AG 4.2 Reading Questions, 2025-26

Imagine your state decided to bring back literacy tests as a condition to vote.
a. Define what a literacy test is, according to the reading.
b. Explain how these tests were historically used to suppress voting rights.
c. Predict two likely consequences for your community if such a law were passed today, especially for groups with historically limited access to education.

Analyze how the Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed the balance of power between the federal government and the states.
a. Identify one key provision of the Voting Rights Act that gave power to the federal government.
b. Describe the reason this provision was created, based on prior state actions.
c. Evaluate the possible consequences of the Supreme Court's 2013 decision to strike down the preclearance rule.

Consider the evolution of suffrage in the U.S.
a. Identify two major amendments that expanded voting rights and the groups they affected.
b. Compare the barriers those groups faced before the amendments passed.
c. Explain how these changes reflect the Constitution's evolving interpretation of equality.

Evaluate the argument that requiring voter ID is comparable to past restrictions like poll taxes or literacy tests.
a. Briefly define poll taxes and literacy tests from the reading.
b. Identify one similarity and one difference between those historical barriers and modern voter ID laws.
c. Based on this comparison, argue whether or not modern ID laws violate the spirit of the Voting Rights Act.

You’re helping a newly naturalized citizen understand their right to vote.
a. Define "suffrage" and "electorate" using the reading.
b. Explain two qualifications they must meet in your state to vote.
c. Suggest two ways they could become informed and involved before their first election.

Analyze the difference between de jure and de facto disenfranchisement using African American voting history.
a. Define disenfranchisement and identify two specific tactics used to suppress Black voters.
b. Explain how those tactics were often legal (de jure) but also supported by social pressure (de facto).
c. Reflect on why both forms of disenfranchisement needed to be addressed by federal law.

Imagine the 26th Amendment (voting age set at 18) had never been passed.
a. Define the purpose of the 26th Amendment from the reading.
b. Predict how youth political engagement and representation would be different today.
c. Argue whether you believe lowering the voting age was essential to a more democratic society.

A classmate argues that voter registration should not be required.
a. Identify why most states require registration and what poll books are.
b. Explain how registration can help or hinder voting access, using examples from the reading.
c. Take a position on whether registration is a fair requirement and defend your reasoning.