To prep for our “voting with your dollar” episode next week, VWPA tackles voting from 1776 to 2016, in the United States.

In This Episode

First Nichole walks us through the history of voting in the United States, focusing largely on federally passed legislation, and then Callie takes us into today, looking at voter suppression tactics used to influence and steal the 2016 election.

History: Timeline

Intro from Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The basic principle that governed voting in colonial America was that voters should have a “stake in society.” Leading colonists associated democracy with disorder and mob rule, and believed that the vote should be restricted to those who owned property or paid taxes. Only these people, in their view, were committed members of the community and were sufficiently independent to vote. Each of the thirteen colonies required voters either to own a certain amount of land or personal property, or to pay a specified amount in taxes.

Many colonies imposed other restrictions on voting, including religious tests. Catholics were barred from voting in five colonies and Jews in four.

The right to vote varied widely in colonial America. In frontier areas, seventy to eighty percent of white men could vote. But in some cities, the percentage was just forty to fifty percent.

1776 – voting started off classist, racist, sexist AF

* Only land owners can vote

* Must be 21 or older

* Religious restrictions keep Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and others from voting

* mMost are white male Protestants over the age of 21

* Women are allowed to vote in New Jersey, as long as they own property

1787 – states decide who can vote

* A national agreement on voting rights can’t be reached, so each state will decide

* Stays primarily white male landowners

1789 – George Washington elected president

* Only 6% of population can vote

1790 – only white men can become citizens & vote

* The Naturalization Act of 1790 bars non-white immigrants from becoming citizens

The act restricted citizenship to “any alien, being a free white person” who had been in the U.S. for two years, in good standing, and had sworn an oath to the Constitution. In effect, it left out indentured servants, slaves, American Indians, Asian people later on, and most women

* As anti-immigrant sentiment grew in the U.S., the residency requirement was increased to five, and then 15 years

* Created due to a lack of definition for a citizen, or natural born citizen, in Constitution. When Constitution was drafted, the prevailing belief was that “one became American by choice, not by descent.” Ironic how much this would change in a few short years.

* At this same time, interestingly, 6 states did allow for free African Americans to vote (Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont)

1807 – New Jersey Bans Women From Voting

* Women will not be allowed to vote anywhere in the U.S. for the next 113 years

1812 Mass Governor redraws voting district lines

* Governor Elbridge Gerry redraws voting district lines to favor the Republican-dominated legislature against the Federalist Party

* The term “gerrymander” means the drawing of legislative district lines, usually in a bizarre and quite transparently biased manner, to give an unfair advantage to one group or political party

This is still an issue today – for instance, the 2012 election cycle in Pennsylvania saw 51% of votes cast for Democrats, and yet the Democratic Part only won 5 out of 18 seats