Ch. 6 Preview

1. The constitution does not give the Federal Government power for voting restrictions, but rather the power is reserved for the states. The constitution itself does place five restrictions for all states. These restrictions include voting for all elections in a state, you can't deprive a person of the right to vote based on race, color, or sex. You can not tax voting, and you have to be at least 18 years old to vote.

2. Today there are no restrictions for voting based on literacy, but at one time there was. They use to make a person pass a qualifying test to cast a ballot. This was used to discourage many African American voters, because many weren't able to read or write. Soon states discovered they needed to change this, because there were some white males who couldn't pass the qualification test. So they created "grandfather clauses" to help the white males pass the test.

3.In section three it talks about many amendments and acts that deal with voting qualifications. The Fifteenth Amendment declared that the right to vote cannot be denied to any citizen of the US because of race, color, or condition of servitude. Another Amendment was the 24th that banned poll tax as a requirement for voting, and the 26th set the minimum voting age at 18. The Voting Rights Act eliminated the literacy test, and the Indian Citizedship Act granted all Native Americans the right to vote in federal elections.
4. In section four there are many sociological factors that can be taken into consideration when voting. A person's occupation, for instance, people whith a higher income tend to vote Republican, and people with a lower income tend to vote Democrat. A person's gender can also matter when dealing with different issues such as abortion. A person's geography, like the state they live in can have an impact on their vote. Family is another big impact. Members of a family tend to vote in the same way.

5. Voter apathy is Americans who don't vote in any elections. To help this increasing trend in America, we need to step up and let people know there vote does count. In school they need to continue or grow in the education of voting and government. Also, as parents or adults they need to instill values in young people that emphasizes something larger than themselves.

6. To qualify to vote you must be an American citizen and at least 18 years old. You also have to be a resident of the state you are voting in. You can register by mail, at a local city office, or sometimes on the internet. You have to have proof of your age, such as a birth certificate.