1.2A Wider Franchise And Debates Over Suffrage

Question 1

What is franchise/suffrage

Answer 1

The ability or right to vote in public elections

Question 2

What people are ineligible to vote

Answer 2

• People under 18
• EU citizens (apart from Irish republic) although they can vote in local elections
• House of Lords
• those convicted of electoral fraud are barred for 5 years
• those detained in a psychiatric hospital

Question 3

What was the great reform act of 1832

Answer 3

• abolished the separate representation of the most underpopulated ‘rotten boroughs’ and creating seats for urban areas, such as Manchester
• granting the vote to some new categories of people in the counties, including tennant farmers and smaller property holders
• creating a standard qualification for the franchise in the boroughs, so it now applied to all boroughs, so it now applied to all male householders living in properties worth 10 quid per annum

Question 4

Some key dates for voting rights

Answer 4

1867 - borough householders, electorate rises from 2 million - 13% of population
1884 - rural householders, rises to 25% of adult population
1918 - all men over 21 and women over 30, 75% of adult population
1928 - terms for men and women equalised, full adult suffrage
1948 - end of plural voting ( more then a vote for each person)
1969 - voting age reduced to 18

Question 5

Who were the suffragists

Answer 5

• leaded by millicent Fawcett in 1897 (Nuwss)
• were mainly middle - class women who believed in non - violent methods of pursuasion

Question 6

Who were the suffragettes

Answer 6

• Led by emmeline Pankhurst, a former suffragist who were supported by her daughter christabel formed the WSPU
• used more militant tactics, eg: Emily Davison threw herself under a kings horse at the Epsom derby

Question 7

What was the 1918 representation of the people act

Answer 7

Female enfranchisement, women over age of 30 who were householders or wives of householders

Question 8

Can there be Votes for people 16+

Answer 8

16,17 years olds were allowed to vote in Scottish independence referendum in 2014
Electoral reform society supports votes at 16

Question 9

what people are eligible to vote

Answer 9

• over 18’s
• people apart of the common wealth
• people who are registered in the UK