AP US Government — voting rights and electing a president

Unit 5 of AP United States Government and Politics begins with who may vote and ends with how presidents and members of Congress are elected. This material covers that sequence: the constitutional amendments that widened the electorate, the nomination process, the arithmetic and politics of the Electoral College, and the advantages that keep incumbents in office.

The quiz first takes the amendments one at a time, each through a situation: a Reconstruction-era state law that bars the formerly enslaved from voting (the Fifteenth Amendment), senators still chosen by legislatures before 1913 (the Seventeenth), a state debating women's votes in 1919 (the Nineteenth), a fee charged at the polls (the Twenty-Fourth), a drafted nineteen-year-old in 1970 (the Twenty-Sixth), and the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause. It then turns to elections themselves: an independent voter admitted to one state's primary and turned away from another's, how delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses nominate a candidate at the convention, what the Twelfth Amendment provides when no one has a majority of electors, the arguments for and against the Electoral College after 2000 and 2016, why House incumbents usually win and presidential years draw more voters, and a worked example of how many electors a state gains when it gains a House seat.

The flashcards cover each amendment and term, including how electors are allocated, the exception of Maine and Nebraska, the national convention and critical elections.

The written work asks for eight explanations: four voting amendments and why the Fifteenth needed the Voting Rights Act to take effect; the Seventeenth Amendment and popular sovereignty; the nomination process and a criticism of it; how the Electoral College works; how it shapes campaign strategy and what its defenders and critics argue; the incumbency advantage; how election type and state laws affect turnout; and critical elections and realignment.

The oral exam asks you to explain one piece of the electoral system at a time, from an amendment to an electoral-vote count, and to give both sides where the rules are disputed.

The material names no current officeholder and discusses no election after 2020. Disputed questions, such as the Electoral College, voter identification rules and the primary calendar, are presented with the arguments on each side.

• Explain what the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments did
• Distinguish open primaries, closed primaries and caucuses and explain the role of the national convention
• Calculate a state's electors and explain winner-take-all allocation and the contingent election
• Explain the arguments for and against the Electoral College
• Explain the incumbency advantage and differences in turnout between presidential and midterm elections

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP United States Government and Politics Course and Exam Description (course framework effective fall 2026), Unit 5 topics 5.1, 5.2, 5.8 and 5.9.