OUTLINE FOR NOTES ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

 

 

I.                     Popular Participation and Elections

a.        more than 520,000 elective offices in U.S.

b.       Cultural values in the U.S.  include mistrust of government and political participation however just 40% of the adult population voted in the 1996 presidential election and 38% in the 1994 congressional elections

 

II.                   Types of Participation – Verba and Nie Study

Sampled Americans about their roles in 12 kinds of political activities then narrowed the categories to include 6 types of participation:

a.        Inactives –

b.       Voting specialists –

c.        Communalists –

d.       Campaigners –

e.        Complete activists –

f.         Contacters –

 

III.                 The Vote

a.        Expansion of suffrage

1.        at founding –

2.        Jacksonian era –

3.        15th Amendment – adopted in 1870, prevented the explicit exclusion of African American males at least in principle.  States then attempt to outdo each other in developing methods of circumventing the 15th Amendment.

·         Oklahoma and other southern states used the Grandfather clause – declared unconstitutional in 1915 by the Supreme Court in Guinn v. U.S.

·         Poll tax – small tax levied on the right to vote paid on an annual basis.  Prohibited in Federal elections by the 24th amendment  ratified in 1964.  Two years later the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional in state elections as well in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections.

·         White Primaries – used in heavily Democratic South to exclude African Americans from voting in the primary elections thus depriving them of a voice in the most important contests and letting them vote only when it mattered least.  Declared unconstitutional in Smith v. Allright.

·         Voter Registration tests (literacy tests) – required literacy and an understanding of the Constitution and the political process.  Registrars would give the test and refuse African Americans who failed the difficult test  the opportunity to register while allowing poor illiterate to register even if they failed the test. Abolished with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

4.        Women and the Right to Vote

a.        Seneca Falls Declaration of Rights  July 9, 1848

 

 

b.       Suffrage movement leaders – Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Charlotte Woodward – movement most successful in the west.  Several states passed state laws allowing women the right to vote prior to the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment.  Wyoming refused to become a state unless its women were allowed to vote.  By 1916, 12 states allowed women to vote.  Fight was led by the members of the National American Women Suffrage Association the precursor to today’s League of Women Voters.

c.        19th Amendment ratified when the state of Tennessee agreed to ratify.  Alabama never formally ratified. 

 

 

5.        The Youth Vote

a.        26th Amendment   

6.        Other amendments that expanded the right to vote:

a.        23rd Amendment –

IV.                 Legislative action expanding suffrage: 

Most concern the enforcement of the 15th Amendment

a.        Civil Rights Act of 1957 –

b.       Civil Rights Act of 1960 –

c.        Civil Rights Act of 1965 –

d.       Voting Rights Act of 1965-

e.        Voting Rights Act Amendment of 1970

f.         Voting Rights Act Amendment of 1975

g.       Voting Rights Act Amendment of 1982

h.       Voting Rights Act Amendment of 1992

V.                   Removal of Voting Restrictions concerning Registration

a.        Grandfather Clause – unconstitutional 1915

b.       Poll Tax – 24th Amendment (1964) declared it unconstitutional

c.        Literacy Tests – Voting Rights Act of 1965 declared them illegal

d.       National Voter Registration Act – 1993 – League of Women Voters and NAACP push for adoption of bill making voter registration easier.  Also known as Motor Voter Law.  Apply to register to vote when you get your driver’s license.  Law also required that states allow mail in registration and registration at offices with public assistance.  First passed in Congress in 1992, it was vetoed by George Bush and reissued after Clinton in office and signed.

By 1996 election – number of registered voters at an all time high more than 76% of the voting age population. 

VI.                 Registration system

a.        varies from state to state

b.       requirements: 

1.        citizenship –all states

2.        residence – most states require; 10-50 days with the average being 30 days

3.        age – all states require a minimum age of 18 as of 1971 and the 26th Amendment

4.        registration – 49 states require – may now be done when drivers license is renewed or can be mailed in to the registrar’s office

5.        literacy – NO requirements an any states as of the Voting Rights Act

6.        tax payment – NO – outlawed in 24th amendment

7.        mental competency – all states require

8.        no criminal record – most states take back the right to vote if you are convicted of a serious crime (felony not misdemeanor)

VII.               Voter Turnout

a.        Is typically low in the United States

b.       Voter participation is lower in Congressional (off –year) elections than in presidential elections

c.        Two types of factors affect voting behavior –

1.        voters place in society affects whether he or she will turn out to vote

a.        income

b.       job

c.        education

d.       gender

e.        age

f.         religious, racial, and ethnic background

g.       state and area in which the voter lives – voter turnout in South is typically lower

h.       family

i.         group membership

2.        how the voters personally feels about the election

a.        party identification – loyalty to a particular party (best predictor of how a person will vote) if loyal to a certain party – will only vote for candidates of that party – called straight ticket voting

b.       many voters classify themselves as independents and do not identify with either major party.  They may vote for candidates from both major parties in a single election – called split-ticket voting.

c.        How the voters view the candidates  - one more likeable than the other??

d.       How much the voter cares about the issues in the election will either cause greater chance of voting or not depending on the depth of feeling.