Looking back at the history of voting rights in this country, it is not a steady progression but rather a generally bumbling path forward. I ask the question here, what if the election of 2008 had been held under the voting laws of prior times? Below, I show estimates of the percent of the 2008 electorate that would have been eligible to vote at the end of each era, and how well Obama did among those historically eligible voters (by applying the restrictions shown in italics to the 2008 electorate). These numbers are estimated from exit polls, using the income cutoff of $50,000 as a substitute for landowners. Note that the restrictions were not uniform across all states - for example, just before the Civil War, a few states did allow free black men to vote.
Colonial: Adult white protestant landowning males
12% of the current electorate, 31% Obama
To be fair, not all colonies and early states restricted voting this drastically, and laws were not always enforced. The numbers above therefore represent a minimum value, and as such, are an exaggeration.
Jeffersonian: Adult white landowning males
21% of the current electorate, 40% Obama
The newly minted constitution did away with religious requirements for voting, but the idea persisted that voters should be limited to white men with a stake in government, as represented by a certain amount of wealth, land, or the payment of taxes. Again, this was not uniform across states.
For example, between its statehood and 1807 New Jersey required only that a voter possess a small amount of cash or property, with no restrictions based on race, religion, or gender.
Jacksonian: Adult white males
32% of the current electorate, 41% Obama
The expansion of the voting universe continued on its rocky course with the elimination of property requirements in almost all states by the Civil War.
Women's Suffrage: Adult whites
69% of the current electorate, 43% Obama
Women starting gaining (or re-gaining) the right to vote starting with Wyoming in 1869 and Utah in 1870 and ending with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Now it starts to get personal: probably a fair number of us knew somebody who could not vote when she turned 21.
Civil Rights: Adults
95% of the current electorate, 52% Obama
Non-whites have been able to vote since the founding of the country in various states at various times, most notably the post-Civil War era, but it took the Voting Rights Act for non-whites to be able to vote nationwide, without massive interference, and, we assume, permanently.
Youth: Even More Adults
100% of the current electorate, 53% Obama
In 1971 the voting age was lowered, and here we are today.
Back to the Story
Broadly speaking, we see that expanding the electorate has taken place in three steps: 1) Extending citizenship to more people 2) Extending voting rights to more citizens and 3) Making sure they actually get to vote.
So is there anything left to do? Certainly. In a post Chris Bowers wrote about two years ago, there's several things that jump out from the post and the comments:
1) Extending citizenship: Immigration reform
2) Extending voting rights: Ending felon disenfranchisement, lowering the voting age, congressional representation for territories
3) Making sure people vote: Same day registration, secure voting mechanisms, national voting holiday
I might add one more: extending voting rights to non-citizens. That whole taxation without representation thing, conservatives should love it, right? Actually, I was surprised to learn that non-citizens voting in this country wasn't all that rare in our history.
Returning to that post Chris wrote, though, it was more broadly about positive feedback loops: progressive policies that would make it easier to enact more progressive policies. Expanding the universe of voters is one category of positive progressive feedback loops. The first item on the list, however, was the Employee Free Choice Act. Just to throw this in at the end, here's how the union vote shaped up in the 2008 presidential election:
Click to enlarge.
This diary is the second in a series taking a close look at the 2008 electorate and exploring three themes: diversity within demographics, progressive feedback loops, and demographic change.
Tomorrow: Why Republicans Should Be Really Scared - a closer look at demographic change
Cross posted at DailyKos.