Deck 3: Political Participation in Texas: Voters, Campaigns, and Elections

Question 1

Texas officials used all but which of the following methods to exclude minorities from voting after the Civil War?

A) banishment
B) intimidation
C) voter registration rules
D) poll tax

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The Terrell Election Law of 1903 instituted what kind of primary election system?

A) non-partisan
B) inclusive
C) white
D) two-stage

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The 24^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made what electoral practice illegal?

A) voter intimidation
B) white primary
C) literacy test
D) poll tax

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The Voting Rights Act requirement, struck down in 2014, that states with a history of discrimination must secure Department of Justice approval before putting election law changes in place was called?

A) green light
B) approval
C) preclearance
D) prior restraint

Question 5

For decades, voter turnout in Texas has been below the national average by about how many percentage points?

A) two to six
B) seven to twelve
C) thirteen to nineteen
D) more than twenty

Question 6

Which of the following socio-demographic groups in Texas has the highest voter turnout rates?

A) Anglos
B) Asians
C) Blacks
D) Hispanics

Question 7

John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner and Dolph Briscoe both haled from what South-Central Texas town?

A) Uvalde
B) Goliad
C) San Antonio
D) Alpine

Question 8

Who was the 2018 Democratic candidate for Governor of Texas?

A) Ann Richards
B) Bill White
C) Lupe Valdez
D) Barbara Jordan

Question 9

In a major statewide race, about what proportion of campaign money goes to buy television time?

A) one-quarter
B) one-third
C) one-half
D) two-thirds

Question 10

Which of the following Texas senators did not initially win their Senate seat in a special election?

A) W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel
B) John Tower
C) Kay Bailey Hutchison
D) John Cornyn

Question 11

Article I, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gave what level of government the right to register voters, structure campaigns, and hold elections?

A) national
B) state
C) local
D) precinct

Question 12

In post-Civil War Texas, blacks were not fully excluded from the electorate until?

A) 1860
B) 1875
C) 1887
D) 1900

Question 13

The poll tax instituted in 1902 charged Texans how much to register and vote?

A) $10
B) $5
C) $1.50
D) $.50

Question 14

Which of the following U.S. Supreme Court decisions held that the Texas Democratic Party could exclude blacks from its primary elections?

A) Nixon v. Herndon (1924)
B) Grovey v. Townsend (1935)
C) Smith v. Allwright (1944)
D) Brown v. Board (1954)

Question 15

What percent of the voting age population in Texas is registered to vote?

A) 90%
B) 84%
C) 56%
D) 38%

Question 16

The National Voter Registration Act of 1995 was intended to increase voter registration by allowing people to register in many state government offices. This law is better known as?

A) Every man a voter
B) Jail registration
C) Motor voter
D) Help America Vote Act

Question 17

In the 2020 General Election, what proportion of Texas voters took advantage of early voting?

A) one-quarter
B) one-third
C) two-thirds
D) more than 85 percent

Question 18

What percent of votes cast in recent statewide Texas elections are cast by Hispanics?

A) 45%
B) 35%
C) 25%
D) 15%

Question 19

Lyndon Johnson used what form of transportation in his 1948 Senate campaign?

A) horse and buggy
B) tractor
C) jet
D) helicopter

Question 20

Which of these Texas politicians was Speaker of the Texas House and later was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives?

A) Barbara Jordan
B) Ben Barnes
C) Sam Rayburn
D) Jim Wright

Question 21

About what does it cost to run an ad statewide just one time in all of the major Texas media markets?

A) $150,000
B) $250,000
C) $500,000
D) $1 million

Question 22

Minnie Fisher Cunningham was a leading:

A) state legislator
B) federal judge
C) suffragette
D) prison reformer

Question 23

Primary elections in Texas occur in what month?

A) March
B) June
C) August
D) November

Question 24

What year did the Texas ban on straight ticket voting go into effect?

A) 1876
B) 1949
C) 1995
D) 2020

Question 25

Describe the main forms of political participation in the U.S. and Texas and the goals that each type of participation is best designed to achieve.

Question 26

How did U.S. Supreme Court decisions effect how Texas voter registration and election systems were organized and managed?

Question 27

How and why do socio-demographic factors like age, education, income, race, and ethnicity effect voter turnout?

Question 28

Describe the Supreme Court finding in Smith v. Allwright (1944).

Question 29

Describe the Supreme Court finding in U.S. v. Texas (1966).

Question 30

How did the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) intend to accomplish its purposes?

Question 31

How has early voting, adopted in the late 1980s, effected Texas voters and elections?

Question 32

Why did the U.D. Supreme Court require that the Texas Voter ID law be revised?

Question 33

Texas instituted its modern voter registration system in 1902.

Question 34

The Secretary of State is the chief elections officer in Texas.

Question 35

Voter turnout in Texas is lower than the national average.

Question 36

Young voters turn out at higher rates than older voters.

Question 37

Texas formally excludes nearly half a million former felons from voting.

Question 38

________is a word that means the legal right to vote.

Question 39

Charging a monetary fee to register and vote is called a_______

Question 40

If you vote for all of the candidates of one party and none of the candidates of the other party, that is called_______

Question 41

The largest group of Texas citizens formally excluded from voting is_______

Question 42

Texan________ was FDR's Vice President from 1932-1940.

Question 43

Texas has_______ major media markets in which statewide campaigns must advertise.

Question 44

Elections in which parties choose their candidates for the later general election is called a_______election.