Chapter 6: Voters and Voter Behavior Name______Period_____
Successful democratic government depends on the participation of its citizens through voting. The history of the United States has been marked by a steady expansion of the electorate through the elimination of restrictions on voting qualifications.
The History of Voting Rights
1. To whom did the Framers of the Constitution leave the power to set suffrage?
2. Which group of people made up the electorate when the Constitution went into effect in 1789?
3. Identify and summarize the five stages of extending suffrage to most Americans.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
The Power to Set Voting Qualifications
4. Describe the five restrictions placed on States when setting voting qualifications.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Main Idea: All states have citizenship, residence, and age requirements for voting. Other voting qualifications differ from State to State. Some requirements – especially those that were used to disenfranchise certain groups – have been eliminated.
Universal Requirements
5. What are the three factors used to determine voter eligibility?
6. Explain why establishing residency requirement are important.
7. Other Requirements
Why is registration required for voting in most states? / What role did the literacy test play in elections before 1970?What was the grandfather clause of the literacy test? / What role did the poll tax play in elections before 1966?
8. What did the 15th Amendment actually say? What was the amendment intended to do?
9. What were some of the ways, Southerners tried to prevent African Americans from voting following the 15th Amendment?
10.
What is gerrymandering? What Supreme Court case ended gerrymandering?What was a white primary? What Supreme Court case ended the white primary?
Early Civil Rights Legislation (Explain each legislation)
11. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1957 do? 12. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1960 do?
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Voting Rights Act of 1965
13. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do? 14. What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do?
The Size of the Problem
15. How many Americans were eligible to vote in the 2000 elections? ______How many actually voted for president? ______What percentage is that?______
16. How many voters cast ballots for U.S. Representatives in the 2000 election? ______What percentage is that?______How many voters cast ballots for U.S. Representatives in the 1998 off-year election? ______What percentage is that?______
17. Why People do not Vote
Who are the “cannot-vote” nonvoters? / Who are the actual nonvoters?What is political efficacy? / What are some other factors affecting voter turnout?
18. Who are the people most likely to vote?
19. Which characteristics make a person unlikely to vote?
20. Section 4 (Fill in the characteristics in the chart below to compare some factors that influence whether people are more likely to vote Democrat or Republican.
Democrat / RepublicanIncome/Occupation / 1. / 2.
Education / 3. / 4.
Gender/Age / 5. / 6.
Religion / 7. / 8.
Ethnicity / 9. / 10.
Geography / 11. / 12.
21. Define the following terms (MUST know these terms!)
A. off-year election
B. gender gap
C. split-ticket voting
D. political efficacy
E. party identification
F. political socialization
G. straight-ticket voting
H. transient