AP Gov - Chapter 15: Voting Rights and Voter Behavior

franchise

right to vote

electorate

the large percentage of Americans

suffrage

qualifications for voting

Fifteenth Amendment

Gave African American males the right to vote; can’t deny citizens of their voting rights based on race

poll tax

simple fee required to vote

grandfather clause

allowed states to recognize a registering voter as it would have recognized his grandfather

White primary

popular method for southern states to keep African Americans from voting

Seventeenth Amendment

created the popular elections for senators

Nineteenth Amendment

Allowed for women’s suffrage

1975 Civil Rights Act

addressed discrimination in voter registration and established the U.S. Office of Civil Rights; first of such bill since Reconstruction

1964 Civil Rights Act

addressed voting that went along with the 24th Amendment

Twenty-fourth Amendment

outlawed poll taxes in federal elections

Voting Rights Act

outlawed literacy tests and put states with low voter turnout under observation by the Justice Department

preclearance provision

put states under federal supervision if they attempted to incent new, legal loopholes to diminish Black suffrage, such as moving polling places or gerrymandering

Twenty-third Amendment

Allowed Washington D.C. to appoint electors, but never more than those of the smallest state so that the District never has stronger influence than the smallest state

Twenty-Sixth Amendement

prevents states from denying citizens 18 and over the right to vote

rational-choice voting

model in which a voter has examined an issue or candidate and consciously decided to vote in the way that seems to most benefit the voter

retrospective voting

model in which a voter looks backward to consider candidates’ track records to vote

prospective voting

model in which voters anticipate the future to vote

party identification

when one “self-identifies” with a party, acknowledging membership or openly referring to themselves as a Democrat or Republican

voting-age population

everyone at or over the age of 18

voter turnout

number of voters who actually cast votes as a percentage

voter registration

enrollment in the electoral roll

wards

subdivisions of counties, cities, and towns for voting

precincts

small geographical area of about 500-1000 voters

polling place

usually a school or community center where voters are assigned

National Voter Registration Act

increases citizen participation and to alleviate the burden of having to make a special effort to register to vote

motor-voter law

addresses national standards and enforcement of voter registration, mail-in registration, and government agency-based registration

Help America Vote Act

imposes a number of requirements on states, mostly to create national standards for voting and election management

Australian ballot

current ballot used; must be printed and distributed at public dispense, show all qualifying candidates’ names, be available only at the polling place, and be done in complete private

provisional ballots

set aside when voting discrepancies occur until election officials verify that voting occurred at the correct polling place based on the voter’s registration address

absentee ballot

used when a voter cannot make it to the polls and mailed

voter-eligible population

citizens who could legally vote if they wished

voter apathy

lack of concern for the election outcome

political efficacy

sense that a voter’s vote makes a difference

voting blocs

groups that tend to vote in noticeable patterns