"The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth [amendments] specifically require that voting rights of U.S. citizens cannot be abridged on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age (18 and older)."
The legal provisions, protections, and controversies surrounding the right to vote, including efforts to expand or restrict access to the ballot.
The Constitution and Voting Rights Amendments: Understanding the U.S. Constitution and its amendments related to voting rights, such as the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments.
Voter Participation and Turnout: Examining the factors that shape voter turnout and the impact of political campaigns and mobilization efforts on voter participation.
Voter Suppression: Studying tactics used to decrease voter turnout among certain groups, including voter ID laws, poll closures, and restricting access to mail-in ballots.
Gerrymandering: Exploring how politicians draw and manipulate electoral district boundaries to gain an advantage in elections.
Civil Rights Movement: Learning about key events, leaders, and tactics used during the Civil Rights Movement to secure voting rights for African Americans.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Understanding the landmark legislation that aimed to protect the voting rights of minority groups and prevent discrimination at the polls.
Historical Voting Patterns: Investigating how voting patterns and behavior have changed over time, and what factors have contributed to these changes.
Polling and Surveying: Analyzing the methodology of political polling and how it can help predict election outcomes.
Electoral Systems: Comparing different electoral systems used around the world, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Voter Fraud and Election Security: Understanding concerns about voter fraud and election security, and the measures that are in place to safeguard the integrity of elections.
Universal Suffrage: This type of voting right allows all citizens of a country to vote in elections, regardless of their race, gender, or social status.
Adult Suffrage: This type of voting right grants the right to vote to all citizens over the age of 18.
Women's Suffrage: This type of voting right was specifically for women and allowed them to vote in elections.
Racial Suffrage: This type of voting right was specifically for non-white individuals and allowed them to vote in elections.
Property Suffrage: This type of voting right required individuals to own a certain amount of property in order to vote in elections.
Literacy Test Suffrage: This type of voting right required individuals to pass a literacy test in order to vote in elections.
Grandfather Clause Suffrage: This type of voting right allowed individuals who were barred from voting due to literacy, property, or racial restrictions if their grandfathers had voted prior to the implementation of those restrictions.
Anti-Poll Tax Suffrage: This type of voting right abolished the poll tax that was previously required for certain individuals to vote.
Felon Disenfranchisement Suffrage: This type of voting right allowed felons to vote in elections after completing their sentences.
Overseas Citizen Suffrage: This type of voting right allows American citizens living abroad to vote in federal elections.
"Each state is given considerable discretion to establish qualifications for suffrage and candidacy within its own respective jurisdiction."
"Thus, the enfranchisement or disenfranchisement in one state may be stricter or more lenient than in another state."
"The Warren Court's decisions on two previous landmark cases...played a fundamental role in establishing the nationwide 'one man, one vote' electoral system."
"Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Twenty-fourth Amendment, and related laws, voting rights have been legally considered an issue related to election systems."
"The Burger Court ruled that state legislatures had to redistrict every ten years based on census results."
"In cases of county or municipal elections, at-large voting has been repeatedly challenged when found to dilute the voting power of significant minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act."
"Alternative election systems, such as limited voting or cumulative voting, have also been used since the late 20th century to correct for dilution of voting power and enable minorities to elect candidates of their choice."
"People in the U.S. territories cannot vote for president of the United States."
"People in the District of Columbia can vote for the president because of the Twenty-third Amendment."
"Voting rights in the United States, specifically the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, has been a moral and political issue throughout United States history."
"A historic turning point was the 1964 Supreme Court case Reynolds v. Sims that ruled both houses of all state legislatures had to be based on electoral districts that were approximately equal in population size, under the 'one man, one vote' principle."
"Rules and regulations concerning voting (such as the poll tax) have been contested since the advent of Jim Crow laws and related provisions that indirectly disenfranchised racial minorities."
"The constitution as originally written did not establish any such rights during 1787–1870..."
"The Warren Court's decisions on two previous landmark cases—Baker v. Carr (1962) and Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)—also played a fundamental role in establishing the nationwide 'one man, one vote' electoral system."
"[State legislatures] had to redistrict every ten years based on census results..."
"Numerous cities established small commission forms of government in the belief that 'better government' could result from the suppression of ward politics."
"Generally the solution to such violations [of dilution of voting power] has been to adopt single-member districts (SMDs)..."
"Age (18 and older)."
"Rules and regulations concerning voting (such as the poll tax) have been contested since the advent of Jim Crow laws and related provisions that indirectly disenfranchised racial minorities."