Nonvoting

__Terms__ Voting Age Population - Citizens who are eligible to vote after reaching the minimum age requirement Registered Voters - People who are registered to vote. Literacy Test - A requirement that citizens pass a literacy test in order to register to vote Poll Tax - A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote Grandfather Clause - A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867 White Primary - The practice of keeping blacks from voting in the southern states' primaries through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation

__A Closer Look at Nonvoting__ Compared to rest of the world, the U.S. has a low percentage of voter turnout - Cause is low % (relatively) of people registered to vote US - only 2/3 of Population is registered to vote Only people who actively register to vote are likely to vote on a regular basis Main theory regarding low % of voter turnout is the hassle involved in registering to vote - voters must re-register after moving to new county/state 1993 - Motor-Voter Law Makes it easier to register to vote Allows people to register to vote when applying for drivers licenses & @ state offices where public assistance is provided 630,000 people registered in the two months following its passage Compared to other countries U.S. citizens are more active in other forms of political participation such as joining associations, supporting movements, and writing to legislators Low % may indicate a wide spread satisfaction with how the government is run 1880 - 14% of adult males could vote (40% in England @ same time)

__From State to Federal Control__ Initially states decided who could vote and for what offices Only requirement was that Members of House of Representatives be chosen by the states Some states chose members as a state Some states chose members by districts Some required plurality, some required majority for election of representatives Congress reduced states rights in 1842 by making district elections mandatory Fifteenth Amendment gave African Americans voting rights Supreme court interpreted fifteenth amendment as "someone who is denied the right to vote could not be denied explicitly on grounds of race" States started implementing strategies to prevent blacks from voting Literacy Tests (one for blacks, one for whites) Poll Tax (to prevent poor blacks from voting) Grandfather Clause (Allowed whites that were illiterate or poor to vote) Intimidation, Harassment, Threatening 1915 - Grandfather Clause declared Unconstitutional 1944 - White Primary is declared Unconstitutional 1965 - Voting Rights Act Suspended use of literacy tests, authorized the use of federal examiners to make sure that blacks were guarenteed the right to vote. Also provided criminal penalties for refusing the right to vote. Although women were granted the right to vote, with accordance to the 19th amendment, they did not dramatically change the conduct of elections, the identity of the winners, or the sustance of public policy. They generally voted the same as men. Mississippi black voter registration sharply increased in a span of 10 years to 70% which significantly changed the political landscape, causing Governor George Wallace to stop making prosegregation speeches and begin actively seeking the black vote.

1970-Voting Rights Act gave eighteen-year-olds the right to vote in federal elections -contained a provision lowering the voting age to 18 in state elections, but the Supreme Court declared this unconstitutional

26th amendment: all people between the ages of 18 and 21 could cast ballots in any election -25 million people suddenly became eligible to vote in this country -turnout among this age group has been extremely low in almost every election -participation in civic activities and community service have hit all-time highs for this age group -Senator Paul Wellstone states, "community service is viewed as good, and political service is viewed as disreputable."