Kyle IshimotoPOLS 207 Exam #2Chapter #3: Voting and Elections in TexasHistory 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 rightsto 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 nomineeso White primary: the practice of allowing only whites to vote in the Democratic primaryo 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 peopleo 24th Amendment (1964): poll taxes were banned in federal electionso 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 couldvote. 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 processo 1900 had 650,000 blacks only 25,000 qualified to voteo Requires states to submit redistricting plans to either the US Justice Department or a federal court for approvalVoting 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 voteo can use driver license or take a sworn affidavit confirming proper registration if you did not receive a cardo “motor voter law” can register to vote when applying for license without filling out form…first month saw 80,000 new potential voters1Kyle IshimotoPOLS 207 Exam #2 could non-citizens or unqualified voters slip through?! TX becomesone 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 voteTurnout 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 yearso 1986 only 47.2% of registered voters cast a ballot in the governor’s raceo 1990 turnout increased to 50.5%o 1994 it edged up to 50.8%o 2010 38% of voters turned outPrior to 1994 less than two thirds of voting age Texans were registered to vote. From themid-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 ballotsrules out all those who meet voting requirments who are not registeredo 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 Turnouto Turn Out (1998) Governors Race 72% white 10% black 16% Hispanico Turn Out (2002) 71% white 7% black 17% hispanico Voter Turn Out (2010)  67% whites 18% hispanic  13% black 2% asian- Who turns outo 1) Low turnout in minority communities from disadvantage socioeconomicgroups who have had fewer positive interactions with government… this distress and government lead citizens to question why they should bothervoting some feel disenfranchised leaving their votes do not matter Disenfranchised: persons who cannot vote, or who believe their votes do not counto 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 turnout in those from a nonvoting family. If your parents then you will probably2Kyle IshimotoPOLS 207 Exam #2be a voter even if you are not right now. …Voters are also likely to be older and wealthier than nonvoterso 3) Language Barrier: especially within the Hispanic community. Even though ballots and registration cards are bilingual/trilingual for non-English-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 electionat 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