Chapter 6 Test

1.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 1:One important issue in Section 1 was the power to set voting qualifications. States are reserved their own power but the Constitution puts five restrictions on how they can use their power. No state can deprive any person of the right to vote due to race, color, or gender. No state can also deprive any person who is at least 18 years old of the right to vote due to the 26th Amendment.

2.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 2:
One qualification that has to be met in order to vote is that the person has to be registered to vote. Registration is a procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. State laws officials should review the poll books and cross off the names of people who no longer can register. People who no longer can register include those who have died, moved away, convicted a serious crime, or is committed to a mental institution. This is the process of purging and it should be done every two to four years.

3.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 3:
For this section I will be talking about Preclearance. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 declared that no new election laws and no changes in existing election laws could go into effect in any State unless it was first approved or given preclearance by the Department of Justice. This produced a large number of court cases since this law was passed. So then they made restrictions to the election issues they could change. One thing that they could change would be the location of the voting polls. Also they could change the boundaries of election districts and the deadlines in the election process.

4.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 4:There are some sociological factors that people take in before they go to the voting booths. One thing they think about is their income or occupation. Voters who have lower income are more than likely going to support the Democrats and voters with higher income the Republicans. Education also plays another role. They believe that the more education a person has the more likely they will vote for the Republican side. There is also a difference in voting between men and women called the gender gap. Studies show that men and women vote differently on subjects such as abortion, health care, social welfare matters, or military involvements.Some other things that can persuade someone would be their religion, where they live, and also their family members.

5. Explain voter apathy and what can be done to help it:
Voter apathy is when people dont vote because they don't think their vote will count. It is very important for everyone to think that their vote can make a difference because if one person doesn't, then another person might think the same thing, and soon nobody will vote because they don't think it will make a difference. I think one vote can make a difference. Sometimes it gets so close that they have to do a re-count. By voting you get a chance to tell your representatives what kind of nation you want to live in.

6. Explain the qualifications for registering to vote:
First of all the person has to be of the age of 18 years old due to Amendment 26 unless the State wants to lower the voting age. Then the voter must register his or her name, age, place of birth, present address, length of residence, and other facts. This voter will remain registered unless he or she dies, moves away, is convicted of a serious crime, or is committed to a mental institution. There names are put into the poll books but crossed of if they are no longer registered to vote.

The history of the two major political parties in our government.

At first our two party system was between the Federalist and the Anti-federalist. These two parties are more commonly known today as the Republican and Democratic parties respectively. It was Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who organized them into the Democratic-Republican party. This party favored states' rights and followed the constitution strictly. The Republicans believe to create a stonger national government.

In the past I would have been a Democrat. The Democrats wanted to support the South during slavery before the Civil War. They also wanted voting rights for all males. The Democrats support the hard workers such as small farmers. They care for the people who work very hard and try to make their voice be heard.

In the present I am a Democrat because I am a hard worker in the small town. Another reason why I am a Democrat is that I favored Stephanie more than Kristi. I do believe that helping our business's out of trouble is somewhat of a good thing, but I think that we need to worry more about the common folk. They people who work hard and don't really get a voice. For the people who farm and other people don't appreciate the food in which they get.

In the future I have no idea where I will be standing on this issue. Things change and so do people. It might also have to do with the fact of who is running for office and what there views on making America better are. I still might be a Democrat or may switch over. Also in the future these two parties might change names, divide into more parties, or merge together.

Election Results

I was glad to see that the smoking ban in South Dakota was past so there will be no more smoking in the bars in our State. It will be very different to walk through a non-smokey bar for once. In one article, some bars were affraid to lose their customers so they came up with a plan to still have their smoking customers. So they have made an area on the patio where the smokers can go and they also have lighting out there and the light also gives off heat so it can be used during the winter days.

I didn't really like to see that Kristi Noem won as the house of representative. She had a lot of negative campaigning against Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and she never did apoligize for it. I thought that Stephanie Herseth Sandlin did a good job in her position and we didn't need a new person to represent South Dakota in Washington. I was very glad however to see that Dennis Daugaard won as our governer. I liked him better than Scott Heidepriem because Scott said once during a debate "When I become your next governer," and i didn't like how Scott thought he was going to win. I was surprised to hear that these two were actual friends before and during the campaign, unlike Noem and Sandlin.