Answer to Question 1
Answer: primary election
Answer to Question 2
Answer:
A. Suppression of African American rights
1. Before Civil War, slaves had no voting rights
2. Voting rights extended to African American males for a short time
3. White conservatives used intimidation and government action to restrict voting access
4. Over 650,000 African Americans in Texas and only 25.000 qualified to vote
5. 1905 progressives adopted the white primary to prohibit African Americans from voting; in turn excluding them from the political process
6. This policy became law in 1923
7. Poll tax also controlled voter turnout for African Americans and the poor
B. Political circumstances that gave African Americans rights
1. African leaders cited the Fifteenth Amendment (cannot use race as a reason to prohibit voting) as evidence that the policy violated the U.S. Constitution
2. 1924 Nixon v. Herndon struck down Texas law that prohibited African Americans from voting in the democratic primary
a. Democratic Party reacted by granting voting rights for the primary in a party resolution to whites only
3. Grovey v. Townsend upheld party resolution due to the fact that the Democratic Party was a private organization
4. A more liberal court overturned prior decision in Smith v. Allwright
a. political parties are agencies of the state and must abide by federal law regarding voting
5. African American voter registration increased rapidly
a. some white local primaries still existed until federal courts struck those down as well
C. Political circumstances that gave minorities more rights
6. Poll tax banned in the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964
a. Texas got around ban by instituting a dual ballot system
b. Received federal ballot but had to pay for state ballot
c. 1966 Texas v. United States struck down Texas law
7. Federal court intervention
a. federal courts struck down provisions that restricted voting such as registration, residence and property owning requirements
8. Voting Rights Act of 1965
a. protected minorities from discrimination in registration and voting process
b. redistricting plans had to be submitted and approved to stop racial gerrymandering
D. Suppression of women's voting rights
1. Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 granted women the right to vote
2. Texas first state to approve amendment and women voted in 1918