lecture two: voting rights

what are some historical dark sides to voter turnout?

• not used now but:

  -white primaries

  -poll taxes

• everything following the civil war mandated voting in the south

what are some current dark sides to voter turnout?

• registration limitations/barriers

• voter id requirements

• limits on mail in/drop off voting

• limits on early voting

  *differs per state*

what are some past voting rights and barriers for racial minorities?

• 15th amendment allows all men to vote, but not women

• BUT souther states still used:

  -poll taxes

  -literacy tests

  -testing understanding of texas constitution

  -good character reference form community

  -white only primaries: because primaries were run by parties and parties are private organizations, primaries were not subject to the 15th amendment

what describes the smith v. allwright (1944) case?

landmark case that declared white primaries unconstitutional

• seen as beginning the modern civil rights movement

what describes the civil rights act of 1964?

prohibited unequal standards for who can vote, but only in federal elections (only way it would get passed) BUT supreme court extended it to all elections in 1965

what did the 1965 voting rights law do?

• suspended all voting barriers

• introduced the “coverage formula” which determined which states had to have federal “pre-clearance” of any proposed changes to their voting laws

what did the voting rights law of 1970 do?

set the voting age to 18 (fueled from vietnam war)

how does turnout in presidential elections in texas compare to national overt time?

almost always lower, but much closer to national after civil war before dropping again

how does gerrymandering impact elections

restricts certain runners from ever having a chance to win office

• prohibited black wins in alabama

• BUT fixed by section five of the 1965 law

what describes the shelby county v. holder case?

supreme court declared section 4 of the 1965 voting rights act UNCONSTITUTIONAL

• courts still didn’t think that all voting discrimination is resolved BUT still thought section four as being too harsh

  -section four outlived its usefulness

  -section four could not be justified fro current needs

• court found that section four infringed states rights under the tenth amendment and doctrine of equal treatment of states

• court stated that congress may DRAFTa new coverage formula, BUT likely to never be passed today

what is the dissenting opinion regarding the shelby county v. holder case?

the dissent argued two reasons to KEEP law in place:

• facilitate completion of impressive gains this far

• guard against backsliding

• also thought the argument of separation of powers as a sufficient reason to keep role in congress

• also thought the law went beyond VRA initial purpose and that should remain as a safeguard

how did texas react to the case?

• immediately moved to enact two voting related laws still pending clearance with federal government

  -voter id law

  -redistricting plan

• no additional state action required to implement tx voter registration changes- had not yet been challenged by the federal government