Voter Rights and Models of Behavior

Gabriel Sarwan only votes for political candidates whose platforms directly benefit the profitability of his small business.

This voting behavior can best be characterized by which of the following models?

• Retrospective voting

• Prospective voting

• Party-line voting

• Rational choice voting

Which of these statements best explains why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been important to expanding political participation in the United States?

• It reduced the minimum legal age to vote from 21 to 18

• It ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin

• It introduced the requirement of showing an official form of identification to register for or vote in an election to deter voter fraud

• It enforced the Fifteenth Amendment by preventing states from using legal barriers to prevent African Americans from voting

Rumana Modi votes for political candidates whose rhetoric and policy initiatives while serving in office align with what she wants to be done in the future.

Which model of voting behavior does this best represent?

• Retrospective voting

• Prospective voting

• Party-line voting

• Rational choice voting

Which of the following statements best explains how the 17th Amendment increased democratic participation in the United States?

• It changed the minimum voting age from 21 to 18

• It changed the election process for US senators

• It extended the right to vote to black men

• It extended the right to vote to women

Even with the Civil Rights Movement and legislation supporting the Fifteenth Amendment, it was widely reported that, throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, many southern states continued practices that prevented African Americans from voting.

Which of the following trends in the graph supports this claim?

• The percentage of voters in presidential elections during these years dropped by more than ten percent.

• The percentage of voters in presidential elections initially increased and then dropped sharply at the end of the 1960s

• The percentage of voters in presidential elections during these years increased by almost ten percent

• The percentage of voters in presidential elections during these years initially declined and then increased slightly

Teddy Flood lives in Texas and is voting in the 2018 election. When he gets to the ballot box, he decides to do straight-ticket voting, in which he checks one box to cast a ballot for every candidate from the Democratic party.

Which model of voting behavior does this best represent?

• Retrospective voting

• Prospective voting

• Party-line voting

• Rational choice voting

Which of the following scenarios would most likely be considered a violation of the Twenty-fourth Amendment?

• A court sentences a defendant to life in prison for stealing a loaf of bread

• A court refuses to provide a lawyer for a defendant who cannot afford one

• A state institutes a fee to vote in a presidential election

• A state institutes a law requiring state-issued photo identification to vote

Selina voted for Senator Bruce Wayne (D-NY) in 2008 and was unhappy with his performance in office because he didn’t fix the economy. So in the 2014 midterm elections, Selina decides to vote for Barbara Kean, a Republican candidate.

Which model of voting behavior does this best represent?

• Retrospective voting

• Prospective voting

• Party-line voting

• Rational choice voting

A political science professor is researching the effects that the Fifteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments have had on the American political system.

Which of the following is the most likely reason the professor is researching these amendments?

• To study the expansion of the right to equal protection under the law

• To study the expansion of voting rights

• To study the expansion of due process rights

• To study the expansion of federal authority over states

In the United States, which of the following is a rule on voting found in the Constitution or its amendments?

• No person may be denied the right to vote merely for lack of either state or federal citizenship.

• No person eighteen years of age or older may be denied the right to vote on account of age.

• A state may not establish a residency requirement for voting.

• A state may require a person to pay a poll tax in order to register to vote.