Voting rights (copy) (copy)

with some added notes from Bri

What was enfranchise/suffrage

the right to vote

who were allowed to vote when the U.S. was first established

only white men with property (rich, educated)

who was it left up to determine who could and couldn’t vote originally

The states

What did Andrew Jackson do

He extended the right to vote to all white men over 21 in the 1820’s regardless of property, wealth, or status

(Jacksonian democracy)

what is disenfranchisement

taking away the right to vote

When was the U.S. constitution written and ratified

written 1787, ratified 1789

What was the first governing document of the Us

The Articles of the confederation

What was wrong with the Articles of the confederation which was why they changed it

• gave states too much power

• congress had little power

  • they revised/altered/modified it in Philadelphia May 1787

What did the 10 amendment do

give states the power

what is federalism

shared power between the states and federal government

it is one of the six principles

What ist he highest authority in a state

governer

What does each state have

3 branches and a bicameral house

What were the 3 amendments added after the civil war

called reconstruction amendments

13) freed black slaves in the south

14) gave black people citizenship

15) gave black men the right to vote (ratified 1870)

When did the civil war end

1865

What was reconstruction

It was the rebuilding of the south right after the civil war

What were barriers to voting that black people faced

• literacy test

• poll taxes

• white only primaries (primaries is when all the members of the party vote for their representative)

• grandfather clause (if your grandfather or great grandfather voted you could too)

What is Popular Sovereignty

For the people, by the people

The 15th amendment (list facts)

• gave African Americans the right to vote

• was ratified as a result of the civil war (along wit 13 and 14)

• Has two sections

What was Jim Crow

• A system that includes any law that suppresses black people

• rose after the hayes-tilden compromise of 1877

• multiple tactics to supress balck voting began to be implemented

More barriers for black voters

Gerrrymandering - cutting out where you know the votes are yours

black people were also evicted for registering to vote (this led to the creation of tent city)

what ended reconstruction

Hayes-Tilden compromise of 1877

just more notes stuff

• 11 southern states ceeded and some people pressured abraham lincon

  • by 1910, nearly all black citizens were disenfranchised int he former confederate states

  • In the 1890’s, southern states began to amend their constitutions and enact laws to solidify white political supremacy. ex: poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and white only primaries

When was the 19th amendment ratified and who did it give voting rights to

1920, women

What was Guinn vs. US

Got rid of the grandfather clauses.

Supreme court ruled that they were unconstitutional because it violated the equal voting rights gauranteed by the 15th amendment

What gave all Native Americans born in the U.S. citizenship

The Indian citizenship act of 1924

(however it didn’t give full voting rights to Native Americans)

What was smith vs. Allwright

Got rid of white only priamries

What was the 23rd amendment

gave residents of D.C. the right to vote but only in presidentals/general elections

24th amendment

ended poll taxes in FEDERAL elections, ratified 1964

What was Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections

ruled that poll taxes were unconstitutional and ended them in ALLelections

What was Tent City

Established by African Americans who were evicted from their homes for attempting to register to vote in the 1960’s

What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do

• The act was implemented to outlaw poll taxes, literacy tests, and prevent states with a history of using these from doing it without federal knowledge

  Section 4 provided the formula for the federal government to identify jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination.

  c) test or device is defined as any precondition to vote in which a person has to prove that they can read, write, understand, or interpret or show that they had education, a good moral character, or need to be vouched by registered voters.

  d) no state or political subdivision can use these to deny people the right to vote.

  Section 5 required these sections to get preclearance from the Department of Justice before making any changes to their registration and voting laws

  Section 10 a. Congress determines that the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting precludes people of limited means from voting or places unreasonable financial burden on these people as a precondition to exercise their right to vote. It is not reasonable and it can illegally keep people from voting

  b. Congress and the Attorney General will use its power to take action in states or political subdivisions against the enforcement of any form of poll tax as a condition to vote.

What did section 2 of the voting rights act of 1965 talk about

address and get rid of the discrimination which led to voter suppression tactics against those of different race or color

What did section 4 of the voting rights act of 1965 do

suspended literacy tests and all prerequisites for voting/registration in which voters had to demonstrate their ability to read, write, understand, or interpret something.

give the federal government a way to identify areas with a history of racial discrimination in voting. primary states were: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia

Section 5 of the voting rights act of 1965

required areas with a history of racial voting discrimination to get approval from the Department of Justice before making any changes to their voting or registration laws.

section 10 of voting rights act of 1965

Got rid of the payment of a poll tax as a precondition to voting

Who signed the voting rights act of 1965 into law

President Lyndon B. Johnson

What was the 26th amendment

It lowered the voting age for all Americans to eighteen years, having previously been twenty-one years (1971)

What was Shelby County v. Holder

it weakened the Voting Rights Act by removing the pre-clearance requirement

What was the first state to grant women the right to vote

Wyoming in 1890.

other western states followed wyomings lead (colorado, 1893. Utah&Idaho, 1896)

Why did many western states grand women suffrage well before the 19th amendment

To encourage settlement of the land.

Richardson v. Ramirez

The supreme court ruled that convicted felons could be barred from voting without violating their 14th Amendment rights.

Allen v. Milligan 2023

Alabama redistricting map after the 2020 census packed black voters into a single district to dilute their vote elsewhere, thus challenging section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Shockingly, the Supreme Court ruled that it was discriminatory and ordered that the districts be redrawn in a non discriminatory way

Crawford v Marion County 2008

The Supreme court upheld Indiana’s strict voter ID law. It had been challenged that it placed undue burden on those who didn’t have one, mainly people of color but the court ruled that it wasn’t and as a state, Indiana had the right to place its own legal requisites. A Harvard Law School Study shows that in modern currency, the cost of obtaining an ID is about 3 times the value of the poll tax in its time.

Brnovich v Democratic National Committee (2021)

Arizona passed a law in which it was a felony for citizens (except for family members, licensed caregivers, and election officials) to collect ballots for delivery to polling places or to vote at a precinct that one is not assigned to. This practice is common among Native Americans. The Supreme Court upheld the law and said that it wasn’t discriminatory and the state was in its right to make their own voting laws.

Georgia’s exact Match Law 2018

Georgia required that voter registration exactly match state and federal records. Even a small typo could place someone under pending. This mostly affected African American voters and other minorities.

North Dakota Voter ID law (2013-2018)

The state passed a Voter ID law in which voters needed to show ID that had a residential address but many Native Americans living on reservations use P.O boxes instead of street addresses, so the law effectively disenfranchised them.

Florida’s Felon Disenfranchisement

Florida passed amendment 4 which gave people with felony convictions the right to vote. However, they had to pay all fines, fees, and restitution before their voting rights could be restored, effectively creating a form of poll tax.

Texas Voter Purge

Texas tried to purge nearly 100,000 from the rolls, saying they were non citizens. It was based on flawed data and mostly targeted Latino voters. Thankfully a judged kept it from being passed, claiming it would lead to the disenfranchisement of many eligible voters.