Voting

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

12

Overview

In this learning activity, students investigate youth voting practices and consider the ways youth voting habits may influence their own decision to vote. Students compare ways voting rights have changed through the years including women, African Americans, age, and non-property owners. The activity addresses the cornerstone of democracy, that voting is the most direct way for citizens to participate in government. Click on the Download PDF or DOC button for additional resources including a video, a New York State voting ballot, graphs, and articles.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 12 - United States Government

SS10.USG.6
Analyze the expansion of suffrage for its effect on the political system of the United States, including suffrage for non-property owners, women, African Americans, and persons eighteen years of age.

Vocabulary

suffrage
disenfranchisement
Seneca Falls Convention
suffragettes
15^th Amendment
19^th Amendment
24^th Amendment
26^th Amendment
Jim Crow
grandfather clause
literacy test
poll tax
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Motor Voter Law of 1995

Knowledge

Students know:

Plight of minority groups to gain suffrage rights, including women, African-Americans, non-property owners, and persons eighteen years of age.
Key constitutional amendments and laws that have allowed for the expansion of the right to vote.
Key obstacles imposed during the Jim Crow era to limit suffrage rights.
Key events in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the expansion of suffrage rights.

Skills

Students are able to:

Place in chronological order the acquiring of suffrage rights for various minority groups.
Connect key amendments and laws to their impact on the expansion of suffrage.
Analyze charts and graphs of voter turnout by various minority groups over time and who these groups voted for.

Understanding

Students understand that:

The right to vote has not been guaranteed to all citizens throughout American history but has been gradually expanded to Americans over time and that the expansion of the right to vote has shifted party alliances and campaign strategies.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 12 - United States Government

SS10.USG.7
Describe the process of local, state, and national elections, including the organization, role, and constituency of political parties. (Alabama)

Vocabulary

primary
gerrymandering
Electoral College
soft money
hard money
reapportionment
redistricting
"Get Out the Vote"
gubernatorial
caucus
party convention
political party
census
public financing

Knowledge

Students know:

The process by which elections are carried out in state, local, and national elections.
The process by which state legislatures create and adjust congressional districts.
The major rules and regulations surrounding how candidates receive and spend campaign funds.
The methods and goals of political parties in appealing to various populations as a means of ensuring voter turnout.

Skills

Students are able to:

Organize components of the election process into chronological order, including primary elections.
Analyze state maps to assess the impact of redistricting.
Analyze tables, graphs, and charts to assess voter turnout and impact of.
Compare historical maps of state district lines and Electoral College outcomes to identify differences and shifts over time.

Understanding

Students understand that:

The election process differs amongst office and level of government as well as how campaign spending, political parties, voter turnout, and redistricting can influence the outcome.

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

Other

License Type

CUSTOM

Resource Provider other

College Career & Civic Life (C3)

http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiries/voting/

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.c3teachers.org/about-c3-teachers/

Approved Date

2019-02-20

Owner (Author)

mgsaboyd

Design by Adaptive Theme