were met with violence. Three civil rights workers were murdered, and many were beaten. An outraged President Lyndon Johnson urged Congress to pass new and stronger legislation to ensure the voting rights of African Americans. This led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. Local citizens opposed him with violence. What law did Congress pass in response to this?

Although federal courts in the 1940s and 1950s struck down many practices designed to disenfranchise African Americans, the courts could act only when individuals who claimed discrimination filed suit. Such a case-by-case method was very slow.

In the 1940s and 1950s, federal courts struck down many unfair voting practices. Considering this, why were federal civil rights laws needed?

A person must be 18 years of age to vote in this country, although some states are moving toward allowing 17-year-olds to vote

Know the universal requirements for voting

Literacy tests were used by southern states to keep African Americans from voting. To allow white males to vote who could not read, some states added a grandfather clause to their constitutions. This said that anyone who had voted before the 15th Amendment (1870), or his male descendants, could become a legal voter.

Literacy tests used in the South threatened to keep white males from voting, as well as African Americans. What did these southern states do to make sure that white males who couldn't read could still vote?

Literacy tests were once used to keep African Americans from voting in most of the southern States.

Name tactics that many States once use to disenfranchise African American voters?

The 26th Amendment (1971) says that no state can set the minimum voting age at more than 18 years of age.

The 26th Amendment says that states have to allow the right to vote in what particular case?

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 set up the United States Commission on Civil Rights. This group investigated all claims of voter discrimination.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights was set up by which act of Congress?

The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State, although the Constitution does place five restrictions on the ability of the States to exercise that power.

To whom does the Constitution give the most power to set suffrage qualifications?

When registering to vote, a person must give his or her address and information about how long he or she has lived there. This proves that the new voter is a legal resident of the state.

When people register to vote, which question must they answer?

Nonvoters are likely to be unmarried, young, and unskilled.

Which describes a typical nonvoter?

In early 1965, Dr. King mounted a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. The registration efforts were met with violence. Three civil rights workers were murdered, and many were beaten. An outraged President Lyndon Johnson urged Congress to pass new and stronger legislation to ensure the voting rights of African Americans, which led to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Violence following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, voter registration drive in Selma led to?

Preclearance is the review of state voting law changes by the Justice Department. This review is supposed to prevent unfair changes in voting laws that discriminate against the voting rights of minorities.

What are preclearance requirements supposed to prevent?

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 allowed federal referees to be sent anywhere a federal court found voting discrimination.

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1960 do to help to enforce voting rights?

he Motor Voter Law was passed by Congress in 1993 and took effect in 1995. It requires every state (except North Dakota) to allow all eligible voters to register to vote when they apply for or renew a driver's license; provides for voter registration by mail; and makes registration forms available at state employment offices and social service agencies.

What federal law passed in 1993 was intended to make voter registration easier?

The 26th Amendment says that a citizen who is 18 years of age or older shall not be denied the right to vote

What is a requirement for voting in every state?

Suffrage and franchise both mean the right to vote.

What is a synonym for suffrage?

The three universal requirements for voting in the United States are citizenship, legal residency, and age.

What is one of the universal requirements for voting in the United States?

Many think the registration requirement should be abolished because it is a bar to voting, especially by the poor and less educated.

What is the main criticism of the registration requirement for voting ?

Qualifications for voting were adopted by Connecticut and Massachusetts in the 1850s and were designed to limit voting by Irish Catholic immigrants. Literacy qualifications later became a prime device for preventing African Americans from voting, particularly in Southern States

What is the main purpose of the first literacy qualifications?

The Framers left the power to set suffrage qualifications to the states. Since 1789, however, the federal government has gradually assumed control of this area of election law.

What is true about the history of American suffrage since 1789?

Many African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos were kept from voting using the literacy requirement.

What prevented certain groups of voters such as African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos from voting?

In Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 1966, the Supreme Court declared the poll tax went against the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. This meant the poll tax and other taxes could no longer be used as a requirement for voting.

What reasoning did the Supreme Court give for banning the poll tax as a requirement for voting?

Religious qualifications for voting disappeared in the early 1800s, followed by property ownership and tax payment qualifications. By the mid-1800s, almost all white adult males could vote in every State.

What restriction on the right to vote was the first to be eliminated?

Property ownership requirements for voting were eliminated in the early 1800s.

What voting requirement was the first to be eliminated?

Franchise and suffrage both mean the right to vote.

What word has the same meaning as franchise?

Independents do not belong to a political party. They tend to be well-informed, educated, and younger than the average voter.

Which describes typical independent voters?

Independents do not belong to any political party. They are difficult to count because they do not register as members of a party, but it is estimated that they are about one-third of all voters.

Which group is difficult to count but probably includes about one-third of all voters?

There are about 2 million people in prison who cannot vote.

Which group of people cannot vote?

Women tend to vote in larger numbers than men.

Which group tends to cast more votes?

Millions of Americans do not vote or only vote for some offices. Many of these nonvoters have no interest in politics.

Which is a true statement about the millions of Americans who do not vote?

Political socialization is the way people get their political attitudes and opinions. This includes all the experiences that influence one's political behavior. An example would be family members tending to vote for the same political party.

Which is an example of political socialization?

Those citizens that do not have political efficacy believe their votes have no impact in an election.

Which is likely to be a statement from someone who does not have political efficacy?

Local elections, such as those for sheriff or district attorney, get the lowest voter turnouts.

Which kind of election can be expected to generate the lowest voter turnout?

Turnout is consistently higher in years of presidential elections than it is in off-year elections, primaries, or special elections.

Which of the following elections will normally attract the greatest number of voters?

Of the reasons listed, the most important cause for not voting is simply a lack of interest in politics.

Which of the following is not a reason for nonvoting?

There are often measurable differences between the partisan choices of men and women. This phenomenon is known as the gender gap.

Which of the following statements is evidence of the gender gap?

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 provided for federal voting referees, who were given the power to help qualified persons register and vote in federal elections.

Which of the following was a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1960?

Strong loyalty to a political party often results in straight-ticket voting. Straight-ticket voters often vote for all of the party's candidates in every election.

Which type of voting often results from strong loyalty to a political party?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 directed the attorney general to challenge the remaining state poll-tax laws in the federal courts.

Which was an important part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

The Framers of the Constitution gave the states the power to set suffrage qualifications, or who would have the right to vote.

Who did the Framers of the Constitution allow to set suffrage qualifications?

In the 1920s, African Americans were the largest group of disenfranchised citizens in the United States. Although the 15th Amendment was passed after the Civil War, it was not made an effective part of the Constitution until the Civil Rights era of the 1960s

Who was the largest group of disenfranchised citizens in the 1920s despite the 15th Amendment?

In 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, the states were given the power to set suffrage qualifications, or decide who would have the right to vote. At that time, only white, male property owners were allowed to vote.

Who was the only group allowed to vote in 1789?

The 15th Amendment, passed after the Civil War ended, gave all eligible male Americans the right to vote. However, in many southern states, African Americans were unfairly kept from voting. It took the civil rights movement to finally make the amendment an effective part of the Constitution.

Why did many African Americans in the South not vote even after the passage of the 15th Amendment?

Preclearance was a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It stated that no new election laws—or changes in existing laws—could go into effect in certain states unless first approved by the Justice Department.

Why did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 require preclearance?

voters are required to register mainly to prevent people from voting more than once.

Why do states have voter registration?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in voting practices and in the workplace. The act also outlawed unfair voter registration methods and literacy requirements.

Why was did the Civil Rights Act of 1964passed?