Voting Rights Of The United States Essay

The Act has undergone several changes and additions since its passage, but the U.S. Supreme Court found a key provision of the Act unconstitutional in 2013. The act significantly widened the franchise and is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.” (Staff 3). In the article, Voting Rights Act, author Staff states, “The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.” (Staff 2). Even though all these efforts and laws were made to give everyone a fair and equal chance to vote, there are still many restrictions and setbacks everywhere in today 's society and the major ones are Voter ID laws, Voter registration restrictions, State felon disenfranchisement policies, Purging of Voter Rolls, Transgender Disenfranchisement, Disinformation about Voting Procedures, Inequality in Election Day Resources, and Caging Lists.

Soon after passage of the Voting Rights Act, federal examiners were conducting voter registration, and black voter registration began a sharp increase. The cumulative effect of the Supreme Court’s decisions, Congress’ enactment of voting rights legislation, and the ongoing efforts of concerned private citizens and the Department of Justice, has been to restore the right to vote guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

Voting was not always fair, especially for colored people. People who were white could vote without problems. Not only did blacks have rights, but Indians couldn't vote. Soon after almost 100 years Native Americans could finally vote.Today everyone has the right to vote no matter what race they are.

The right to vote is indispensable to any democracy because it is the means by which citizens can collectively decide issues. Nowhere in the Constitution of 1791 does it explicitly guarantee the right to ballot box for women and minority groups, thus, excluding the majority from participating in the political process. Indeed, only 6% of the American population voted in President Washington’s re-election in 1792 (Lepore 2). Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution defers voting eligibility to state legislatures (The Heritage Foundation 3), implicitly condoning the disfranchisement of women, minorities, and destitute whites. Although one can argue the Constitution of 1791 merely reflected the white supremacist, patriarchal society of its time, the reality remains that the significant groups were excluded from participating in the political process.

Since its birth, The United States has always had a troubling past on giving its citizens the “right to Vote.” Initially the “ right to vote “ was an exclusive right given to white freemen and before the 15th amendment wasn’t even a true right, more of a privilege. For this reason, it is my belief that the 15th amendment was the most important. The 15th amendment is also the first of four amendments extending the Right to Vote to all in the United States. In 1869, the United States congress passes this amendment which allowed for all citizens no matter what race, color or previous condition of servitude to vote. This meant that “on paper”, this right, naturally pass on to African American. However, as demonstrated by Louisiana passing a the

During the 1790’s, not too long after this country was founded, only white male, property owners, the age of 21 or older were permitted to vote (Pearson Education, 1). Unfortunately, that restricted working men, all women, and all other races from this small piece of freedom. By 1850, the government could see this limitation as a hindrance to the voting participation and eliminated property ownership and tax requirements from the qualifications to vote. As stated before, the right to vote is not directly written in the Constitution, which gave the states’ the freedom to put their own restrictions on whomever they thought should not be able to vote. On that account, in 1855, Connecticut adopted the nation’s first literacy test for voting; meaning any white man without the ability to read or write would not be able to vote. This test was implemented to discriminate against the white Irish-Catholic immigrants coming to America. Two years later, Massachusetts also implemented the same test. These literacy tests, along with poll taxes and even religious tests, were also used in other states to inhibit immigrants, some for fourteen years, before being able to vote (Pearson Education, 1). This journey for white men to gain voting freedom was not as long as some, yet it was still the universal struggle to gain the right to

We have come a long way from a time when only white, affluent, property owning males could vote. In terms of ‘voting rights’ it was a gradual expansion of the vote, which slowly began to expand to all whites, individuals once labeled slaves or ‘aliens’, African Americans, military personal and women. To vote in the United States, no longer do you need to pass a literacy test, but you must be a U.S citizen and at least 18 years old on Election Day. In addition, some states also require various periods of residency before voting is permitted. Furthermore some states restrict felons or those mentally incompetent to vote. In Massachusetts, for the first time, there was Early Voting. During this period, October 24th to November 4th, registered voters were allowed to cast their ballots. During this period of Early voting, I along with a group of classmates had the engaging opportunity to be an exit pollster. We decided to canvas much of the Boston area, with hopes of a ranging demographic. This hands-on experience, working with a team in carrying out the exit poll, allowed for a greater insight to the dynamics of election administration, a deeper understanding on the rights of voters and voter turn out, technique for attaining a random sample, the role of the interviewer and importance of survey design.

Today, in order to be qualified to vote you must be a U.S. citizen, at least be 18 years of age, and a resident in your state or county. However, In the 1890’s, these were not the only qualifications that took place in order to vote. Unfortunately, White primaries, poll taxes, and restrictions on voter registrations came into the picture and made it difficult for minorities to be able to vote. It wasn’t until The Voting Rights Acts of 1965, and The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 that minimized the amount of racial segregation in politics in the south.

In “Race and Beyond: Why Young, Minority, and Low-Income Citizens Don’t Vote,” Sam Fulwood claims, “Regardless of whether a favored candidate won or popular ballot initiative passed, our nation suffered because of the number of people who didn’t vote at all” (par. 2). I agree with Sam Fulwood and I believe it is so unfortunate that Americans don’t use this right. Voting is one of the most valuable possessions that Americans are given and yet they do not use. Many of the countries around the world do not grant voting rights to their citizens. These countries either have a dictatorship or kingdom which prevents citizens from voting. People need to understand the sufferings of those people who struggled for this right. When the United States

--is a United States Supreme Court case. Where the Court rejected a challenge by the state of South Carolina. To the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Living in a nation based on democracy, where a citizen’s voice is the equivalent of casting a vote in political elections, the majority of American citizens eligible to vote do not participate in elections. The rationale behind voter non-participation varies among individuals and demographic groups; however, they all share a connection regarding their feelings towards their treatment by the country's political system. Minority voters such as blacks and hispanics are a demographic group highly faced with disenfranchisement in regards to political elections due to oppression. North Carolina’s Voter ID laws are a prime example of how minority voters are being shut out.

From the beginning of racial divides in society, minorities, specifically Blacks, have been discriminated against their voting rights. They have not only been unrepresented in the number of candidates running for positions but also the number of voters who are registered and participate in elections. After the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was prohibited for voters to be racially discriminated against. But since then, many revisions have been added, tightening the rules for registering and participating in voting. Many of these rules prevent minorities from voting but aren’t considered racially discriminatory by the Supreme Court. These laws usually are created by Republican politicians, right before a major election, and in result help decrease the number of votes on the Democratic ballot, since most minorities vote Democratic. Although these laws don’t really change, some are challenged and removed by the Supreme Court on the argument that they prevent certain races from being able to vote. Throughout history, Blacks and other minorities have been targeted and prevented from participating in elections, hurting Democratic candidates through strict voting laws created by Republicans.

“This act flows from a clear and simple wrong, its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny.... It is not just a question of guilt, although there is that. It is that men cannot live with a lie and not be stained by it, “said the president (Equal Citizenship and the Individual Right to Vote). The Voting Rights Act was “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom”—a law that, very exclusively, aimed to break down the legal barriers at the state and local governments’ level of authority that prohibited African Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

Another major factor that hinders minority voters is early voter registration requirements. This means that if a voter wasn’t registered to vote weeks or even months before an election, so if one were to go to vote and haven’t registered, they would be turned away. Minorities are less likely to be registered and are unable to participate in elections if they develop interest in the weeks immediately before the election. People who move regularly (which disproportionately includes young adults and people who rent rather than own their own homes) are also more likely to fall out of registration by failing to reregister at their new address. (Shaw et. al. 2015: 281) By requiring registration weeks in advance, many voters won’t be able to vote and have their voices heard. Another way institutions suppress minority voters is by maintaining the voter registration lists and purging nonparticipating voters. There is little to no regulation on how long it takes to be purged from the list, so those who voted only every four years only during the presidential election the list could have been purged the third year without voting, which would take them off the list and they would have to