Civil War-era laws kept 6.1 million fromvoting in the 2016 election

Confederate General Robert E. Lee (right) shakes hands with Union General Ulysses S. Grant as Lee surrenders his

army at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War, 1865. Photo: Reproduction of a painting by

Thomas Nast

Republican Donald Trump was chosen as the next president on November 8, 2016, during

an election in which millions of people were prevented from voting by rules that date back

to the Civil War. These rules were made to maintain white male political control.

Slim Margins

About 6.1 million people who were convicted of breaking laws could not cast ballots

because of policies that keep felons off voter rolls, according to justice reform organization

The Sentencing Project. And according to the most recent numbers from Florida,

Wisconsin and Michigan, which is still counting, Hillary Clinton lost by a number of votes

smaller than the number of those banned from voting. Many of those banned are poor or

black or both, which are groups that tend to vote Democrat.

At the same time, Clinton garnered at least a million more votes than Trump, and she

stands to gain even more as the counting continues, but lost the Electoral College. This

system gives each state a number of votes roughly proportioned to population. Each state

By PBS NewsHour, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.17.16

Word Count 1,039

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1

chooses "electors" to cast each of the votes for their state. There are 538 electoral votes for

the country in total. The candidate who wins the majority of the electoral votes in the

country, which will be officially counted in January, wins the election.

It is unusual for the winner in a presidential election to win through the Electoral College,

but not also win the "popular vote" or majority of actual votes in the country. The last time

this happened was during the heavily contested presidential election in the year 2000

when Republican George W. Bush won the Electoral College, defeating Democrat Al Gore,

who won the popular vote.

The Historical Context

In 1787, James Madison introduced the Electoral College as an alternative to a popular

vote system because he wrongly thought black people in the South presented a “difficulty

… of a serious nature.” The population of the North contained higher numbers of white

men who could vote than the South did at the time. Even though enslaved blacks could not

vote, there were large numbers of them living in the South. Madison thought the Electoral

College, which gives votes to states relative to how many people live in a state, would

boost the political power of the slave-holding Southerners. It would make the states with

fewer people, which at the time were slave-holding states, more powerful. His Electoral

College plan included the idea that a black person would only be counted as three-fifths of

a person.

A constitutional scholar says that these historical laws may have helped elect Trump.

Trump has been praised by the Ku Klux Klan, a racist terrorist group in America. He

rejected their endorsement this month.

Juan Perea is a law professor at Loyola University Chicago. He recalled the history of

disenfranchising, or preventing certain types of people from voting. This kind of

disenfranchisement was fought for by several Southern states when they resisted the

abolition of slavery and formed the Confederacy, following the 1860 election of Abraham

Lincoln. Then came the Civil War.

As more than half a million soldiers and slaves died and the Confederacy lost, the U.S.

passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, formally abolishing slavery. There was

one catch, though. The formerly enslaved blacks could only be free if they had not

committed a crime.

A South Carolina constitutional convention chairman reminded his colleagues in 1868 that

they could “deprive every colored man of their right of citizenship” by making “the most

trivial offence a felony” in the state.

By 1869, 29 states had enacted disenfranchisement laws.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2

Methods Of Voter Suppression

Perea believes disenfranchisement, coupled with voter ID laws enacted after the Supreme

Court “gutted” the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 15 states introduced new voting

restrictions this election, contributed to Clinton’s loss.

Trump supporters are primarily white. Historically, white people have felt threatened by

change, responding by creating laws and voting to maintain supremacy, Perea said.

“The election of Barack Obama and changing demographics pose a very direct threat to

these core founding values, held by many Americans,” Perea said. “The failure to

understand and acknowledge the deep history of American racism leads to

underestimation of its current existence and impact.”

According to The Sentencing Project, all but two states have disenfranchisement laws that

strip people convicted of felonies of rights. These rights include being able to run for

office, sit on a jury or vote.

The Florida Problem

In Florida, once a Confederate state that now has some of the strictest voting rights

policies, 1 in 4 black people are disenfranchised.

It also has the most disenfranchised voters — about 1.6 million, with one-third of them

black. It is a state where Clinton needed approximately 120,000 more votes to win its 29

electoral votes.

“These are disproportionately low-income people and that’s viewed as more Democratic in

general,” said Executive Director Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project.

The question frustrates black Florida resident Desmond Meade, who lived on the streets

after serving time for aggravated battery and possession of a firearm.

Meade, the president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition told NewsHour Weekend,

“Americans from all walks of life believe in second chances.”

Florida is also the same state the controversial 2000 election was centered around, when

Gore lost the election. Researchers Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza estimate that if

disenfranchised voters had been able to vote, they could have overwhelmingly swung the

state to vote for Gore.

The Sentencing Project has estimated that the number of people affected by these laws

has grown from 1.1 million in 1976, to approximately 2.5 percent of the country’s voting-

age populace today. Mauer said 23 states have enacted some kind of reform.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3

There has been a movement for a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact that has

gained support since Gore lost in 2000. New York overwhelmingly agreed in 2014 to join

nine other Democratic states and Washington, D.C. Together, they have 165 electoral

votes. If they gain a total of 270 — the majority needed to elect a president — the nation

will move to a popular vote.

Perea said that no one cared about the felons. "The only reason liberals might care now is

because they lost," he said.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4

Quiz

1 Which idea is BEST supported by this paragraph from the article?

Florida is also the same state the controversial 2000 election was

centered around, when Gore lost the election. Researchers

Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza estimate that if disenfranchised

voters had been able to vote, they could have overwhelmingly swung

the state to vote for Gore.

(A) Votes were improperly counted during the 2000 election that gave the state

to George W. Bush.

(B) State laws that disenfranchise voters are having a direct effect on national

elections in the U.S.

(C) It is unlikely that disenfranchised voters would make a difference in elections

if the laws were changed.

(D) Many more people living in Florida are disenfranchised than are legally able

to vote.

2 All of the following selections support the author's claim that without disenfranchisement laws

the results of the 2016 election might have been different.

Which piece of evidence is the STRONGEST one to support that claim?

(A) And according to the most recent numbers from Florida, Wisconsin and

Michigan, which is still counting, Hillary Clinton lost by a number of votes

smaller than the number of those banned from voting.

(B) It is unusual for the winner in a presidential election to win through the

Electoral College, but not also win the "popular vote" or majority of actual

votes in the country.

(C) Perea believes disenfranchisement, coupled with voter ID laws enacted after

the Supreme Court “gutted” the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 15 states

introduced new voting restrictions this election, contributed to Clinton’s loss.

(D) In Florida, once a Confederate state that now has some of the strictest voting

rights policies, 1 in 4 black people are disenfranchised.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5

3 Which of these statements would be MOST important to include in an objective summary of the

article?

(A) The Electoral College unfairly divides voting power among the 50 states.

(B) Voters who are disenfranchised would definitely have voted for Clinton.

(C) The Electoral College was designed to give power to white voters in the

South.

(D) Voters were further stripped of their rights by a recent Supreme Court

decision.

4 Which of the following sentences from the article BEST develops a central idea?

(A) About 6.1 million people who were convicted of breaking laws could not cast

ballots because of policies that keep felons off voter rolls, according to

justice reform organization The Sentencing Project.

(B) At the same time, Clinton garnered at least a million more votes than Trump,

and she stands to gain even more as the counting continues, but lost the

Electoral College.

(C) Even though enslaved blacks could not vote, there were large numbers of

them living in the South.

(D) Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told the

NewsHour Weekend, “Americans from all walks of life believe in second

chances.”

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 6

Answer Key

1 Which idea is BEST supported by this paragraph from the article?

Florida is also the same state the controversial 2000 election was

centered around, when Gore lost the election. Researchers

Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza estimate that if disenfranchised

voters had been able to vote, they could have overwhelmingly swung

the state to vote for Gore.

(A) Votes were improperly counted during the 2000 election that gave the state

to George W. Bush.

(B) State laws that disenfranchise voters are having a direct effect on

national elections in the U.S.

(C) It is unlikely that disenfranchised voters would make a difference in elections

if the laws were changed.

(D) Many more people living in Florida are disenfranchised than are legally able

to vote.

2 All of the following selections support the author's claim that without disenfranchisement laws

the results of the 2016 election might have been different.

Which piece of evidence is the STRONGEST one to support that claim?

(A) And according to the most recent numbers from Florida, Wisconsin and

Michigan, which is still counting, Hillary Clinton lost by a number of

votes smaller than the number of those banned from voting.

(B) It is unusual for the winner in a presidential election to win through the

Electoral College, but not also win the "popular vote" or majority of actual

votes in the country.

(C) Perea believes disenfranchisement, coupled with voter ID laws enacted after

the Supreme Court “gutted” the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 15 states

introduced new voting restrictions this election, contributed to Clinton’s loss.

(D) In Florida, once a Confederate state that now has some of the strictest voting

rights policies, 1 in 4 black people are disenfranchised.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 7

3 Which of these statements would be MOST important to include in an objective summary of the

article?

(A) The Electoral College unfairly divides voting power among the 50 states.

(B) Voters who are disenfranchised would definitely have voted for Clinton.

(C) The Electoral College was designed to give power to white voters in the

South.

(D) Voters were further stripped of their rights by a recent Supreme Court

decision.

4 Which of the following sentences from the article BEST develops a central idea?

(A) About 6.1 million people who were convicted of breaking laws could not

cast ballots because of policies that keep felons off voter rolls,

according to justice reform organization The Sentencing Project.

(B) At the same time, Clinton garnered at least a million more votes than Trump,

and she stands to gain even more as the counting continues, but lost the

Electoral College.

(C) Even though enslaved blacks could not vote, there were large numbers of

them living in the South.

(D) Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told the

NewsHour Weekend, “Americans from all walks of life believe in second

chances.”

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 8