...drawn out a negative side, one that seeks to cast a damaging shadow on any opposition in order to attain the support of the majority. The types of political message given out by both politicians and the media vary in how they are constructed and what they intend to achieve, and despite widespread criticism surrounding its ethical fragilities, attack politics in particular have become a fundamental component of any political campaign and evidence has shown the electorate to show a greater interest in a more pessimistic tone of politics. This essay intends to address whether negative publicity in the form of attack advertising is an effective tool of electoral manipulation by evaluating its influence in engaging and mobilizing voters. Indeed, where research has shown it to be counterproductive, or to produce unintended consequences, its...
Words: 3099 - Pages: 13
...Kennedy once said that “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” When I ran across this quote I realized that today is Election Day in Massachusetts and many local voters were heading to the polls to select new leadership. Now it’s a known fact that local voter turnout is never very high. We see more middle-aged citizens and the elderly turning out for these elections which, based on the information presented in our discussion question, is about 20-30% of registered voters. But how does this tie-in to the quote. I am in agreement that a low voter turn-out is not necessarily a bad thing. These voters usually represent those voters who are knowledgeable about the issues at hand and want to see the best person for the job get elected. But does this continuous process yield a better outcome as a whole. The populace needs to be educated about the issues and understand what they are voting for. If people tend to vote on blind faith or, worse, emotion, it is an ignorant and potentially costly move for us all. In order for communities as a whole to bind together and elect the right people for the job, they must take the time and energy to get involved and to become educated on the important issues that are affecting them and their families. The question was asked in our discussion as to what kind of a program we could devise to not only increase voter turn-out but to educate the common voter in such a way as to not make them feel like an...
Words: 1043 - Pages: 5
...the lack of voter participation is particularly alarming B. Credibility Claim – I’ve done extensive research on the issue of voter apathy and I’ve found a solution C. Preview – Voter turnout is suffering, especially in Texas, because of the way the current voter registration process works, but by enabling Election Day Registration (EDR), voter turnout can be increased. II. Body A. Problem 1. For Example – In the recent gubernatorial race, we had the lowest voter turnout in the country; The Intercept, a reputable non-partisan journalism site, reports 33% turnout, down from 38% 4 years ago 2. Politifact, an organization dedicated to fact-checking the statements made by politicians, points out that the U.S. Census Bureau ranked Texas 48th in turnout in 2012, 47th in 2008 and 49th in 2006. 3. The cause? – Rock the Vote, a nationwide effort to promote voter participation, shows that the Texas registration deadline is a mere 30 days before the election. Many citizens become most interested and engaged with elections in the last few weeks before Election Day, when candidate debates and campaigns reach their peak. But registration deadlines may already have passed at that point. 4. Inaccurate voter rolls; Many previously-registered voters lose their eligibility merely because they have moved. Others are never added to the voter rolls because of bureaucratic errors, which Election Protection, a group dedicated to advancing and protecting voter rights, points...
Words: 968 - Pages: 4
...Angela Choi 111 ND-A Achoi5892@gmail.com Informative Speech Outline Topic: The importance of voting Type of Speech: issue Strategy for Presenting Content: Explanation General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform my audience the importance of voting. Thesis Statement: Voting is essential and should be exercised by everyone because one vote can make a difference. Introduction: How many people are registered to vote? How many people are registered to vote and have voted? This is the dilemma the United States is facing today. Many people are registered to vote, but choose not to vote. It is important to exercise your voting rights because the decision our government officials make can have a huge impact on our lives. Voting in any type of election, from local races to Presidential primaries, provides an important way to voice your opinions regarding elected leaders and overall policies. In addition, voting decides our future by electing officials who reflect your own views. Therefore, voting is essential and should be exercised by everyone because one vote can make a difference. The ability to vote is one of the most cherished Constitutional Rights that many have fought, marched, and died for over the centuries. 1. Many people do not realize that voting is so vital that it can even have an impact on your daily life. Voting is the best way to...
Words: 818 - Pages: 4
...country from progressing successfully. Demographics may have contributed to the enormity of democratic loss in this past election. The populous, liberal, diverse cities that would increase the Democratic vote had one of the lowest voter turnouts, whereas southern states that would vote Republican came out with the highest voter turnout. A vast majority of these southern voters are old, white Republicans. The young students, the post- generational college students, the minorities – these are the ones that share the same political ideologies as the democratic party, but yet they’re the ones that didn’t vote. Voter turnout for the 2014 Midterm elections was the lowest in 70 years – only 36.4% of voting-eligible Americans went out and voted on November 4th; of those voters, 75% were white (Alter, 2014). Liberal states like New York and California had a decrease in voter turnout while Southern states saw an increase, “Democrats were hindered by their inability to persuade members of the coalition that delivered the White House to Mr. Obama — young voters, women and minorities — to turn out at levels seen in presidential elections” (Parker, Weisman, 2014). One reason for the loss of democratic seats in the senate is caused by the decrease of liberal voter turnout. Although there are other underlying factors such as long lines, people’s carelessness and inability to travel to polling areas, or a state’s lack of early voting options – election results...
Words: 1283 - Pages: 6
...AFRICA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY Name: Eric Wahinya – 11JCS005 Unit: Software Engineering Code: CSC320. Title: Assignment 2 Lecturer: Mr. Njuki Due Date: 26th June 2013 1. Using the waterfall model; model the March 4th 2013 voting process in Kenya. The software process models in software engineering are the workflow model which shows the sequence of activities in a process along with the inputs, outputs and dependencies, the dataflow or activity model that represents a process as a set of activities each of which curves out some data showing how the input to a process is transformed to an output and finally the role or otherwise referred to as the action model which represents the roles of people involved in the software and the activities for which they are responsible. The role or action model is divided into a number of categories and the waterfall approach is one of these categories aside from the others which are the evolutionary development and the CASE scenario. The waterfall approach takes the fundamental process activities of specification, development, validation and evolution and represents them as separate process phases such as requirements specification, software design, implementation, testing and so on. (Sommerville, pg 65). The figure below shows the software lifecycle as explained by the waterfall approach; Figure 1. The Software Lifecycle. (Sommerville, pg 66) Before the March 4th elections that took place in Kenya a number of preparations were made...
Words: 1443 - Pages: 6
...Taketa Thomas State Research Paper Pol/215 Donald Kelly University Of Phoenix July 8, 2010 State Research Paper In the following paper the writer will provide a brief description of two interest groups in Georgia: the fraternal order of the police and the girls and boys club, identify the different sources of funding for the state of Georgia, and also provide information on the effects the girls and boys club and the fraternal order of the police has on the local and state government. To sum up the paper the writer will discuss the importance of the relationships between the local and state governments and also summarize the election process in Georgia. Two interest groups that operate in the state of Georgia are the boys and girls club and the fraternal order of the police. The girls and boys club is an organization founded to give girls and boys across the world a place to go during the school year and during the summer and eliminate the problem of latchkey kids. The girls and boys club provides the kids with snacks and meals during the summer and also organizes activities and gives the kids a chance to experience different life lessons. According to GEORGIA STATE LODGE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE (2010), “The Fraternal Order of Police is one of the largest organizations of sworn law enforcement officers, with more than 325,000 members in more than 2,100 lodges. The Fraternal Order of Police is comprised of over 325,000 regularly...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...Nearly forty-three percent of eligible voters did not submit a ballot in the 2016 presidential election according to the U.S. Elections Project, which was conducted by Dr. Michael P. McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida. These eligible voters outnumbered those who casted a vote for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Among those who did vote, the age group that had the lowest participation rate ranged from 18 to 29 years old. This lack of participation of young Americans place a strain on issues that affect the young population, such as allowing officials to ignore concerns involving student debt and funding for higher education. Young Americans have the power to voice their political, social, and economic opinions to make a difference, but they ignore the opportunity to act during election day due to two misconceptions: their vote does not matter and the election does not concern them. Today, I am going to explain how every vote matters, express the importance of voting, and...
Words: 782 - Pages: 4
...reserved for students who have failed to submit at least one, required position paper. Students must submit two makeup position papers in order to makeup for the credit lost on one required paper. If you wish to submit this assignment, please be sure to disable the TFE and topic text links before doing so. Furthermore, be sure to submit it in the proper folder. ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND - IMPORTANT POINTS As usual, before I direct you to the week's assignment questions, there are a few remarks I would like to make regarding important, related issues and/or background material. Please consider the comments below, which touch upon a number of topics addressed in our text and which include a number of related observations taken from my own research. Purposes of Elections Firstly, one key point to remember is that elections, originally designed in order to allow citizens to select their own leaders, are also used by governments in order to build support for their policies. This is particularly true of parliamentary governments, which generally require simple plurality votes in order to pass sweeping legislation. In parliamentary governments, political parties are represented in direct proportion to the percentage of votes that they receive in general elections. Therefore, parliamentary majorities usually enjoy the implicit consent of a large percentage of the population whenever passing laws or implementing policies. However, if support is waning, a parliamentary government...
Words: 3023 - Pages: 13
...vote. All of these amendments were steps toward ending discriminating, but the United States has one last step. If the America is going to truly provide equal representation for all people then it ought to grant suffrage to those of age 16 and up. Before proposing that the voting age should be lowered it is necessary to examine the arguments of those opposed. Those opposed to lowering the voting age make three main arguments. The first being that teens under the age of 18 lack the maturity and brain development to make an informed decisions for themselves. The second argument contends that voter turnout among young people is already dismal and lowering the voting age would have negligible effects. The last argument claims that there is no valid reason...
Words: 852 - Pages: 4
...complicated tasks, like arranging the elections on the right date, verifying the eligibility of candidates, Registering eligible voters and arranging voter rolls, opt voting equipment, creating ballots and setting up a considerable amount of workers for the election day. One important function of the administrators is making sure that everyone who is qualified to vote is included in the list. People who haven’t voted in recent past still appear on the list, instead of being eliminated. People who appear on the polls and are not included in the list are given a temporary vote. Whether or not they are qualified is checked before their votes are counted. Start of voting procedure The voting procedure in de United states consists of two steps. First of all you are ought to register, the registration system is intended to terminate fraud. The USA doesn’t obtain a list of qualified voters. This is why it’s important to register. Through registering a voter is qualified. Voters register at their place of residence. In case they move house, they should register again. Every state has its own procedure of registering. Formerly the system was used to discourage citizens who wanted to become a participant, these were mainly African Americans. Lately, registration systems have under gone a change, so the requirements become facile. An example is the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which allows a citizen to vote when renewing their driving licence.[pic]The illustration above shows the...
Words: 421 - Pages: 2
...commercial decisions. In this paper, we use geographic differences in subscriptions to O! – The Oprah Magazine and the sale of books Winfrey recommended as part of Oprah's Book Club to assess whether her endorsement affected the Primary outcomes. We find her endorsement had a positive effect on the votes Obama received, increased the overall voter participation rate, and increased the number of contributions received by Obama. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and Obama's success in previous elections, nor with underlying local political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey’s endorsement was responsible for approximately 1,000,000 additional votes for Obama. JEL Classification Numbers: D7; D72 We are grateful to Bill Evans for his comments and guidance. We also would like to thank Kerwin Charles, Allan Drazen, Mark Duggan, Kyle Handley, Judy Hellerstein, Dan Hungerman, Melissa Kearney, Brian Knight, Sebastian Miller and seminar participants at the University of Maryland for useful suggestions. For access to their data, we thank the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Mediamark Research and Intelligence and Jim King at Nielsen BookScan. All errors remain our own. INTRODUCTION Political endorsements...
Words: 19271 - Pages: 78
...The 1963 historic March on Washington and the subsequent passing of some sweeping civil rights laws spurred African-Americans who had grown angry and frustrated over the slow rate of their social and economic progress. They were now finally prepared to realize their potential force in order to exercise a decisive measure of political control over their own lives. Consequently, several African-American mayors of major cities, especially in the industrial North, were elected opening the floodgates of other African-American elected officials throughout the nation, including city council-members, aldermen, school board members, governors and presidents. After winning the primary and the general election with 95 percent of the African-American vote (At the same time, Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio), Richard G. Hatcher became the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana, and the first in the state of Indiana. He was elected in November 1967 and inaugurated in January 1968. Hatcher served an unprecedented five terms and as one of the beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Movement, he set the tone and was used as the standard by which many African-American mayors, that came after him, throughout the nation, were evaluated or criticized. Hatcher broke the racial glass ceiling for a host of African-American mayors who followed him. In the light of this watershed moment, it is the purpose of this paper to analyze how Richard Gordon Hatcher became the first African-American...
Words: 2983 - Pages: 12
...IMPORTANT VOTER INFORMATION VOTER REGISTRATION • WHEN TO RE-REGISTER: If you have moved since you last registered to vote, wish to change your party registration, or have changed your name, you need to re-register as soon as possible. You must register by October 22, 2012 to be able to vote in the November 6, 2012 Presidential General Election. WHERE TO OBTAIN A VOTER REGISTRATION FORM: Anyone who is eligible to register to vote in California can use the new California Online Voter Registration system. You can find the online process at the Registrar of Voters website at www.sdvote.com. Click on Register to Vote and follow the instructions. Voter registration cards are also available and can be found at Post Offices, Department of Motor Vehicles offices, Library buildings, various City Clerk offices, and the Registrar of Voters office. NOTE: You can check the status of your registration by visiting www.sdvote.com. Follow the prompts to verify your voter registration. VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT • • PERMANENT VOTE BY MAIL VOTER: If you are currently a vote by mail voter, you will automatically receive your mail ballot. To confirm your voting status and see your polling location, review the colored mailing label on the back cover of this pamphlet. If the label indicates you are a permanent mail ballot voter, please do not reapply --- we begin mailing the vote by mail ballots on October 9, 2012. If you do not receive th your ballot by October 18 , please call the Registrar...
Words: 16330 - Pages: 66
...positivity for Sacramento. Section I: Volunteer Report Phone banking is one of the most efficient ways to get in contact with the community and inform them about issues and decisions that would be effecting them directly. So it would only make sense for a lesser known candidate running for mayor to pick up this strategy. Unlike the presidential elections, there isn’t really an accurate depiction of who has a certain number of voters supporting them. The purpose for Angelique’s phone banking operation was to get in touch with the community and notify them that she is a mayoral candidate. Also she wanted us to tally up how many citizens were confirming that they were going to vote for her, in an attempt to get an estimated number of supporters backing her during the election. The phone banking operation took place in a meeting room with a capacity of about a dozen people that was located in a living complex in Natomas, California. The campaign provided three to four prepaid phones, a voter registration list providing names and numbers of registered voters in our area, a script that also had information about Ashby’s key achievements and goals, a tally sheet, writing utensils and snacks. The room was filled with student volunteers from our government class as well as a supervisor. There were two...
Words: 1949 - Pages: 8
