Who can vote and who votes

UNIT 5 · PARTICIPATION

CHAPTER 31

The right to vote and the act of voting are separate political questions. Constitutional amendments and federal laws can remove formal barriers, but turnout still depends on registration rules, election administration, mobilization, political interest, education, age, competitiveness, and the kind of election being held. A legal right creates access; it does not guarantee participation.

On exam questions, first identify whether the issue concerns legal eligibility or actual participation.

VOTING RIGHTS AND VOTING BEHAVIOR ARE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS

Voting rights describe who is legally eligible to vote and what barriers government may not impose on that eligibility. Voting behavior describes what eligible citizens do: whether they register, whether they turn out, and how they choose among candidates. A country can expand voting rights substantially while turnout among newly eligible voters remains low, because legal access and the decision to participate are governed by different factors entirely.

HOW THE FRANCHISE EXPANDED

The Fourteenth Amendment granted U.S. citizenship to persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, and supplied Due Process and Equal Protection protections later central to voting-rights litigation. The Fifteenth Amendment barred denying the vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude, though enforcement was resisted for decades afterward. The Seventeenth Amendment changed selection of U.S. senators from state legislatures to direct election by voters. The Nineteenth Amendment prohibited denial or abridgment of voting rights on account of sex. The Twenty-Fourth Amendment barred poll taxes in federal elections, removing a financial barrier that had suppressed turnout among lower-income voters. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment lowered the voting age to eighteen. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting and provides federal statutory tools to protect voting rights. Each of these removed a specific formal barrier or changed a specific selection method; none of them, by itself, guaranteed that everyone newly eligible would vote.

MODELS OF VOTING BEHAVIOR

Political scientists describe several models of how voters decide. Rational-choice voting occurs when individuals base a vote on what they perceive to be in their own best interest. Retrospective voting evaluates an incumbent’s past performance in office. Prospective voting evaluates a candidate’s expected future performance based on stated positions and promises. Straight-ticket voting means selecting all candidates from one political party on the ballot, relying heavily on partisan identification rather than a candidate-specific evaluation. Confusing retrospective with prospective voting is a common and specific error: retrospective voting looks backward at what has already happened, not forward at a candidate’s plans.

WHY ELIGIBLE VOTERS DO NOT ALL TURN OUT

Low turnout is not caused by voter apathy alone. Registration deadlines and requirements, the competitiveness of a specific race, mobilization efforts by parties and campaigns, the type of election, and individual factors such as education and age all interact to shape whether an eligible citizen votes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 73.6% of the citizen voting-age population was registered and 65.3% voted in the 2024 presidential election, figures that varied substantially across demographic groups and cannot be reduced to a single cause.

State election rules can also change the cost of voting. Polling hours, voter-identification requirements, funding for polling places and workers, registration procedures, and the availability of mail, absentee, or early voting can make participation easier or harder for different voters.

Political efficacy is the belief that a person’s participation can make a difference in politics. Higher efficacy can make voting and other forms of participation feel consequential; lower efficacy can discourage participation even when legal access is available. On an AP question, use political efficacy as a turnout explanation only when the scenario or evidence supports it. A turnout percentage by itself does not establish why people voted or stayed home.

READ TURNOUT DATA WITHOUT INVENTING A CAUSE

A turnout figure describes an outcome; it does not by itself explain why that outcome occurred. A precise reading states the specific population and denominator the figure describes, since turnout can be reported as a share of the voting-age population or the narrower citizen voting-age population, and these produce different numbers. Attaching a single cause to a turnout figure without evidence for that specific mechanism overstates what the data alone can support.

Voting model	What it evaluates
Rational-choice voting	What the voter perceives to be in their own best interest
Retrospective voting	An incumbent’s past performance in office
Prospective voting	A candidate’s expected future performance based on stated positions
Straight-ticket voting	Selecting all candidates from one party, relying on partisan identification

Table 31.1 Four models of how voters decide.

IDENTIFYING THE VOTING MODEL

Four voters appear below, each deciding through a different model. Sort out rational-choice, retrospective, prospective, or straight-ticket for each one first.

Scenario 1. A voter supports the incumbent because unemployment fell during that official’s term in office.

Model: retrospective voting, evaluating the incumbent’s past performance.

Scenario 2. A voter supports a challenger because that candidate has proposed a specific new infrastructure plan the voter finds promising.

Model: prospective voting, evaluating the candidate’s expected future performance.

Scenario 3. A voter selects candidates from the same party in every race on the ballot, largely without researching each individual candidate.

Model: straight-ticket voting, relying on partisan identification rather than a candidate-specific evaluation.

Scenario 4. A voter chooses the candidate whose proposed tax policy would most directly benefit the voter’s own household.

Model: rational-choice voting, basing the decision on the voter’s own perceived best interest.

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER WITHOUT NOTES

1. What is the difference between voting rights and voting behavior?

Voting rights describe who is legally eligible to vote. Voting behavior describes what eligible citizens do, including whether they register, turn out, and how they choose.

2. List three constitutional amendments or laws that expanded or changed the franchise, and what each did.

The Fourteenth Amendment established national citizenship and Equal Protection/Due Process guarantees; the Fifteenth Amendment barred denying the vote based on race; the Seventeenth Amendment established direct election of senators (the Nineteenth extending the vote to women, the Twenty-Fourth barring poll taxes, the Twenty-Sixth lowering the voting age to eighteen, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are also acceptable).

3. What does retrospective voting evaluate, and how does it differ from prospective voting?

Retrospective voting evaluates an incumbent’s past performance. Prospective voting evaluates a candidate’s expected future performance; the two look in opposite directions in time.

4. Is low turnout caused only by voter apathy?

No. Registration rules, election administration, mobilization, competitiveness, and individual factors all interact to shape turnout.

5. What were the 2024 Census-reported registration and turnout rates among the citizen voting-age population?

73.6% registered and 65.3% voted.

6. Why does the denominator used in a turnout figure matter?

Turnout can be reported as a share of the voting-age population or the narrower citizen voting-age population, and these produce different figures.

7. Does a turnout figure by itself explain why turnout was high or low?

No. It describes an outcome; explaining the outcome requires evidence for a specific mechanism, not just the figure itself.

8. Which amendment made U.S. senators directly elected by voters?

The Seventeenth Amendment.

9. Why does the Fourteenth Amendment belong in a voting-rights overview even though it did not simply say “all adults may vote”?

It established national citizenship and Equal Protection/Due Process guarantees that became central constitutional tools in later disputes over discriminatory voting rules and representation.

10. What is straight-ticket voting, and is “party-line voting” the preferred AP term?

Selecting all candidates from one political party on the ballot. “Party-line voting” can be used descriptively, but straight-ticket voting is the term to retrieve.

11. A voter chooses the candidate whose proposed tax policy would most directly benefit the voter’s household. Which model is this?

Rational-choice voting.

12. What is political efficacy, and how can it affect turnout?

Political efficacy is the belief that one’s political participation can make a difference. Higher efficacy can increase the likelihood of participation, while lower efficacy can discourage it.

13. Name three state-controlled election rules that can affect turnout.

Acceptable examples include polling hours, voter-identification requirements, registration procedures, funding for polling places or workers, and access to mail, absentee, or early voting.