ASSIGNMENT 1 — read carefully pp 84-86, of the e-text, to get a feel for the difference between DE FACTO, and DE JURE voting barriers.GieselerTXGovPrint copy.pdf
Submit two scenarios of your own, with a de facto barrier/element and a de jure barrier/element. NOTE: these can be virtual scenarios, but they need to be about a function of government… Be creative. In truth, age, race, gender, religion, and even more importantly, citizenship status are the usual suspects for voting mischief, but not for the reason you think. It’s that these categories allow an accurate profile of the voter’s political party identity. Please use government scenarios, ie, registering for school or college, the draft, health care, buying a house, getting a drivers license, etc…
Sample Scenario #1: (de jure) Airlines can’t establish no-fly lists based on middle eastern nationalities, but they CAN (de facto) refuse to let individuals fly to and from certain countries, without a passport, and fitting a certain profile (having no luggage, 1-way ticket)
Sample Scenario #2: The Army has a policy that females may serve in any capacity in the Army (de jure). However, for certain special skills training, a rule states that no one who is pregnant or may become pregnant may serve in these fields. Thus, females are banned (de facto) (unless the female applicant had a hysterectomy, of course, but the vast majority of young women do not)
Finally, an actual barrier, the grandfather clause: African American males have the right to vote by 1868, but if one’s grandfather was a slave, one couldn’t vote. No mention of race in this barrier, but you get the story…
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