Kyle Ishimoto POLS 207 Exam 2 1 Chapter 3 Voting and Elections in Texas History of Voting Rights before the Civil War slaves in Texas had no voting rights but when Texas fell under martial law after the Civil War the state had to extend voting rights to blacks yet most were ineligible until after 1900 In 1905 due toprogressive reform Texas Democratic Party adopted the primary system to replace the party caucus under the caucus method party leaders selected Democratic nominees for elective office choosing officeholders not just merely nominees o White primary the practice of allowing only whites to vote in the Democratic primary o Smith v Allwright US Supreme Court case that overturn the white primary Universal Suffrage the concept that holds that virtually all adult citizens have the right to vote excluding felons and illegals Poll Tax A citizen was required to pay the poll tax in order to register to vote Worked to reduce minority turnout negatively affected all economically disadvantaged politically unaware people o 24th Amendment 1964 poll taxes were banned in federal elections o Texas tries to get around the 24th amendment by creating a dual ballot system but you only received one if you payed Poll Tax struck down by Texas v United States 1966 Federal Court Intervention a series of rulings court struck down provisions requiring annual registration and a year residency in Texas before a person could vote Federal courts also rejected a provision of the Texas Constitution allowing only property owners the boat on bond issues The Voting Rights Act of 1965 a national act protecting minorities from discrimination and voting process in the voting or registration process o 1900 had 650 000 blacks only 25 000 qualified to vote o Requires states to submit redistricting plans to either the US Justice Department or a federal court for approval Voting in Texas Qualifications and Registration Qualifications Texas US citizen Texas resident 18 years by election day be a resident for 30 days prior to election no felons can vote until sentencing has been completed parole probation cannot vote if deemed mentally incompetent must be registered to vote as well felons barred for 2 years after sentancing Registration only need to fill out a postcard sized form Do not need to have registration card in order to vote o can use driver license or take a sworn affidavit confirming proper registration if you did not receive a card o motor voter law can register to vote when applying for license without filling out form first month saw 80 000 new potential voters Kyle Ishimoto POLS 207 Exam 2 2 could non citizens or unqualified voters slip through TX becomes one of first to require agencies to deturmine eligibility using resources available Know the consequences of Texas being a one party state People feel that there is no contest and their vote does not matter so they do not vote Turnout in Texas the irony of turnout in the US is that despite the long fight for the rights of relatively few people vote especially in comparison to other in Western democracies voter turn out numbers in Texas have buried in recent years o 1986 only 47 2 of registered voters cast a ballot in the governor s race o 1990 turnout increased to 50 5 o 1994 it edged up to 50 8 o 2010 38 of voters turned out Prior to 1994 less than two thirds of voting age Texans were registered to vote From the mid 1990s and on registration has hovered close to 80 of the voting age population however the last two elections of the 1990s reverse that trend with numbers dropping both in terms of total number of voters and percentage of registered voters turning out likely because the races were deemed non competitive with George W Bush Voter Turnout percentage of registered voters that cast ballots rules out all those who meet voting requirments who are not registered o also many eligible citizens do not register because these people are not counted and traditional turnout percentages actual voter participation is even lower than it appears Texas voter Turnout o Turn Out 1998 Governors Race 72 white 10 black 16 Hispanic o Turn Out 2002 71 white 7 black 17 hispanic o Voter Turn Out 2010 67 whites 18 hispanic 13 black 2 asian Who turns out o 1 Low turnout in minority communities from disadvantage socioeconomic groups who have had fewer positive interactions with government this distress and government lead citizens to question why they should bother voting some feel disenfranchised leaving their votes do not matter Disenfranchised persons who cannot vote or who believe their votes do not count o 2 Family Tradition second to education citizens from families that support the idea that the voting is a civic duty are much more likely to turn out in those from a nonvoting family If your parents then you will probably Kyle Ishimoto POLS 207 Exam 2 3 be a voter even if you are not right now Voters are also likely to be older and wealthier than nonvoters o 3 Language Barrier especially within the Hispanic community Even though ballots and registration cards are bilingual trilingual for nonEnglish speaking it is more difficult for them to obtain information on registration voting issues and candidates Texas factors in registration and turnout a major factor that affects turnout is a large number of elections and Texas During a single year Asus and maybe asked to vote in a party primary party primary runoff city election city election runoff local bond election recall election rollback election special election special election runoff and a general election these can lead to election burnout and only most dedicated citizens vote every time occurs when citizens believe there are too many elections and thus fail to vote o Type of election presidential elections are the most prominent trawl the most media attention and have the highest turnout State elections are next Local elections attract low turnout usually bringing less than 10 of registered voters School board races routinely draw even fewer election turnout long ballot a system under which many officials are up for election at the same time jury duty prior to 1992 Jerry duty summons lists were compiled from voter registration polls Many people chose not to register because they did not want to be called for jury duty Although jury selection list now comprise virtually all adult citizens many still believe registering to vote is registering for jury duty increasing turnout Texas has used mail in ballots and