Voting RIGHTS and Models of Voting Behavior [AP Gov Review, Unit 5 Topic 1 (5.1)]

hey there and welcome back to heimlich's history and furthermore welcome to the first video covering unit 5 of the ap government curriculum this unit is all about how we the people participate in politics so let's begin by talking about who gets to vote and the kinds of internal commitments that shape how we vote so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked well then let's get to it so in this video here's what we're trying to do describe the voting rights protections in the constitution and in legislation and then second describe different models of voting behavior so first let's begin by considering who in america has the right to vote and the word for that is the franchise and for that let's start with the constitution in article 1 section 4 it says this about voting the times places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof but the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulation in other words the constitution doesn't say who has the right to vote and who does not that was the decision left up to the state and in 1789 when the new constitution became the governing document of our land the states had decided that only white men who owned property were eligible to vote and just in case your knowledge of late 18th century american demographics is shaky let me just tell you that this group of people was a minority so in the beginning the only members of society to have the franchise were wealthy landed white men who are a small minority of the population now i know that sounds very un-american to us but the reason states did it that way is because they believed men with property were the only ones who had a true stake in the betterment of society like they actually owned a piece of it and thus the reasoning went that they would vote in the interests of society as a whole now all the other non-landed folks in america apparently did not agree and by 1830 specifically under pressure from self-styled man of the people andrew jackson the franchise was extended to all white men landed or not much of this pressure actually came from the west since as people pushed westward and established their territorial governments they more often than not open voting to more people than did the established states in the east so going into the civil war all white men could vote now remember what we read in article 1 section 4 namely that determining who gets to vote was left to the states but also congress was able to admit more citizens into the franchise when it seemed fitting well after the civil war through about 1971 a series of constitutional amendments recognize the right to vote for more and more citizens and you need to know these amendments so let's have a look at him real quick first is the 15th amendment which recognized the right of black men to vote second was the 17th amendment which granted the people the right to vote senators into office remember according to the constitution senators were voted in by state legislatures so this amendment didn't necessarily give more people voting rights but it did expand the opportunity for political participation third is the 19th amendment which recognized women's right to vote fourth is the 24th amendment which abolished poll taxes which was the method of voter suppression some states used to suppress the votes of minorities so again this amendment didn't give additional groups access to the voting booth but it did tear down barriers to political participation and finally the 26th amendment lowered the voting age from 21 down to 18. so at this point basically everyone in america regardless of race ethnicity sex or socioeconomic status can vote in our elections but there are two caveats to that statement first is that even though constitutionally the franchise is extended to all some states still erect barriers to voting there aren't poll taxes or literacy tests anymore but some states do make it harder for certain groups to vote those laws are constantly being challenged in courts and sometimes they are struck down while other times they're allowed to remain the second caveat is that some states have enacted laws limiting certain groups from voting for example some states have laws banning convicted felons from voting okay now that we've established who can vote let's look at the four ways that inform the way people vote the first model for voting behavior is called rational choice voting this is when a person votes based on their individual self-interest and who has carefully studied the issues and platforms in other words they have studied the issues and the candidates carefully and they make a rational choice the second model for voting behavior is retrospective voting this is when a person votes based on the recent past track record of the politician in question they asked themselves a very simple question was this politician a turd or not and if in recent memory the politician has not been deterred then the retrospective voter votes that person back into office the third model for voting behavior is prospective voting this is when a person votes based on the predictions of how a party or candidate will perform in the future so it's the opposite of retrospective voting but still this kind of voter asks a similar question to the retrospective voter but instead of asking was this politician deterred they ask will this politician be a term in order to make this assessment the voter considers how the candidates campaign promises or proposed ballot initiatives will affect their lives after the election and the fourth model for voting behavior is party line voting this is when a person votes for all the candidates of a voter's party i'm a republican and all these people are republicans so i'm a vote for them i'm a democrat and all these people are democrats so let's vote for them well that was easy and now we've got time to celebrate at golden corral okay thanks for watching click right here to grab review packet which is going to help you get an a in your class and a 500 year exam in may look i don't care what model of voting describes you if you want to vote for me to keep making these videos for you then click that subscribe button and i shall oblige

Channel: Heimler's History

Views: 205,116

Keywords:

Id: uolsFygzbN8

Length: 4min 49sec (289 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021