Voting in the United States of America

Some Terms to Know

• Suffrage: The right to vote. Example: “Women's Suffrage”
• Franchise: Another term for “the right to vote.” Usually heard as “Disenfranchised”- not being able to vote.
• Electorate: The potential voting population of a country. Currently over 258 million people in the U.S.

Some Electorate Data: Age/Sex

Questions to Answer in Notes: In general, who votes more, M or W? What segment votes the least? The most? Why do you think that the older a citizen is, the more likely they are to vote? What is the overall voting % of M and W (far left bars)? Do you feel this % is good or bad? Why?

Voting and the States

• The Constitution left suffrage qualifications to the states
• Various State Requirements:
• Citizenship: required by all states
• Residence: almost all states require state residency
• Age: 18 yr old cap, in some states, 17 years old.
• STATES are in charge of holding all local, state and federal elections. This will become an issue in 2026.

Question to Answer: Should Non-citizens be allowed to vote? What steps should be taken to make sure that this does or does not happen?

The President and Voting in 2025

• In March 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”, which attempted to:
• Require proof of citizenship for federal voter registration,
• Set strict rules for mail-in ballots,
• Direct federal agencies to assess voter registration accuracy and match it against immigration databases.

Question to Answer: President Trump is using his Presidential power to “Ensure that Laws Are Upheld in the United States” to do this. Why is he doing this? Is this a legitimate use of that power, when STATES are in charge of elections?

Voter Registration

• Early limitations in Voter Registration due to property ownership, tax payment qualifications and religious affiliation had disappeared by the 1820s.
• After the Civil War: Literacy tests, poll taxes and violence were used to keep African-Americans and later Irish Catholics and others from registering to vote.
• Nowadays, all states have open voter registration, often up to the day of the election, where a citizen must only prove that they are a resident of the state in which they are voting.
• Motor Voter Law (1995)—voter registration by mail, renewing drivers licenses, state & welfare offices.

Questions to Answer: We take a literacy test. Well, part of one, at least. What do you notice about the test? What is the purpose of this test?

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The “Ignorant” and Voting

• “Ignorant” has roots in the Latin term “ignoratem,” meaning “unknowing or unacquainted with,” originally regarding political issues.
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• QUESTION: “Should ignorant people be allowed to vote?” Why or why not?

Some Electorate Data: Education

Questions to Answer: Who votes more, the educated or those who dropped out of high school? Why do you think this is? Does this graph indicate that the “ignorant” are keeping themselves from voting? Why or why not?

Voting in the Constitution

• 1870- The 15^th Amendment: Intended to ensure African American men the right to vote.
• This was COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE.
• Violence, Social Pressures, literacy tests, poll taxes.
• GERRYMANDERING: (how to steal an election): redrawing district lines to limit strength of group/party

Gerrymandering in 2025

• There is currently a HUGE issue with Gerrymandering in 2025.
• The state of Texas has completely redrawn its voting districts to allow the Republican Party to pick up FIVE House Seats, to allow for a Republican cushion for the midterm elections. SEE MAP RIGHT.
• In response, the state of California is planning to do the same to gain back seats for the Democratic Party.

Texas’ Redistricting Plan for the city of Dallas in August, 2025, giving the Republican Party 5 more seats in the House of Representatives.

Voting in the Constitution

• 1919- The 19^th Amendment: Grants women the right to vote on a nationwide basis. Women had been allowed to vote in WY since 1869.
• 1963: The 23^rd Amendment: Washington DC residents can vote.
• 1971: The 26^th Amendment: Grants 18 year-olds the right to vote.

Civil Rights Voting Acts

• Civil Rights Acts of 1957 & 1960:
• Investigates voter discrimination
• Seeks court orders to prevent interference from voting
• Provide voting referees in each precinct.
• Civil Rights Act of 1964:
• Forbids use of discrimination in registration.
• Came about because MLK leads a major voter registration drive, met with violence by locals, county, state police, nation shocked!

Civil Rights Voting Acts, continued

• Voting Rights Act of 1965:
• Banned literacy tests, poll tax
• Federal officers to oversee elections and registration.
• New election laws needed preclearance through the Department of Justice. (THIS PART WAS REJECTED IN JUNE, 2013 BY SUPREME COURT AS NO LONGER RELEVANT.)
• 1992- Voting Rights Language Assistance Act: Any community with 10,000 minority language speakers in the population—print ballot in English AND the Minority Language

Question to Answer: Should we print ballots in languages other than English? Why or why not?

Voting Acts, continued

• Summer of 2013: Supreme Court overturns need for preclearance of new election laws:
• South Carolina passes a VOTER ID Law, requiring that all voters show government approved identification prior to registering. Civil Rights advocates say this is discriminatory.

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Questions: Should a person in America be required to show identification before registering to vote? What do you feel each side of the political spectrum would say about this issue? LEFT? RIGHT?

Voting by Mail

• Roots in military absentee voting—first widespread use during Civil War to include soldiers in elections.
• Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.(1986)—Federal law guaranteeing absentee voting for military and overseas citizens, with emergency ballot options.
• No-excuse and all-mail voting growth—States gradually removed excuse requirements; Oregon launched the first all-mail elections in 1998.
• Widespread adoption & recent reforms—By 2024, most states offered mail voting; current laws focus on security, access, and streamlined processes, with some states tightening rules (e.g., Georgia).

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Questions: Should a person in America be required to show identification before registering to vote? What do you feel each side of the political spectrum would say about this issue? LEFT? RIGHT?

Voting by Mail- Is it FRAUDULENT?

• Research shows that vote‑by‑mail increases voter turnout and that fraud is very rare.
• Most issues with mail in voting have involved logistical or technical problems rather than intentional wrongdoing.

Questions: This is going to be an issue in the midterm elections of 2026, as President Trump is trying to ban mail-in voting in the U.S. Should it be allowed or not?

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Some Electorate Data: Race

Questions to Answer: Comment on this graph. Do the voting percentages surprise you at all? Why? Why do you feel Asian and Hispanic citizens tend to have such low voting turnouts?

Who CANNOT Vote?

• Non-citizens.
• People in mental institutions or people found to be mentally incompetent.
• Most people convicted of serious crimes.
• In some states: Dishonorably Discharged Veterans.
• In some states: Polygamists and homeless people cannot vote.

Question to Answer: Should any of these groups be allowed to vote? Why?

Why do some people choose not to vote?

• People may be convinced that their vote will not decide the election and everything will work out well in the end.
• People may distrust politicians and feel removed from the political process.
• Inconvenient voting procedures or conditions.
• Lack of interest.
• Unwillingness to understand the issues or candidates.

Question to Answer: Are any of these excuses valid? Why or why not?

Questions to Answer: Comment on this graph. Which reasons to you feel are accurate? Why? Which reasons would influence YOUR ability to vote?

HOW IMPORTANT IS VOTING?

Mr. Burkhard thinks that young people VOTING is extremely important. For 15 years now, he has offered 100 EXTRA CREDIT POINTS at the end of the semester for students that PROVE that they have registered or pre-registered to vote.

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This means ACTUAL PROOF, not a voting application, not a screenshot of a website. How do you do this? There is a link at the top of the Civil Government page, other than that, for 100 EXTRA CREDIT POINTS, you need to figure it out for yourself!