Electorate Race and Social Position

Introduction to Electorate Race and Social Position

Race and social position are no longer of importance in the composition of an electorate. In the United States, the 15th Amendment to the constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibited race, color, or previous condition of servitude as grounds for denying or abridging the rights of citizens to vote. Whites, however, found other means of denying African Americans the vote for some time after the amendment was passed, such as poll-taxes or literacy tests. In Germany from 1933 to 1945, under the Nazi regime, membership to the German race was a prerequisite for inclusion in the electorate. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, one had to be a worker to vote. There, any resident worker could vote, whether a citizen or not.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Electorate Race and Social Position in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Electorate Race and Social Position

In this Section

Election, Voter Registration, Electoral Systems, Election Types, How Voters Decide, Electoral Realignments, Electorate (including Electorate Historical, Electorate Gender, Electorate Race and Social Position, Electorate Property and Poll Tax and Residence) and Electronic Voting (including Electronic Voting Origins and Electronic Voting Problems)