1.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 1:

     The growth of the Americal electorate is an important issue.  It has 5 distinct stages: The first stage talkg about the struggle to extend voting rights.  Back then, there were religious qualifications and not all white males could vote within the states due to restrictions.  Stage 2 is about broadening the electorate.  The civil war is what ratified the 15th amendment, therefore giving all citizens of any race or color the right to vote.  African American's were the only people systematically prevented from voting.  The third stage talks about the 19th amendment.  This amendment prohibited the denial of the right to vote because of sex.  Stage 4 gave the right for African Americans to vote.  Stage 5 is about the 26th amendment which provided that no state can set the minimum age for voting at more than 18.

2.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 2:

     I think that its unusual that North Dakota is the only state in the U.S. that does not require that most or all voters be registered to vote.  To me, it would be easier to register because the states can identify the voters by what party they are in and just simply that it would be much more organized.  Purging would also come into play as people who are no longer eligible to vote would be taken off of a list.  It happens every two or four years.  Sometimes, though, they are ignored and the poll books soon become clogged with names of people who are no longer eligible to vote.

3.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 3:

     The most important issue of this section is the 15th amendment.  This gave the right to African Americans to take a part in voting.  This is a key issue because African Americans did and still do take up a pretty large portion of our country's population and giving them the right to vote would dramatically turn some elections around and make things a bit more interesting.  The denial of the right of African American voting was especially bad in the south where they would be beated and some denied of family credit at local stores.

4.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 4:

     The thing that pops out at me from this section is the part on voters and voting behavior.  I knew that many people didn't vote just because they were too lazy or couldn't get to a booth or whatever, but tens of millions of potential voters do not vote each year; tens of millions.  Most of what is known about voter behavior comes from three sources: The results of particular elections, the field of survey research, and the studies of political socialization.

5.  Explain voter apathy and what can be done to help it:

     More and more American's each year are refusing to get to the poll booths.  People who used to vote are no longer voting and it is mostly the people who have never voted before and have been eligible to vote for years or the people that don't have much money and therefore don't have much education.  The United States is the worst in all of the democracy's in the world in voting participation.  I think that we need to focus on our schools and getting American's educated and teach them why it is important to be apart of voting and deciding our leaders.
   

6.  Explain the qualifications for registering to vote:

     Today, there are three qualifications for voting: citizenship, residence, and age.  First, you must be a citizen in order to vote.  Aliens that are born in foreign countries and have not yet become a U.S. citizen are not qualified to vote but if the state had decided that they could, that law could be passed because it does not say in the constitution that aliens cannot vote.  Second, you much be a legal resident of the State.  In most States people have to live in the State for a certain amount of time before they can vote.  Lastly, you must simply be over 18 years of age to vote.