Voting unit

Overview & Purpose

Students will analyze primary and secondary

source documents, graphics, and pictures.

Students will identify how many amendments

extend the right to vote.

Students will analyze voter turnout.

Students will explain how citizenship confers

full membership in the American constitutional
system.

Educational Standards Addressed

SS.Govt.1.a
SS.Govt.6.f
SS.Govt.6.g
SS.Govt.17.a

Key Words
alien, transient, registration, purge, poll books, literacy, suffrage, franchise, electorate, disenfranchised, poll tax, Off-year
election, ballot fatigue, political efficacy, straight-ticket voting, split-ticket voting, nonvoters, cannot voters, coattail effect
Day 1
Homework
from previous
night:
Warm-up:

Standard Government
Read Suffrage in America and complete Voting
Target Graphic Organizer.

Honors Government
Read Suffrage in America and complete Voting Target
Graphic Organizer.

Take Louisiana Voter Qualification Test

Lecture

Discuss qualifications and barriers to voting

Role of States in Voting

o Qualifications: Citizenship,
Residence, Age, &
Registration Are these
barriers to voting? They are
government classifications; are
they reasonable? (Do they
follow strict scrutiny?)
o Disqualification: felons, some
states bar those dishonorably
discharged from military

Role of Constitution in Voting

Major Legislation and Court cases

testing state/federal divide
Students will Tweet summary of each amendment.
(140 characters; written on board)

Students will examine Guardians How Voter Friendly

is Your State?

Do any of these barriers violate the

Constitution?

How do the barriers treat non-voters and

cannot voters?
Summarize Qualifications and Barriers to voting

Role of States in Voting

o Qualifications: Citizenship,
Residence, Age, & Registration
Are these barriers to voting? They
are government classifications;
are they reasonable? (Do they
follow strict scrutiny?)
o Disqualification: felons, some
states bar those dishonorably
discharged from military

Role of Constitution in Voting

Major Legislation and Court cases testing

state/federal divide

GovLab

Homework

None

Listen to Fresh Airs Dave Davies interview

of Pennsylvania State Rep Daryl Metcalfe
and the controversial state voter ID
initiative in Pennsylvania in advance of the
2012 elections.
o Based on the expressed powers of
the Constitution to regulate
elections, (pg. 154-5), are the
states violating federal law?
o Are the states violating the
principle in Baker v Carr, which
states one man, one vote?
Students will read The Voter Fraud Myth and How
GOP hold on the South May Collapse

Day 2
Warm-up:

Standard Government
Students will watch Rock the Votes PSA on the
History of Voting. and Do you vote?

Honors Government
Watch the video, Isarhythmic History of the Two Party
Vote and Do you vote?

Students will go through and analyze voters to

see if the interviewed people are nonvoters
(those who qualified to vote, but do not), a
cannot voter (someone who cannot vote
because of personal characteristics, or group
affiliations), an unqualified voter, or a voter.

Students will go through and analyze voters to see if

the interviewed people are nonvoters (those who
qualified to vote, but do not), a cannot voter
(someone who cannot vote because of personal
characteristics, or group affiliations), an unqualified
voter, or a voter.
Does the isarhythmic history do anything to change
our perceptions on the impact of votes? Does this give
any credence to reasons nonvoters give to not vote?

GovLab

Using US Census Bureaus Voting and

Registration in the Election of
November 2008, answer the questions
on the associated worksheet. (Who
votes, who doesnt)
Exit Question: Why does it benefit you
to motivate your peers to vote, based
on this worksheet exercise?

Using Prezi as a starting point, you will work in small

groups to create a GoogleDocs presentation of
expansions and challenges of voting rights, under
Milestones of National Franchise Extension. Each
group has to include:
o The legislation or amendment to
Constitution that expanded
suffrage
o Key person(s) or institution(s) that
highlighted issue
o The historical/cultural reasons for
the expansion
o The impact of the legislation
o An image from the time period.
th

Homework

Read Texans Forced to Prove Identity.

Students will identify barriers used to keep
certain voters out of the polls.

th

th

Covered amendments & court cases: 15 , 19 , 24 ,

th
26 , Baker v Carr, Hill v Stone

Using US Census Bureaus Voting and

Registration in the Election of November
2008, answer the questions on the
associated worksheet. (Who votes, who
doesnt)
Exit Question: Why does it benefit you to motivate
your peers to vote, based on this worksheet exercise?