Chapter 6:2: Voting Qualifications

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Chapter 6:2: Voting Qualifications"

Alice Gibson
5 years ago
Views:

1 Chapter 6:2: Voting Qualifications

2 (1Ti 4:12) Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

3 Chapter 6:2: Voting Qualifications: o We will identify the universal qualifications for voting in the U.S. o We will examine the other requirements that states use or have used as voting qualifications.

4 Voting Qualifications: (1) Citizenship (2) Residence (3) Age

5 Citizenship: o Aliens, foreign-born residents who have not become citizens are generally denied the right to vote in this country. o Still nothing in the Constitution states that aliens cannot vote. o States may draw distinction between native-born and naturalized citizens in regards to suffrage.

6 Residence: : o In order to vote in this country today, one must be a legal resident of the state in which he or she wishes to cast a ballot. o In many States, a person must have lived in the State for at least a certain period of time before he or she can vote.

7 Residence: o States adopted residence requirements for two reasons o (1) To keep a political machine from bringing in enough outsiders to affect the outcome of a election ( a once common practice) o (2) to allow new voters at least some time in which to become familiar with the candidates and issues in an upcoming election

Residence: o Both Congress and Supreme Court have declared that 30 days appears to be an ample period of time to live in a certain location to establish

8 Residence: o Both Congress and Supreme Court have declared that 30 days appears to be an ample period of time to live in a certain location to establish residence. o Election law and practice among the States quickly accepted the standard based on Dunn v. Blumstein and the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970.

Residence: o Nearly every State does prohibit transients, persons who plan to live in a state for only a short time, from gaining legal residence status there.

9 Residence: o Nearly every State does prohibit transients, persons who plan to live in a state for only a short time, from gaining legal residence status there. o Thus, a traveling sales man, college student, or armed services member usually cannot vote in a State where he or she has only a temporary physical presence.

10 Age: o The 26th Amendment added to the Constitution stipulates that no state can set minimum age for voting in any election at more than 18. o In other words, the amendment extends suffrage to citizens who are at least 18 years of age. o Any state can set the age at less than 18 if it chooses to do so.

11 Registration: o One other significant qualification, registration, is nearly universal among the States. o Registration is a procedure of voting identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. o It gives elected officials a list of those persons who are qualified to vote in an election.

12 Registration: o Typically, a prospective voter must register his or her name, age, place of birth, present address, length of residence, and similar facts. o Information is logged by a local official usually a registrar of elections of the county clerk. o A voter typically remains registered unless or until he or she moves, dies, is convicted of a serious crime, or is committed to a mental institution.

13 Persons Denied to Vote: o Few States allow mentally incompetent persons to vote. o Most states disqualify, at least temporarily those persons who have been convicted of serious crimes. o Until fairly recently that disqualification was almost always permanent.

14 Persons Denied to Vote: o Now States have made it possible for majority of convicted felons to regain the right to vote. o Although those crimes connected with voting are banned continuously.

15 Persons Denied to Vote: o How the Federal Government imposed its will on the States in regards to voting includes the Fifteenth Amendment that gave the Constitutional right for African American men the right to vote. o However the South responded with laws to get around the Constitutional amendment. o They imposed Jim Crow Laws such as poll taxes, grandfather clause, and literacy tests.

16 Persons Denied to Vote: o Finally, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made the 15th Amendment a truly effective part of the Constitution. o Unlike its predecessors, this act applies to all elections held anywhere in this country, state, and local, as well as Federal.

18 ALERT!!!!!

19 Discussion Question Who should be able to vote? List five qualifications (Age?, Education?, etc.) that you can think of in order for someone to be qualified to vote and explain why. List them in the back of your packet.

Chapter 6: Voters and Voter Behavior Section 2

Chapter 6: Voters and Voter Behavior Section 2 Objectives 1. Identify the universal qualifications for voting in the United States. 2. Explain the other requirements that States use or have used as voting