Which of the following statement best summarizes the voter registration process in the United states

This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, African-American voter registration was limited, along with political power.

In 1964, numerous peaceful demonstrations were organized by Civil Rights leaders, and the considerable violence they were met with brought renewed attention to the issue of voting rights. The murder of voting-rights activists in Mississippi and the attack by white state troopers on peaceful marchers in Selma, Alabama, gained national attention and persuaded President Johnson and Congress to initiate meaningful and effective national voting rights legislation. The combination of public revulsion to the violence and Johnson's political skills stimulated Congress to pass the voting rights bill on August 5, 1965.

The legislation, which President Johnson signed into law the next day, outlawed literacy tests and provided for the appointment of federal examiners (with the power to register qualified citizens to vote) in those jurisdictions that were "covered" according to a formula provided in the statute. In addition, Section 5 of the act required covered jurisdictions to obtain "preclearance" from either the District Court for the District of Columbia or the U.S. Attorney General for any new voting practices and procedures. Section 2, which closely followed the language of the 15th amendment, applied a nationwide prohibition of the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color. The use of poll taxes in national elections had been abolished by the 24th amendment (1964) to the Constitution; the Voting Rights Act directed the Attorney General to challenge the use of poll taxes in state and local elections. In Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966), the Supreme Court held Virginia's poll tax to be unconstitutional under the 14th amendment.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant statutory change in the relationship between the federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period following the Civil War; and it was immediately challenged in the courts. Between 1965 and 1969, the Supreme Court issued several key decisions upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 and affirming the broad range of voting practices for which preclearance was required. [See South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 327-28 (1966) and Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U.S. 544 (1969)]  In 2013, the Court struck down a key provision of the act involving federal oversight of voting rules in nine states.

The Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, one-third by federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only four out of 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

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  2. Clearinghouse Resources for Election Officials
  3. Designing Polling Place Materials

  1. Home
  2. Clearinghouse Resources for Election Officials
  3. Designing Polling Place Materials

Top 10 election design guidelines

  1. Use lowercase letters
    Lowercase letters are more legible than ALL CAPITAL LETTERS because they are easier to recognize.

  2. Avoid centered type
    Left-aligned type is more legible than centered type, which forces the eye to stop reading in order to find the start of the next line.

  3. Use big enough type
    “Fine print” is hard to read and may intimidate or alienate voters. Use minimum type sizes: 12-point for optical scan; 25-point for touchscreens. (Following this principle for optical scan ballots may impact printing costs but will be a worthwhile investment in election accuracy.)

  4. Pick one sans-serif font
    Avoid introducing new fonts, which require the eye to stop reading and adjust. Sans-serif fonts with clean strokes (Arial, Helvetica, Univers, Verdana) are recommended for screen and for the quantity and variation of text found on paper ballots. For dual-language materials, use bold text for the primary language, regular text for the secondary language.

  5. Support process and navigation
    For optical-scan ballots, offer comprehensive instructions and page numbering. For touchscreen ballots, offer language and mode options, continuous access to instructions, consistent and flexible navigation and clear feedback about selections. Post notable wayfinding and instructional materials in and around the polling place.

  6. Use clear, simple language
    State instructions and options as simply as possible. Summarize referenda in simple language alongside required formats. Do not include more than two languages on any one material.

  7. Use accurate instructional illustrations
    Visual instructions help low-literacy and general-population voters. Photo images, which are difficult to shoot and reproduce well, are not recommended. Illustrations must be accurate in their details to avoid misleading voters.

  8. Use informational icons (only)
    Avoid political party icons. Icons that call attention to key information and support navigation are recommended in limited use.

  9.  Use contrast and color functionally
    Use color and shading consistently: on optical scan ballots, to differentiate instructions from contents and contests from each other; and on touchscreen ballots, to support navigation, call special attention and provide user feedback. Color cannot be relied on as the only way to communicate important information.

  10. Decide what's most important
    Page and screen layout and text sizes should support information hierarchy. For instance, the ballot title should be more prominent than any one contest, a contest header should be more prominent than its candidates' names and a candidate's name should be bolder than his/her party affiliation. Candidates' names and options should be presented with equal importance.


Ballot and polling place design

  • Ballot and  Polling Place Design Guidelines (AIGA)

  • Report of Findings: Use of Language in Ballot Instructions (NIST)

  • Better Ballots (Brennan Center for Justice)

  • Field Guide to Ensuring Voter Intent Vol. 1 Designing usable ballots (Center for Civic Design)

  • Field Guide to Ensuring Voter Intent Vol. 2 Writing Instructions voters understand (Center for Civic Design)

  • Field Guide to Ensuring Voter Intent Vol. 3 Testing ballots for usability (Center for Civic Design)

  • Ballot Building (Chapter 5 of EAC Election Management Guidelines)

  • Design Counts in Election (EAC Roundtable Discussion)

  • Presentations on Effective Ballot Design and Polling Place Signage (EAC Public Meeting)

  • Testimonies and Presentations on Ballot Design (EAC Public Meeting)


EAC provides the following best practices report and samples for the design of ballots and polling place materials. Legislative guidelines, design principals and research with election officials, voters, poll workers, and other experts inform these resources. The design of election materials is complex; therefore, we recommend that samples for optical scan ballots, direct-recording electronic (DRE) ballots and polling place voter information materials be viewed in the context of the full report, which addresses the design planning process, general best practices, implementation insights, limitations and more.​

Effective Designs for the Administration of Federal Elections Report

  • Download the full report Effective Designs for the Administration of Federal Elections including content on all research events, design best practices and examples or view by section. Published June 2007.

  1. Introduction -- Overview of the report and research methods; advises how to use report.

  2. Voter Information Materials -- Summarizes best practices; provides planning resources for the design of polling place materials, including ballot content; provides sample design specifications for polling place signage in one and two languages.

  3. Optical Scan Ballots --  Summarizes best practices; offers planning guidance; provides design guidelines covering the four basic content areas of ballot design (election info, ballot instructions, ballot navigation and questions); sample design specifications are for ballots in one and two languages.

  4. Full-face DRE Ballots -- Summarizes best practices; offers planning guidance; provides design guidelines covering the four basic content areas of ballot design (election info, ballot instructions, ballot navigation and questions).

  5. Rolling DRE Ballots -- Summarizes best practices; offers planning guidance; describes the sequence of ballot screens and interactions required to deliver content and support tasks in the voting process (select language, vote, review, and cast); offers example screens.

  6. Research Report: Nebraska Test Pilot -- Results from the real-election application of draft optical scan ballot and polling place material designs; findings span the productions process to the Election Day experience.

  7. Research Report: Nine Research Events -- Summarizes the research events comprising the user-centered process that resulted in best practice recommendations that are grounded in legislative, budgetary, technical and voter realities.

  8. Appendix

Sample Polling Place Signage

Which of the following statement best summarizes the voter registration process in the United states

Information and instructions, binder pages and tabletop formats

Which of the following statement best summarizes the voter registration process in the United states

Content field - Reaction

Which of the following constitutional amendments did Congress seek to enforce when it passed the voting Rights Act of 1965?

This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote.

Which of the following is necessary for a public opinion poll to be valid quizlet?

Which of the following is necessary for a public opinion poll to be valid? The poll must have a low margin of error.

Which of the following refers to the right to vote quizlet?

EXPLANATION: Suffrage refers to the right to vote.

Why do we have elections in the United States quizlet?

Why do we have election in US? Election to establish legitimacy in a democratic system.