Pols 12 final

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage

Disenfranchisement

Condition of being deprived of the right to vote

1778 Presential Elections

just W men who hold propreties (Disenfranchisied = 95% pop)

1790 Naturalization Act

restricted citizenship to "any alien, being a free white person" who had been in the U.S. for two years and hold good moral characters -->In effect, it left out indentured servants, slaves, and most women.

Fifteenth Amendment (1870)

Prohibited states from denying voting rights to African Americans. Southern states circumvented the Fifteenth Amendment through literacy tests and poll taxes.

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson

ruled that segregation was allowed, as long as the facilities were "separate but equal"

Poll Tax, Literacy Test, Grandfather Clause (prove your GF could vote before CW, exempting tax)

The segregated "Jim Crow" South used these to keep blacks from voting

If blacks tried to speak up for their rights, they would be attacked by the KKK

white primaries

Democratic primary in the south that was limited to white people; ruled unconstitutional in Smith v. Allwright 1944

Civil Right Act of 1964

this act banned segregation in all places of public accommodation, prohibited federal money from being used to support segregated programs and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to guard against employment discrimination

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

enforcement section or the check on what states can do

states and local governments *with a history of discriminatory *practices have to get any changes in voting laws approved by the federal government + federal examinators

the only way they could get out of section 5 was that if the states could prove they had had 10 years of nondiscriminatory voting laws (proven unconstitutional and section 5 was eventually taken out)

Black regstration after VRA

From 38% to 69% in 1969

Freedom Summer (1964)

Effort by civil rights groups in Mississippi to register black voters during the summer of 1964 --> faced violent White reaction

At-large elections

citywide or countrywide contests to determine the members of a city council for a county rather than districtwide

racial gerrymandering

The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960)., ex: Jackson in Mississipi, city with 35% Black pop but just 4% officials

Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960).

A United States Supreme Court decision that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise blacks violated the Fifteenth Amendment.

Amendment section 2 of VRA (1982)

addressed discriminatory effects of voting laws regardless of intent (ensured Minorities fair chance to elect representatives, actionable in court)

1924 Indian Citizenship Act

extended citizenship and voting rights to all Native Americans

1870 Naturalization Act

limited citizenship to "white persons and persons of African descent" (not lifted until 1943)

1882 Exclusion Act

Congress banned entry to all Chinese except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials. In 1892 congress extended law for 10 more years. In 1902 Chinese immigration restricted indefinitely and not repealed until 1943.

1898 Supreme court decision

all native born Chinese can be US Citizens

McCarran-Walter Act of 1952

Allows all legal residents to become naturalized citizens BUT limited immigration based on ethnicity, but made allowances in the quotas for persons displaced by WWII and allowed increased immigration of European refugees. Tried to keep people from Communist countries from coming to the U.S. People suspected of being Communists could be refused entry or deported.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Treaty that ended the Mexican War, granting the U.S. control of Texas, New Mexico, and CA in exchange for $15 million. Promized US Citizenship to Mexicans

Voting Act Rights Extension 1975

activism groups for Asian Am. and Latinos pushed for more inclusion

English only

20 states are organizing elections in english only

California Voting Right Act 2002

addressed at-large elections, maing easier for minorities to argue for district (increased Latino repsentation)

San Francisco and voting for non-citizens

allowed for specific elections (histo exception=NY State)

Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

Struck down provision of Voting Rights Act of 1965 requiring states engaged in past discrimination to get federal preclearance before instituting changes in voting laws or practices; allowed restrictive state voter ID laws to go forward (Roberts Court)

Thornburg v. Gingles (1986)

lines cannot be drawn to dilute minority votes but also cannot be drawn with race as predominant consideration

Bush v. Vera (1996)

Unconstitutional to shape if segregation of voters by race. is a United States Supreme Court case concerning racial gerrymandering, where racial minority majority-electoral districts were created during Texas' 1990 redistricting to increase minority Congressional representation.

Rucho v. Common Cause (2019)

In response to gerrymandering districts in North Carolina that favored Republicans and in Baltimore that favored Democrats; ruled that partisan gerrymandering was a political question and thus fell outside the jurisdiction of the courts.

Efficiency Gap

A metric for measuring gerrymandering: Party A's wasted votes minus Party B's wasted votes, divided by all the votes cast in the election.

Felon Disenfranchisement

The denial of voting rights to Americans who have been convicted of felonies

SB7066

In Florida, felons have to pay taxes before regaining Voting rights

Voter ID laws

laws that require a person to provide some form of official identification before they are permitted to register to vote, receive a ballot for an election, or to actually vote

Convenience voting measures

laws that make the process of voting easier

Electoral College System

delegates assign to each state a number of electors equal to the total of that state's representatives and senators; instituted because the delegates at Philadelphia feared that too much democracy might lead to mob rule

Purging of Voter Rolls

removal of citizens from voter rolls/registration lists

Registration laws

Require franchisors to provide a copy of disclosure documents to state regulators before selling franchises in the state