Voting Rights in America
For this assignment, you will be tasked with briefly
telling the story of voting rights in the United States, as well as analyzing
the current state of voting rights, including current efforts to alter voting
laws. In light of all of this, you will evaluate the arguments
for/against voting law changes, take a positon yourself, and defend your
position using evidence you’ve found in your research.   Below is an
outline addressing the topics you must address in your paper, along
with the suggested percentage each section should account for in the final
paper. For example: the section of your paper talking about Early
Suffrage shouldn’t account for more than roughly 20% of your total paper.
1.
Early
Suffrage (20% of the length of
your paper)
o
Founders Beliefs about
who should vote and why.
o
Who is considered a
citizen?
o
Who is excluded and why
according to the Founders?
2.
Advancements (20% of the length of your paper)
o
15th Amendment – no qualifications on race
o
19th Amendment – no qualifications on gender
o
1965 Voting Rights Act
1.
Section 5 and
Preclearance
o
National
Voter Registration Act of
1993 (“Motor Voter Law”)
3.
Challenges
to Voting Rights (35%
of the length of your paper)
o
Shelby
Counter vs. Holder (2013)
1.
Why did the Supreme
Court strike down Voter ID?
o
Voter ID Laws
1.
What are the arguments
for and against Voter ID laws?
o
Texas, Georgia, Arkansas
voting reform bills.
1.
What is in the bills?
2.
Who is targeted?
3.
Who is excluded?
o
Freedom
to Vote Act
4.
What is in the bill?
5.
Who supports it? Why?
6.
Who opposes it?
Why?
7.
Your
View on Voting Rights (25% of the length of your paper)
o
Given what you’ve
researched, what is your stance on voting rights legislation? Is it
needed? What should be included? What are your arguments
for/against?
Requirements
– Your paper must cite and use at least 3 academic
sources (newspapers, blogs, polls, social media, and comparable
sources DO NOT count towards your academic sources but may still be a part of
your paper.)
– Don’t aim for 3 pages since that is the minimum – then
you only get 3 mediocre/bad pages. Aim for 5 pages and by the time you
cut/edit/proof you will have 3-4 good pages. The
difference between a C and an A is that extra work…
– Needs to be 3-4 pages of actual
content – don’t count large spaces, titles, quotes, etc.
– Your paper must include in-text citations and a works
cited page – this does not count for the length.
-Please use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and Times New
Roman Font.
Works-Cited and In-Text Citations
-Works Cited needs to be on a separate sheet of paper,
authors of sources need to be in alphabetical order.
-In-text citations need to come directly after quotes and
summations of other peoples’ ideas or other evidence you use in your paper
(like stats, opinion polls, etc.)
– Direct quotes from sources need to include the author and
the page number:
Ex:
“The Supreme Court acted … (Lebowski, 179).”
-Info from sources that is not a direct quote should have
the author and page/year after it:
Ex:
The Supreme Court’s decision…. (Lebowski, 179) OR (Lebowski, 2014)
-Citing lectures: include the date or week of the lecture.
You don’t need an entry in your bibliography for lectures.
Ex: There are several factors involved in political
socialization… (Professor Stewart, 10/30/21).

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