Glossary of Terms

Chad: a small round piece of paper produced when a hole is punched

Exit Poll: survey taken at polling places to find out how people voted

Fifteenth Amendment (1870): prohibited the government from denying a person’s right to vote on the basis of race

Grandfather Clause: stated that only those whose grandfathers voted before 1867 were eligible to vote without paying a poll tax or passing a literacy test. The grandfathers of most African Americans had been enslaved and not permitted to vote before 1867, thereby making this clause impossible for African Americans to overcome.

Literacy test: test states required citizens to pass to qualify to vote. Many Southern states used this test to prevent African Americans from voting. The Voting Rights Acts of 1965 and 1970 outlawed such tests.

Nineteenth Amendment (1920): guaranteed women the right to vote

Poll tax: an amount of money a citizen had to pay in order to vote

Primary election: election in which voters choose their party’s candidates for the general election

Polling Place: the location where voting is carried out

Precinct: a geographic area that contains a specific number of voters

Stylus: a pen-shaped pointing device used to puncture a surface