Preston Abbe
The Voting Rights Act and Texas Voter ID
GOVT 2306-90
Voting rights in Texas has not always been accepted for all, but since Texas became a state of the United States of America in December of 1845, civil rights have evolved to become more universal for every citizen regardless of race or gender.
Up until 1870, when the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, slaves and “freedmen” were not allowed the privilege to cast a ballot. And not until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920 were women allowed the right to vote. But even after the Fifteenth Amendment said “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” the states began to change their constitutions and
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C. (2013). Practicing Texas Politics. 2013-2014 Edition. Wadsworth: Cengage Publishers:.
Butts, M. (n.d.). Voting Rights: The Poll Tax. Retrieved from Dallas Public Library: dallaslibrary2.org/mbutts/assets/lessons/L9-voting+rights/Marion%20Butts%20-%Voting%20Rights(PPT).pdf
Coleman, K. J. (July 1, 2014). The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Background and Overview. Retrieved from Congressional Research Service: http://library.law.uiowa.edu/files/library.law.uiowa.edu/files/R43626.pdf
Debate Club: Is Voter Fraud a Real Problem? (2013). Retrieved from Us News & World Report: http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/is-voter-fraud-a-real-problem
Denniston, L. (2013, August 6). Texas fights new voting supervision. Retrieved from SCOTUS Blog: http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/08/texas-fights-new-voting-supervision/
Fuller, J. (2014, July). How has voting changed since Shelby County v. Holder? Retrieved from The Washington Post: The Fix: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/07/how-has-voting-changed-since-shelby-county-v-holder/
Shelby County v. Holder. (2013). Retrieved from US Supreme Court Media Oyez:
It 's been 51 years since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law, yet it seems as if voter discrimination may still be going on today. Some of the legal barriers, that it was originally meant to overcome, such as preventing African Americans from voting, have been rising in many other forms through voter identification laws. Lizette Alvarez in "G.O.P. Legislators Move to Tighten Rules on Voting", discusses some of the requirements that Republicans have tried to add to voter identification laws over many years such as photo ID’s. Kristen Clarke in "Burdening The Right To Vote: Assessing The Impact Of Mandatory Photo Identification Requirements On Minority Voting Strength", discusses how requiring photo ID’s can greatly affect African
Texas is unusual in that its constitution is so lengthy and detailed that much policymaking must occur through the process of constitutional amendment rather than simply by lawmaking. If Texas were to have an income tax or to change its system for selecting judges, those changes would not come from statutes enacted by the legislature, but would have to be constitutional amendments
Flentje and Aistrup utilize statistic data when they analyze voting statistics as well as demographical variables collected in the census. They also place emphasis on economic data when trying to explain the rural-urban divide in the state by classifying counties based on per capita income levels. For example, in the introduction the authors state “The per capita income of the five urban counties was $40,240 in 2006, and their population growth for the thirty-six-year period was 48.7 percent” (Flentje and Aistrup xxi). Additionally, there are several chapters and subsections of the book devoted entirely to historical analysis of Kansas politics and how certain institutions have developed over time. The authors also make use of the method of personal observation to support their claims in this book.
Concept: The Importance of Voting Article: “Patriot Connectors to Discuss Importance of Voting” My article began by introducing a group named the Patriot Connectors, and the entirety of the article expressed the group 's views on why people should vote and exactly how important voting is to American society. The group states that not voting or not even being registered to vote in essence, undermines America 's representative democracy. They attribute the lack of voters being related to the fact that many feel that their votes do not matter in a government system they see as unfair or rigged. The article relays the fact that voting is something citizens learn to do.
Prior to the establishment of this act, African Americans faced many legal restraints prohibiting many of them from voting- a right guaranteed to all citizens under the fifteenth amendment. When African Americans attended the polling booths, they were often asked to complete a literacy test or pay a poll fine to vote. These tests caused a vast demographic of African Americans to be exempt from the voting process, excluding and discrediting their voices. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally outlawed any discriminatory voting prerequisites used by many Southern states at the time. The development of this act is often seen as a crucial turning point for the Civil Rights Movement and one of the nation’s most significant accomplishments since Reconstruction.
The 1965 voting rights Act was passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson , it stated that people no longer had to complete literacy tests when voting. It also prohibited poll taxes as it was a way to keep those who could not afford them from voting, especially African-Americans. President Johnson wanted to eliminate all the barriers that kept African-Americans from voting. Within the next five years the number of black voters increased from 70% in 1964 to 67 % in 1969. By the year 1980 the amount of African-American voters surpassed the total amount of Caucasian voters.
We see multiple successes of voting equality attempted through amendments, however, the Supreme Court’s decision on Shelby County v. Holder has pushed back years and years of effort for voting rights. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling was in Shelby County’s favor, stating that the Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional along with Section 5. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, who wrote the majority’s opinion, said that the power to regulate election was reserved to the states, not the federal government. As a result to the court’s decision, the federal government can no longer determine which voting law discriminates and can be passed. After the case, many states had freely passed new voting laws; the most common voting law states passed
We often assume that the reason behind the low voter turnout in the U.S. is due to institutional challenges (i.e. voter ID laws, registration, costs). Therefore, reformers most often focus on offering and improving various forms of convenience voting to increase turnout. Skeptics such as Graeme Orr argue that “voting whenever, from wherever, is a ‘lifestyle’ option.” Another skeptic, Adam J. Breinsky, argues that convenience voting has “perverse consequences on election reform” and that encouraging political engagement is more valuable than pursuing institutional changes. Although convenience voting offers flexibility and comfort, it is imperative not to overlook what Election Day is supposed to be: a communal event.
The history of political parties in Texas is marked by nearly a century of Democratic Party dominance followed by a realignment that shifted the balance of power in favor if the republicans. Political science professor Cal Jilson noted that the dominance of one party in Texas has been a result of the state’s dominant values. Both parties in Texas today reflect more conservative versions of their national counterparts. The other chapter talks about the Interest groups in Texas. Interest groups plays a critical role in all democratic systems of government.
In my essay I will provide three reasons why I do not believe Texas is operating within a democracy-a political system where the many rule. According to Author Robert Dahl, a democracy should provide opportunities for effective participation, equality in voting and inclusion of adults. There are socioeconomic factors- such ethnicity, education and income which are mentioned by author of our textbook, that impact voter participation. To begin, let’s look at the role a person ethnicity plays in a democracy. Next, examine the level of education and how it correlates to voting.
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
Taking a Stand for Women in Tennessee Insert historical context here!!!! The United States, despite being a culturally forward nation now, was the twenty-seventh county to give women the right to vote. Women’s suffrage was an important step forward for the Equal Rights movement in both Tennessee and America because there was an incredible amount of opposition overcome, men and women from all over the United States fought for it, and the amendment was passed because of Tennessee. Many women were angered about not having the same rights that men had, way before suffrage was granted.
"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex"--Nineteenth Amendment, U.S. Constitution. Until the 1910s, most states did not give women the right to vote. The amendment was the culmination of the women 's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. On August 18, 1920, it appeared that Tennessee had ratified the amendment, the result of a change of vote by 24 year-old legislator Harry Burn at the insistence of his elderly mother, but those against the amendment managed to delay official ratification (www.archives.gov). Tennessee played a key role in the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920.
In fact, from 2000 to 2014 only thirty-one cases of voter fraud by impersonation were found out of the one billion ballots that were cast. This is a small percentage of votes, and only few of those were from impersonation. In conclusion, photo voter identification requirements do not stop enough cases of fraud to be put into
Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.