Question 1

Chisom v. Roemer involved a challenge to the system for electing judges to the ____________ supreme court.

Accepted Answer

A)  Colorado 
B)  Alabama 
C)  Florida 
D)  Louisiana

Question 2

In Gomilion v. Lightfoot (1960) the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional an extreme form of the ___________.

Accepted Answer

A)  literacy test 
B)  white primary 
C)  grandfather clause 
D)  racial gerrymander

Question 3

Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, ___________.

Accepted Answer

A)  every state is guaranteed at least one Congressional seat 
B)  Congressional district lines may not cross state borders 
C)  no Congressional district may include less than 30,000 persons 
D)  all of the above

Question 4

In League of United Latin American Voters v. Perry (2006), the Supreme Court ________ a controversial Texas congressional reapportionment plan that strongly advantaged Republican incumbents.

Accepted Answer

A)  upheld 
B)  invalidated 
C)  denied certiorari 
D)  none of the above

Question 5

In _____________, the Supreme Court struck down an at-large election scheme in Burke County, Georgia on the basis that there was discriminatory intent on the part of public officials.

Accepted Answer

A)  Thornburgh v. Gingles (1985) 
B)  Mobile v. Bolden (1980) 
C)  Shaw v. Reno (1993) 
D)  Rogers v. Lodge (1982)

Question 6

In Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966), the Supreme Court held that poll taxes in state elections violated the __________ Amendment.

Accepted Answer

A)  Fifth 
B)  Sixth 
C)  Fourteenth 
D)  Fifteenth

Question 7

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  sets the minimum voting age at eighteen in federal and state elections 
B)  abolishes the poll tax in federal elections 
C)  removes gender as a qualification for voting 
D)  provides for the popular election of U.S. Senators

Question 8

First enacted by ____________in 1890, the grandfather clause soon spread throughout southern and border states and typically required literacy tests for all voters whose ancestors had not been entitled to vote prior to 1866.

Accepted Answer

A)  Georgia 
B)  Alabama 
C)  Mississippi 
D)  Tennessee

Question 9

Which of the following procedural devices designed to prevent most African-Americans from voting was the first to be declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court?

Accepted Answer

A)  the white primary 
B)  the poll tax 
C)  the grandfather clause 
D)  the racial gerrymander

Question 10

Grovey v. Townsend, the 1935 decision in which the Supreme Court had upheld the so-called _______, was overruled in Smith v. Allwright (1944).

Accepted Answer

A)  grandfather clause 
B)  racial gerrymander 
C)  preclearance requirement 
D)  white primary

Question 11

In __________________, the Supreme Court upheld an apportionment scheme for the Wyoming legislature based on county lines, even though the scheme had a population deviation of nearly 90 percent between the largest and the smallest districts.

Accepted Answer

A)  Hadley v. Junior College District (1970) 
B)  Avery v. Midland County (1968) 
C)  Karcher v. Daggett (1983) 
D)  Brown v. Thomson (1983)

Exam 8: Elections, Representation, and Voting Rights