Voting

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Voting
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Qualifications

• citizenship
• -- groups have been
• denied citizenship
• throughout our
• history.

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• 18 yrs old -- since 1971 26th amend.

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• legal residency in state where you live
• registration required except N.Dakota

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..right to vote denied

• people deemed mentally incompetent
• people in mental institutions

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• felons
• -14 states -- for life.-32 states -- while
  on parole.-29 states -- on probation.

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.its been a long, hard road.

• 1776 Abigail Adams asks the Continental Congress
  to support women's rights.
• 1776-early 1800s Struggle to remove religious
  restrictions

and we all know how well THAT went over.
though the Constitution prohibits religious
restrictions, former colonies had pre-existing
religious bars that continued through the early
1800s. Maryland extended voting rights to Jews
in 1828.
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weve only just begun..

• 1790 Citizenship limited to "whites.
• - Naturalization law white defined as pure
  European
• ancestry everyone else excluded.
• 1788-1856 Struggle to remove property
  restrictions.

and, of course, limited to male property owners.
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.and the struggle continues

• 1848 Mexican-Americans are denied
• voting rights in the southwest.
• 1867 14th Amendment extends citizenship to
  African-Americans.
• 1870 15th Amendment extends vote to
  African-Americans.
• 1867-1877 Reconstruction.
• -- in late 1860s, more blacks are registered
• to vote than whites in 10 deep south
  states,
• and many are elected to office..

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...just when you think.

• 1877 End of reconstruction and black voting
  rights in the south
• --- intimidation, beatings, lynchings,
  evictions,
• property destroyed, registration rolls
  purged,
• black office holders removed, literacy
  tests,
• poll taxes, segregation laws
• 1870-1923 Asians denied citizenship

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and the band played on..

• 1920 19th Amendment extends right to vote to
  women.

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• 1924 Native-American citizenship
• 1942-1952 Asian citizenship rights.

voting rights still widely denied to both groups
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• 1944 "White-only" Primaries Ruled
  Unconstitutional.
• 1945-1960 GIs fight for civil rights.

Black, Latino, Native American GIs returning
from WWII
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• 1948 State laws denying the vote to
  Native-Americans are overturned

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• 1960-1965 Civil Rights Movement demands the
  right to vote.

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• 1964 24th Amendment ends poll taxes.
• 1965 Passage of Voting Rights Act.

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• 1966 Poll taxes outlawed in state elections
• 1970 26th Amendment lowers voting age to 18.

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• 1975 Extension of Voting Rights Act to "language
  minorities."

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so, after all this, why do so many people not
vote?????
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• Voter apathy lack of interest in politics
• Feel it wont make a difference who wins
• ....because, either
• - everything is OK will continue to be
• .or
• - feel alienated dont trust the govt
• Feel that one vote doesnt matter/ wont count
• -- dissatisfaction with the electoral
  college
• system
• Uninformed dont know enough about candidates
  to make a choice

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(Ironically Paris Hilton neither voted nor died
in 2008)
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OK, so, lets take a look
average global voter turnout
Italy..92.5 Cambodia90.5
Indonesia...88.3 South Africa..85.5 Aust
ralia..84.4 Rwanda.82.0 Germany80.6
United Kingdom..74.9 Venezuela..72.2 Philippi
nes.69.6 Canada..68.4 France...67.3
Nicaragua..62.0 India...60.7 Zimbabwe.
.58.8 Russia.55.0 USA...48.3 Mexico
..48.1 El Salvador.44.3 Haiti42.9
Sudan..32.0 Guatemala.29.8 Egypt24.6
Mali21.7
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2004
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a little better
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....so, whats the big deal??

• Why is it important that people vote
• in a democracy?
• for there is a very real danger that the habits
  of good citizenship will die, and that government
  of the people, for the people, and by the people
  will become government of, for, and by the few
• .what does that
  meannn??

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• Democracy people rule
• System is based on people participating
• When people dont vote, leaders are not
  necessarily put in place who represent the ideas
  of the majority

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.hmmmmmm

• How does voter participation affect public
  policy???
• ....well, whats the most important thing to an
  elected official?
• Elected officials want to get elected again!
• ..so.who are they going to pay the most
  attention to?
• - They will listen most to the people who vote
  (.duh!!!!)and will often make policy decisions
  based on what voters want

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ok......sothink.

• What are some ways that voter turnout can be
  increased???
• Make registration easier, or eliminate the need
  to register ahead of time
• Make voting more convenient
• .like how????
• - better voting machines, vote from home
  computer, increase voting hours

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• Increase awareness about the importance of
  voting!!!
• ..like this class!!