Barriers to voting in the United States

Define a list of barriers to voting in the United States since the founding of the country. Define the item (barrier) and explain its purpose and who it blocked from access to the ballot. Americans vote for a specific candidate instead of directly selecting a particular political party. The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties.

The Founding Fathers such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison did not support domestic political factions at the time the Constitution was written.^[30] In addition, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president.

Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers, with Hamilton and Madison ending up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. Due to Duverger’s law, the two-party system continued following the creation of political parties, as the first-past-the-post electoral system was kept.