Buckle up Band, we’re about to take a trip down history lane and learn about how our voting process was put into place and has evolved over time!
Voting Process
According to the Constitution, the President of The United States is elected every 4 years. A candidate must be 35 years of age, a resident within the U.S. for at least 14 years prior to running, and a natural born citizen.
The Presidential election is decided by the Electoral College, which was formed by our founding fathers in 1788.
Electoral College votes are divided among the states: Each state gets two votes for it’s two U.S. Senators. There is also a vote for each of their U.S Representatives, which is dependent upon each state’s population. The Presidential candidate that wins the popular vote in each state gets that state’s Electoral College votes.
In 1789, George Washington was the first president elected using this method of voting. We still use the Electoral College today. The year 2000 was the first Presidential voting cycle in U.S history to be decided by the Supreme Court instead of the Electoral College.
Members of the House of Representatives are elected to 2 year terms. Each state has congressional districts based upon their population reported on the U.S. Census every 10 years. Each state is guaranteed at least one Representative. A candidate for the House of Representatives must be 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States for at least 7 years, and inhabit (have a residence in) the state that they represent.
Members of the Senate are elected to 6 year terms. Candidates for Senate must be 30 years of age, a citizen for at least 9 years, and inhabit the state the represent. Each state has two U.S. Senators who’s terms are staggered, so every 2 years approximately a third of the Senate is up for election.
There are also many local elections for Governors, State Senators, State Representatives, Assembly Members or Delegates, Municipal positions and School Boards. These are all controlled by State Constitutions and vary by State.
History of Political Parties
The founding fathers never intended for America to be partisan, it is never mentioned in the Constitution. In fact it was written in some early Federalist papers that partisanship could lead to dangerous domestic political factions causing conflict and stagnation in our country. However, the first political parties were seen in 1792 with the Federalist party founded by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans (AKA Jeffersonian Republicans) founded by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. These first two parties made up The First Party System (defined by political alignment, shifts in party beliefs, and ending when the dominant party loses two House election cycles by large margins) and lasted from 1792 to 1824.
The Federalist party was founded on a basis of a centralized banking system, close ties to Britain, a strong central government, and close ties between the government and men of health.The Democratic-Republican party was based on a strong opposition to Hamilton. They did not agree with Hamilton’s financial programs because they believed they would lead to a monarchy. This party was sometimes referred to as “Anti-Federalists” or “Anti-Administration party. They believed in strong state governments and advocated for yeoman farmers.
The Second Party System started in 1828 with the splitting of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay, and the Democratic Party, led by Andrew Jackson. The Second Party System lasted until 1854.
The Democratic Party was based on opposition to the Bank of the United States and modernizing programs as well as a belief that the President should be more powerful than the other branches of the government.
The Whig Party’s core beliefs advocated for the strength of Congress over the executive branch, as well as modernization and protection of the economy.
In 1854 the Third Party System took over with the founding of the Republican Party (aka. The GOP) comprised mostly of Whigs and Northerners and the Democratic Party which was mainly comprised of conservative white Southerners. It persisted until the 1890’s.
The Republican Party’s had a strong anti-slavery platform as well as believing in modernization and strong social spending.
The Democratic Party ran on a platform of state’s rights and protecting the rights of property holders (ie. slave owners).
The Fourth Party system originated in 1896 and lasted until 1932. It consisted of the same social groups of the Third Party (Democratic and Republican Parties) but the topics debated shifted to regulation of railroads and corporations, child labor and labor unions, women’s suffrage, segregation, and immigration control.
The Fifth Party system emerged with The New Deal in 1933. This was also the time period that The Republican Party turned more Conservative and the Democrats took a turn for more Liberal agendas.
It is debated that a Sixth Party system emerged around the 1960’s around the time of the Vietnam War and the collapse of The New Deal. Some experts disagree and say the Sixth System started in the 90’s with cultural divisions.
Voting Rights
The Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, leaving it up to the states to decide who was eligible. Throughout the Early 1800’s, as each state joined the union they developed their own state constitution dictating who could vote. During this time the voting population was mostly white males property owners.
The Suffrage Movement began with fervor in 1848. Three hundred people attended the very first convention, held in Seneca, New York, for women’s voting rights. At this convention a petition was started calling for federal voting rights for women. The “Declaration of Sentiments” received 100 signatures from 32 males and 68 females.
In 1866 the 14th Amendment was ratified, stating that men over the age of 21 who were legal residents of the United States had the right to vote. Any state preventing these rights were penalized by losing electors in the Electoral College.
In 1868, after many years of fighting by suffragists at the state level and several national conventions for women’s voting rights, the first federal women’s suffrage amendment was introduced into Congress by Senator S.C. Pomeroy of Kansas. This same amendment was proposed by various members of Congress during every session for the next 41 years.
In 1869, the 15th amendment was ratified giving men the right to vote regardless of age, color, or former slave status.
Wyoming becomes the first state allowing women to vote in 1890 with it’s state Constitution. By 1900, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho joined Wyoming allowing women the right to vote in their state Constitutions.
On August 18th, 1920, The 19th Amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote.
The Indian Citizenship Act was enacted in 1924, giving Native Americans federal voting rights. Prior to this, many Native Americans were told they were not legally citizens of the United States, because they were citizens of their tribes according to treaties made from the 1780’s to the 1870’s. According the The Dawes Act of 1887, Native Americans could legally become citizens, thus giving them voting rights, only if they gave up their tribal affiliations.
Chinese Immigrants are given the right to vote with the passing of the Magnuson Act in 1943. This Act, sometimes called the Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act, officially opened U.S. borders to Chinese immigrants for the first time since 1882 when Chinese immigration was banned after many years of resistance against Chinese migrant workers. It allowed those who were here to become naturalized citizens, thus giving them the right to vote. This act was later repealed in 1965, ending restrictions on the number of immigrants allowed, as well as business and property ownership to all Chinese immigrants.
Washington, D.C. residents are granted the right to vote for President in 1961 under the 23rd Amendment, this right was taken away in 1801 when Maryland delegated this part of their state to Congress.
In 1964, the 24th Amendment was passed outlawing poll taxes, which were a ploy used by states to discourage voting by poor people. The next year, The Voting Rights Act is signed by President Lyndon Johnson. This act has been touted as the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation in the history of the country and was passed in Congress thanks to the American Civil Rights Movement. It federally prohibits racial discrimination in voting and has been amended and added to a number of times to protect the voting rights of all minorities, including Native Americans.
In 1971 the 26th Amendment was passed lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
We enacted the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act in 1986. It requires all U.S. States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to allow members of the seven Uniformed Services, members of the Merchant Marines, their family members, federally employed U.S. citizens working outside the United States, and private U.S. citizens living abroad to vote via absentee ballot.
That brings up to today! People are currently fighting for voter’s rights and accessibility for the disabled. Homeless people also have a hard time practicing their right to vote because of residency requirements. Felons are not allowed to vote in many states, since the U.S has a much higher proportion of our population in prison (nearly 6 million American, approximately 2.5% of our voting aged population) than any other Western nation, this has led to a very high percentage of Felony Disenfranchisement.
There you have it, Band! Hasn’t this been a fun trip down memory lane?
I lost my best friend, my very first true best friend, the one who taught me how to love and how to be loved back, to suicide in July 2015. The following is my thoughts when I found out he had taken his own life…
…4 months after it happened.
You see, we had lost touch and I had made myself invisible to everyone around him. I don’t typically believe in regret – it only leads to negativity – however in this case I truly regret leaving his circle. I’m still not sure why I felt it necessary. I missed his memorial. I missed the late night call. I missed saying goodbye.
Because the brain is a funny thing, I seem to have blocked out most of the hardcore grieving.
So here, from my Facebook and various platforms, the recounting of my thoughts and feelings during that time:
November 11, 2015
The journey of life is such a strange thing. I just learned that the person who was my light when I couldn’t see through the darkness left this life a few months ago.
November 12, 2015
I woke up this morning and he was still gone. It wasn’t all just a horrible nightmare giving me chills while I sleep. It’s real life.
I went to sleep crying and I woke up crying. My 2 year old keeps asking why I’m crying. Mommy’s just sad baby. So very sad.
“There will come a day when the joy runs out. Do not ask “What could I have done?” but instead ask “What will I do now?” Think of me when you hear music, and laugh at something you remembered me saying. Know that I am silent and still, and believe me when I say that sweet nothingness is preferred to this life of disgrace, heartache, and pain. I will be no longer be a burden. There will come a day when the joy runs out.”
Pat wrote this on his Facebook February 18th, 2012.
I don’t recall what inspired him to write it, but I saved this note because he put his soul into words.
Words that rang true, unfortunately, way too soon.
So tonight, at Pat’s request, I’m asking myself, “What will I do now?” Instead of the “What should I have done? What could have I done?” that has plagued me since I found out what had happened. Months ago. That I did not know had happened.
Months ago.
I lost him through choices that were very much my own. What will I do, now that my heart is incomplete? I will think of him when I hear music. I will laugh when I remember something he said. I will remember that he isn’t here suffering in the prison of his dark thoughts and insecurities. I will continue to love him as if he were still here, because I don’t know how not to.
In a serendipitous way, he’s the reason that my husband and I are together today. I had stopped at Walmart to grab some books because I was preparing for an extended visit with my friend, Pat, who was having a rough night. The (future) husband just happened to be building a feature nearby. We got to talking and planned to hang out soon.
Three days later, we were sure that we’d never be apart again.
Pat officiated our wedding in the rose garden at Gage Park a year later to the day.
We had lost touch the last couple of years. I’d gotten busy raising kids and building our new extended family and Pat had been busy working and playing his beloved music. We met for coffee at Denny’s about two and a half years ago to catch up and share memories. He had changed and so had I and we couldn’t find our common ground anymore. We both just kind of let our relationship slip into fun memories and the occasional longing to be together, where we used to be.
I’m a firm believer that everyone comes into your life to give you a lesson, good or bad. Pat taught me many lessons in our time together; a hug is the best medicine, astrophysics is fascinating, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan and Alexei Filippenko are awesome to watch in lecture. That music is a piece of my soul and goes deeper than a Top 40 pop radio station. Today Pat is teaching me to not take for granted the people that come into your life unexpectedly and leave the same way.
I love you, Pat. I’ll forever miss your hugs and dumb Assy McGee references.
I’ll never forget your smile.
January 1, 2016
You’re on my mind a lot today, buddy. There was a curious string of songs in my Pandora shuffle and while I know that if you were here you’d tell me how silly I was being and it’s just a coincidence, but I can’t help but think that it’s you giving me a little boost when you know the day is rough.
Miss you, been missing you. Wish I could tell you that.
(To my friend in a private chat) I can’t say this on my picture because it’s too public. But I’m having such a hard time dealing with his loss.
It’s like a shot to the gut. I feel like I failed him. He couldn’t function on a “hey how ya doing” every six months. He was a full-contact, likes-to-hang-out-in real-life type of guy.
I knew that about him and I just, I feel so badly that I let him grow away from me.
That I let myself become a part of his list of “people that don’t give a shit” because I totally gave a shit. I guess I’m really struggling with what I know his last thoughts were before he took his life.
I know he was listing off all the people that had failed him because I talked him down from that thought before. Many times. I have a Facebook messenger full of me talking him down from that. I wasn’t there that time to talk him down from that.
I know that’s not fair of me to put that on myself. I know that intellectually, but it hurts my heart so fucking much.
This. This haunts me so
He was there for me in my bad time. I was there for him in many of his bad times. I wasn’t there in his last bad time. I don’t know.
I feel selfish. For not trying harder to make him a part of my life. I’m struggling in the shoulda coulda woulda. It’s a favorite past time of mine. I keep pep talking myself “You didn’t know, There’s no way you could’ve known, he shut himself off, too”. I’m just really struggling today. I’ve been in tears for hours. I’m just struggling with my choices. I’m hurting.
February 23, 2016
It’s your birthday today. Normally, I’d be constructing some smart assed email joking about getting old and having you sneak goodies in to me at the nursing home. Instead I’ll be heading out to see your headstone in the country, along with the kiddos so I’m not tempted to be out there for too long. Missing you Pat. Today and everyday. Happy Birthday.
July 3, 2016
It’s been a year. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year. What I wouldn’t give for a Pat hug today. Instead, I’m watching astrophysics documentaries, some of your very favorites, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson and of course Alexei Fillipenko. They’re not the same without you here to dumb them down for me, but it feels like the right thing to do.
I’m looking forward to catching up with your family later today and celebrating your life and sharing memories. Until we meet again, I love you and miss you so, so much.
July 3, 2017
It’s been 2 years that you’ve been gone. I still miss you every day. I find myself in tears when I come across random 6 ft tall bald dudes, with sweet beards sporting some chucks. There are more of those than you would expect. It’s never you, if only I could convince my brain to stop looking. What I wouldn’t do for one more Pat hug. Love dove.
February 23, 2018
Happy Birthday dear friend. Watching some Cosmos tonight and thinking of you. Miss you so much, today and every day.
“when you meet that person.. a person. one of your Soulmates. Let the connection, relationship be what it is. It may be five mins, five hours, five days, five months. Five years. A lifetime. Let it manifest itself, the way it is meant to. It has an organic destiny. This way if it stays or if it leaves, you will be softer from having been Loved this authentically. Souls come into, return, open, and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons, let them be who and what they are meant.”
Since 2003, the March of Dimes has led Prematurity Awareness Month activities in November as part of its Prematurity Campaign.
The goals of the campaign are to reduce rates of premature birth in the United States and raise awareness of this very serious problem.
Please, we encourage you to to submit your own stories of prematurity with The Band.
Four years ago I would not have paid attention to an event like Prematurity Awareness Month and I likely would not have even known about the work of the March of Dimes. Today I am proud to be a supporter of the March of Dimes and their important work.
On March 8, 2007, my niece, Lucy Clare entered this world after my brother, Jonathan and sister-in-law, Mary, made the difficult decision to have an emergency c-section at 25 weeks gestation. In the weeks leading up to Lucy’s arrival, Jonathan and Mary knew that there was a chance Lucy would have to arrive early. She wasn’t growing and the doctors said that if she didn’t reach 500 grams (1.1 pounds) there would be very little they could do.
We all held our breath as Mary went to each ultra-sound appointment, hoping that this baby (gender unknown to all but them) would grow – just a little bit more, just a few more grams. They were briefed by the ob-gyn on what outcomes to expect if she was born at 32, 30 or 28 weeks.
A few weeks prior to Lucy’s birth, they were given a tour of the NICU so that they would be prepared for what they may encounter. At their last appointment, on March 8, they were told they had to make the difficult decision – wait another week and risk that she wouldn’t survive in utero or deliver that day knowing that the hospital had never had a baby that small survive.
Wanting to just give Lucy a chance, they opted for the c-section.
Lucy was a micro-preemie in every sense of the word. She weighed only 400 grams (14 ounces) and was just 10 inches in length. At her lowest, she dropped down to 290 grams. She was given surfactant therapy – its research was funded by the March of Dimes – for her lungs.
She breathed with the help of a ventilator for five weeks before being switched to CPAP for two months and then on nasal cannula until she was discharged. Lucy’s time in the hospital was filled with ups and downs – it often seemed like one step forward and two steps back. She faced many of the challenges that preemies in the NICU face: infection, retinopathy, the struggle to breathe on her own, a heart condition and feeding challenges.
Lucy spent 182 days in the hospital – six long months – before she joined her family at home.
Today Lucy is a happy, funny, easy-going 3 ½ year old who adores her big sister Stella and is starting to enjoy her baby sister Mallory. She loves books, colouring, watching Yo Gabba Gabba and dancing. But she still faces many challenges: she takes medication for pulmonary hypertension, she relies on a feeding tube for 100% of her nutrition and she has deteriorating eyesight. She has therapy appointments with a feeding specialist, physiotherapist, and attends weekly sensory motor sessions.
The work that the March of Dimes does through education, Prematurity Awareness Month, March for Babies and so much more, is crucial to helping all babies have a healthy start. Our family considers itself lucky that Lucy is here today and we want to do everything we can do to raise awareness for prematurity-related issues. It’s our chance to give back just a little bit.
The Democratic-Republican party was based on a strong opposition to Hamilton. They did not agree with Hamilton’s financial programs because they believed they would lead to a monarchy. This party was sometimes referred to as “Anti-Federalists” or “Anti-Administration party. They believed in strong state governments and advocated for yeoman farmers.
