Transcript American History of Voting Rights

American History of
Voting Rights
Federal Law and Constitutional Amendments
Early Voting Rights
• Suffrage or Franchise: means the right to vote
• Electorate: potential voting population
• Early U.S. History: only white adult males who
owned property were allowed to vote
• Denied the right to vote: poor white males who
did not own property, females, slaves, free
African-Americans, Native-Americans, immigrants
DENIED
th
15
Amendment (1870)
• “The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any state on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude”
• Gave all adult males the right to vote
• Preventing African-American Males from voting in
the South
 Literacy Test
 Poll Tax
 Grandfather
Clause
th
19
Amendment (1920)
• “The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any state on account of sex”
• Gave all adult females the right to vote
Susan B. Anthony
Civil Rights Acts for Voting
• Civil Rights Act of 1957:
• Commission could investigate claims of voter discrimination
• Attorney General could intervene with lawsuits seeking
injunctive relief against violations of the 15th Amendment
• Civil Rights Act of 1960:
• Provided for the appointment of federal voting referees
• Referees were given the power to help qualified voters
register to vote in federal elections
• Civil Rights Act of 1964:
• Forbid the use of a literacy test for a requirement to register to
vote in any unfair or discriminatory manner
• Focused on the use of Federal Court injunctions to force
states to comply with federal voting laws
th
24
Amendment (1964)
• “The right of citizens of the United States to vote in
any primary or other election for President or Vice
President, for electors for President or Vice
President, or for Senator or Representatives in
Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or any State by reason of failure to
pay any poll tax or other tax”
• Outlawed the poll tax in all federal elections
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Outlawed the literacy test as requirement to vote in all
elections
• US Attorney General has the power to appoint voting
examiners to serve in areas were racial discrimination exists
(mainly in the south) to help blacks register to vote
• Drastically increased the number of registered black
voters in the Southern States
• Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966) Supreme
Court outlawed the poll tax in all state and local elections
TAX
Voting Rights Act of 1970
• Gave 18 year olds the right to vote in federal
elections
• Also contained a provision lowering the voting
age to 18 in state elections, but the Supreme
Court declared this unconstitutional.
• Would lead to the passage of the 26th
Amendment in 1971
26th Amendment (1971)
• “The right of citizens of the United States, who are
eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of age.”
• Lowered voting age from 21 to 18
• Direct result of the Vietnam War
National Voter Registration Act of 1993
• NVRA or the “motor voter” law
• Allows citizens to register to vote when they apply for a
drivers license at the DMV
• Allows citizens to register to vote at any state office that
provides public assistance or services for the disabled
• Allows citizens to register to vote by mail
• Requires states to update and maintain detailed voter
registration lists
Voter
• Unfunded Mandate (protested by Republicans)
Registration
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002
• Replace all lever-operated and punch-card voting devices by
2006 (touch screen computer systems)
• Direct result of the 2000 election (Bush v. Gore)
• Upgrade the training of election workers (poll workers)
• Centralize/computerize their voting registration systems to
facilitate the identification of qualified voters on election day
• Provide for provisional voting for those not listed on the poll
list (allow them to vote and verify later)
• Created the Election Assistance Commission
• Provides assistance to the U.S. military and disabled voters
• Funded mandate from the federal government
Bush: 50,455,156
271
Gore: 50,992,335
266
Nader: 2,882,897
0
Election of 2008
2008 in South Carolina
President 100.0%
of 2,291 precincts
President
100.0%
of reporting
Updated: 11/6/2008 10:08 PM
2,291 precincts
reporting
Candidate
Party
Vote Counts
Votes Cast
John McCain
GOP
1,018,756
53.8%
Barack Obama
Dem
850,121
44.9%
Bob Barr
Lib
7,209
0.4%
Chuck Baldwin
CST
6,625
0.4%Updated:
11/6/2008 10:08
PM
Election of 1980