Voters and Voter Behavior Flashcards
two long-term trends
- federal laws and amendments eliminated all restrictions to vote (expanding American electorate)
- reduced the power of individual states over a citizen’s right to vote
the original electorate
- 1789, property and tax qualifications restricted the electorate to white male property owners
- 1:15 had right to vote
Jacksonian democracy
- Andrew Jackson and supporters had respect for common sense and abilities of common man
- eliminated property ownership and tax payments as qualifications for voting
- 1850, all white males had right to vote
Fifteenth Amendment
- prohibited voting restrictions based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
- However, literary tests, poll taxes, white primaries, and grandfather clause prohibited African Americans
Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
- women = full voting rights in NY and some Western states
- removed voting restrictions based on gender
23rd Amendment (1961)
-added voters of District of Columbia to presidential electorate
24th Amendment (1964)
- poll taxes discouraged citizens from voting
- outlawed any tax as qualification for voting
Voting rights act of 1965
- prohibited any govt from using voting procedures that denied a person based on race or color
- abolished the use of literacy requirements for anyone who had completed the sixth grade
- authorized federal registrars to protect African Americans’ right to vote in Southern states and counties with histories of discrimination
26th Amendment (1971)
- minimum voting age = 18
- state can set it lower
factors that influence turnout
- education
- income
- age
- gender
- religion
- race
- cross-pressures
education
- more education, more likely to vote
- more education, more Republican
- 2008 election defied this bc more college graduates voted for Obama
income
- more income, more likely to vote
- less income, less likely to vote
- 2008 election = equally split
age
- older more likely
- young voters = Democratic
- old voters = Republican
gender
- women more than men
- women favor Democrats; men favor Republicans (gender gap 1980s)
religion
- Jews/Catholics more likely to vote than Protestants
- Protestants = Republicans
- Jew/Catholic = Democrats
race
- whites more likely than minority groups
- when income and education eliminated, black citizens vote at higher rate than whites
- Roosevelt = blacks turned toward democratic party
cross-pressures
- voters belong to more than one group
- anything that produces this, reduces voter turnout
key statistics of nonvoters
- 230 million people have right to vote
- 60% actually voted in 2008
- lower than other democracies
factors that decrease voter turnout
- voter registration
- a decline in political efficacy
- frequent elections
- weekday, non-holiday voting
voter registration
- 49 states: registration laws require voters to place name on electoral roll in order to be allowed to vote
- significantly reduced fraud
National Voter Registration Act of 1993
allowing people to register to vote while applying for or renewing a driver’s license
a decline in political efficacy
- political efficacy: belief that political participation and voting can make a difference
- citizens believe their vote will not affect outcome (distrust in govt)
frequent elections
- produces more elections than any other modern democracy
- makes it difficult for citizens to keep up with all the candidates running for office
weekday, nonholiday voting
- difficult for people to leave work and vote
- first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
