Chapter 7 | Part 1 | - Voting

Voting Registration, Documentation, Acts, and key terms/vocublary

Disenfrenchisement Efforts in Voting Registration

• Literacy Tests

• Grandfather Clauses

• Poll Taxes

Voting Rights Act (VRA)

Examiners had the power to oversee and minotory voter registration and elections. States found to violate provisions of the VRA were required to get changes in their election laws approved by the U.S attorney general or by going through the court system.

Voting Requirements

• Legitamate Residency Requirement

• 30 days within state

National Voter Registration Act (1993)

Enacted to expedite the registration process and make it as simple as possible for voters. Acts required states to allow citizens to register to vote when they sign up for driver’s licenses and S.S benefits.

Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA)

Was passed in order to reform voting across states and reduce these problems.

States were REQUIRED to make voting more accessible to the disabled and maintain updates regularly

Voting-age Population (VAP)

Consists of persons who are eighteen and older. some of these persons may not be eligible to vote in state but they are included because they are of age to do so.

SOME from ALL

Voting-eligible population (VEP)

Citizens eighteen and older who, whether they have registered or not, are eligible to vote because they are citizens, mentally competent, and not imprisoned.

A SUBSET POPULATION

Voter turnout

Percentage of eligble individuals who actually vote

Turnout since the 1960s

Has be about 60% but has declined significantly over the decades

WHY do people vote?

• Socioeconomic status

• Political Environment

• State Electoral Laws'

  (SPS)

Socioeconomic Satus

More likely to vote if they have higher levels of:

• Education

• Income

• Older/Wiser

Political Environment

Mobilization efforts to attract voters to polls (THINK OF STACY ABHRAMS)

Electoral Compeition and Ballot Measures

Mobilization

The process by which large numbers of people are organized for a political activity

State Electoral Laws

All states implement voting and election laws differently:

• Voter turnout rates differ by state

• Registration requirements vary by state and CAN reduce turnout

Voter Identification Laws

• Requires voters to provide proof of identity

• Republics argure laws are needed to prevent voter fraud

• Democrats counter that voter fraud is nearly nonexistent and that ID laws are designed to suppress turnout

Major Factors influencing Voter Decisions

• Partisian Loyalty

• Issues and Policy preferences

• Candidate Characteristics

Primary Election

Elections held to select a party’s candidate for the general election

Closed Primary

A primary election in which only voters of the party in which they are enrolled can participate

Open Primary

A primary election in which all registered voters, including independents, can participate.

General Election

follows the primary elections and determines who is ultimately elected to office