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1. Which of the following is a right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights? ____ Public education ____ Employment ____ Voting ____ Trial by jury 2. If a person is indicted for a crime, name two rights that he or she has. 3. A U.S. senator elected at the general election in November takes office the following year on what date? 4. A person opposed to swearing in an oath may instead say_____________. 5. To serve as president of the United States, a person must have attained: ____ 25 ____35 ____40 ____45 years 6. If a law passed by a state is contrary to provisions of the U.S. Constitution, which law prevails? 7. If a vacancy occurs in the U.S. Senate, the state must hold an election, but meanwhile the place may be filled by a temporary appointment made by ________________. 8. The Constitution protects an individual against punishments that are: 9. Name two things that the states are forbidden to do by the U.S. Constitution. 10. On the impeachment of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S., who tries the case? *
* * READERS CORNER Make Way
for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (elementary)
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Mason Stone? Yes, he was president of the Senate in 1919 when this amendment was proposed. Proposal nine by the 1919 commission recommended adding a new section to the Constitution that would be known as Section 51A. This new section of the Constitution provided: The General Assembly shall have authority to provide for compulsory voting at elections. The commission's own words eloquently explain its rationale for offering this amendment: Suffrage is not an individual right of the citizen which he may use and abuse as his personal interests dictate; it is rather a function and a duty which is intrusted to him in order to insure representative government and the best interest of the nation. * * * [E]very voter should be required to express his preference in the choice of public officials and in the selection of public policies. If each citizen is required to vote, a deeper interest in public affairs will be established, a result most certainly in the best interests of our state and nation. The commission that proposed the mandatory voting amendment was appointed by the governor. According to Vermont law, the General Assembly submitted a joint resolution directing the governor to appoint seven citizens to a commission every 10 years. The commission would submit proposed constitutional amendments to the General Assembly for review and consideration. Based on research in the Vermont State Archives, no action was taken on this amendment by the Vermont Senate. Low turnout continues today Without mandatory voting, a new generation of Vermont voters is choosing not to participate. In the 1996 presidential elections, only 26 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in Vermont voted. This brings us to the question the commission asked in 1919: Is voting a right or a responsibility? They concluded that voting was a responsibility and offered the amendment to make voting mandatory. What do you think?
WEB CONNECTION www.sec.state.vt.us
For
more information on Kids Voting Vermont, contact Sarah Alberghini, |
Suffrage Time Line 1776 - At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the right to vote is based on property ownership and is reserved primarily for white, male Protestants over the age of 21. 1777 - Vermont moves the country with a pioneering spirit as the state declares all adult, white males, irrespective of property ownership or religious preference, can vote. 1789 - George Washington is elected president by the Electoral College. Only 6 percent of the entire population is involved in the election. 1868 - After the Civil War, lawmakers enact the 14th Amendment to the Consti-tution granting citizenship to African Americans and permitting them to vote. 1876 - Poll taxes, grandfather clauses and literacy tests are introduced in many southern states to restrict the ability of African Americans to register and vote. 1890 - Wyoming is the first state to provide suffrage for women in its Constitution. 1920 - The 19th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees suffrage for women. 1943 - Georgia lowers its voting age from 21 to 18 in state and local elections. 1947 - Miguel Trijillo, a Native American, wins a suit against New Mexico for not allowing him to vote. New Mexico and Arizona are required to give suffrage for Native Americans. 1964 - The 24th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that no person can be denied the right to vote due to an inability to pay a tax prior to voting. The "poll tax" is now considered unconstitutional. 1965 - The Voting Rights Act is amended to ban the use of literacy tests, poll taxes and other barriers to voting. 1971 - The 26th Amendment to the Constitution lowers the voting age to 18. DEFINITION: SUFFRAGE ~ n. right of voting in a political election |
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Vermont
Constitutional Amendment to Make Voting Mandatory
