...of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 signaled significant development, members of society often came to the conclusion that racial equality had been achieved. However, in reality, society was far from establishing this equality. Though, in writing, discrimination against individuals based on color could no longer take place, states still found ways to subtly put specific groups at a disadvantage. Even today, over half a century later, states continue to treat different groups of individuals unequally based on...
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...The 2016 general election is provoking a myriad of controversies. One of these controversies includes the new strict voting laws among fifteen states. The Voting Rights Act passed fifty years ago by Lyndon B. Johnson assures that every law-abiding American citizen can exercise their constituitional right. Evidently, voter fraud remains a current issue, requiring new and potential laws to take place this coming election. Kenneth T. Walsh from the Miami Times said, “since the Supreme Court ruling in June 2013, some states have followed up by imposing more restriction on voting, with local politicians arguing that they want to prevent fraud and make sure that there are clear and sensible standards for determining who can vote.”...
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...the demand for the meeting was made by more than class A stockholders and none of the purposes given by Petitioners were proper grounds to call such a meeting. Petitioner’s primary purpose was to endorse and reinstate the former President, to hear charges against four of the class A directors, to remove them if the charges were proven, and to amend the by-laws so that the successor directors be elected by the class A stockholders and to require and that an effective quorum of directors be made up of no fewer than half of the directors in office and no fewer than one third of the whole authorized number of directors. The trial court granted the mandamus to compel the special meeting for the purposes stated above. This appeal followed. Issue: Whether Petitioners have a right to a special meeting for the purposes stated above? Held: Yes. The trial court’s decision is affirmed. Petitioners are entitled to a meeting for the purposes discussed above. Dissent: This proceeding should be dismissed because none of the stated purposes for the special meeting could legally be transacted....
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...“Partisan Gerrymandering and the Voting Rights Act”, Richard Forgette and John Winkle provided a historical background on the decision: “In late April 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote affirmed the lower court judgment in Vieth and dismissed the plaintiffs' claims. On the issue of partisan gerrymandering, however, the ruling proved anything but conclusive. The significance of the ruling, it seems, now lies in its fractured set of opinions” The Justices’ split decision left the door open to reinterpreting the judiciable grounds for gerrymandering under the right circumstances. As displayed thus far, gerrymandering by Republicans has implied racial discrimination. While previous cases have...
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...Voting Rights Act of 1965 In 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was unconstitutional. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been the most powerful piece of civil rights legislation, and guaranteed political representation via popular vote. Moreover, Section 5 specifically necessitated selected areas with a history of voter discrimination to get approval from either the U.S. District Court for D.C. or the U.S. Attorney General before they amending voting processes. This was to preempt any minority voter disenfranchisement through the use of any variety of voting "test," such as a literacy test, educational or knowledge requirements, proof of good moral character, and requirements that a person must be vouched for in order to exercise their right to vote. It has also been updated to protect against the use of gerrymandering, prohibitive voting hours, and abusive ID requirements. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the majority opinion that ruled Section 4(b) as being unconstitutional. He described the Voting Rights Act as "strong medicine" for a time when minority voter disenfranchisement was nation wide. The Census Bureau has since reported that the number of African American voters in five of the nine states listed in the Voting Rights Act actually surpasses white voter turnout. The majority opinion granted that voter discrimination still exists, but questioned whether the laws outlined in Section 4(b) were truly the best means of...
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...because of the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act says that states with a history of discrimination must get permission from the Federal Government before changing its voting process. Texas had its Voter ID upheld first in 2013, when a Supreme Court decision struck down what many considered the “heart” of the Voting Rights Act, the ability of the federal government to oversee the voting process in states with histories of discrimination. But in August of 2015, the Texas law was once again shot down by a federal appeals panel that ruled that the Texas law; regardless of intention “Discriminated again blacks Hispanics and...
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...Evaluate the view that voting behaviour in the USA is determined more by the socio-economic characteristics of the voters than by issues, candidates and events. (30 marks) It is commonly argued that voting behaviour in the USA is determined more by the socio-economic characteristics (religion, race, gender and age) of the voters than by issues, candidates and events. Arguments that support the question include race being an influence, religion being an influence and gender being an influence in all of the recent elections. However, there is evidence to suggest that issues and candidates are the deciding factors in an election. Firstly, many argue that in the U.S. race has large influence in voting behaviour. For example, in 2012, 93% of African Americans voted for Obama as did 71% of Hispanics. This suggests that racial minorities are more likely to favour Democrats, because of their liberal attitude on issues that are more likely to affect ethnic minorities, as seen with Obama’s promised immigration reform in 2012. This is also seen in the UK, where the Labour party have typically performed better amongst racial minorities. However, some would argue that this is not always the case. The African-American vote for Democrats has been stable (80%+) for over 30 years, but the Hispanic vote has not. Hispanics are typically swing voters. For example, on social issues such as abortion/same-sex marriage, some Hispanics tend to take a more social-conservative stance which attracted...
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...Different Voting systems and Fast Past the Post advantages and Disadvantages Fast Past the Post (FPTP) voting happens in single-party supporters. Voters put a cross in a case by their favored hopeful and the applicant with the most votes in the voting public wins. All different votes mean nothing. FPTP is the second most widely used voting system in the world. First Past the Post is defended is mainly based on grounds of simplicity and its tendency to produce winners who are representatives beholden to defined geographic areas and governability. Provides a clear-cut choice for voters between two main parties. In FPTP, the flip side of a strong single-party government is that the opposition is also given enough seats to perform critical checking role and present itself as a realistic alternative to the government of the day. It advantages broadly-based political parties. The most important piece of this discussion is that majority voting with single-part regions is essentially the most noticeably awful conceivable framework, and this is a vital issue. So there are essentially no wrong responses to this inquiry. Actually, your inquiry is at the heart of "social decision hypothesis"; if an entire field of study has invested decades debating this inquiry without concurring on anything other than the way that majority is terrible, it’s difficult to determine it in one Quora answer. A piece of the issue is that it’s essentially two separate...
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...men are created equal, many Americans throughout our history have not enjoyed this privilege. Several issues, such as voting rights, labor equality, and equal opportunities in education have faced minorities and women in our country. Many gains in improving equality have been made. Voting rights for all Americans, improvement in workplace discrimination, and equal opportunities in education are some examples of these gains. Various prominent citizens have worked diligently throughout our history to accomplish equality for these groups using different methods. Some of these methods have worked better than others. Boycotts, peaceful marches and courtroom battles were some of the methods that brought better results. Many equality issues have affected minorities and women in our country. The fight for the right to vote was long and difficult for both groups. Although the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870, granting all black men voting rights, (Jones et al, 2009, 373) it was not until after World War II that this right was realized. Women’s suffrage was an even longer battle. Begun in 1866, when women reformers attempted to secure this right along with African American’s right to vote, women would not gain the vote until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (Jones et al, 2009, 476). Equality in educational opportunities was another issue that faced both minorities and women. In the beginning, African American children were not allowed to attend school. After being...
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...Today, African Americans and other minorities are over-represented in the criminal justice system, but under-represented politically in the United States of America. Since well before its inception in 1776, the United States of America has been a nation characterized by white supremacy. In fact, modern day America may not exist if not for the taking of land from the Indigenous Peoples on this very premise. Today, many Americans believe they reside in a post-racial nation, citing the abolition of slavery in the 1860s. While racism has certainly been reduced in modern America, it is still ever-present in society, and more alarmingly, the criminal justice system. Today, the American criminal justice system is used as a front for state racism,...
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...instead was the result of being in compliance with the law. The Republicans, at the time, had increased the African American population in already predominantly African American districts, which had upset people because they believed that it was racial gerrymandering. The basis of the argument against opponents revolved around the idea of “one person, one vote.” Coupled with this equality that has been ingrained into society is the Voting Right Acts, more specifically Section Five, which stated that when redistricting, the same number of majority-minority districts was to be maintained along with the...
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...These criteria are not met in a FPP system as it tends to create a single-majority party in the parliament. The fairness between parties is defined as the proportionality between the total party votes and number of seats, gained by any parties (Elections New Zealand, 2012). The effectiveness of parties has the definition that the parties should always play their roles to create a more efficient and democratic country and to provide a more effective representation for the society of New Zealand (Elections New Zealand, 2012). In addition, the best voting system always provides an improved parliamentary role such as passing policies, enacting legislation and provide better services which is defining the effectiveness of Parliament. The political integration, then, outlined the opinions and points of view of all groups and parties should all be respected and adopted (Elections New Zealand, 2012). By assessing all the criteria above, the best voting system must be the one system that best meets them. Although it is obvious that the MMP system is the best possible system as New Zealand had decided to adopt it, MMP could still be improved to be a better system. After many analyse and assessment, the Royal Commission eventually came up with a recommendation of changing the FPP system to the MMP system which is based on the few criteria above. First of all, the MMP system fulfilled the first criteria as it provides a fair and proportionate system whereby the total party votes will be symmetric...
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...indigenous people who were excluded. Following poor voter turnout in a previous election, compulsory voting was introduced in 1924. In 1962 Indigenous people gained the right to vote and it was made compulsory for them in 1984. In 1973 the voting age was changed from twenty-one to eighteen (Skwirk , 2014). The following discussion will argue that the benefits of compulsory voting far outweigh the disadvantages. In our society we have certain obligations like paying taxes, compulsory education and jury duty. Compulsory voting is just another civic duty much less onerous than any of the above. Australia is one of only eleven countries to enforce participation in elections. A 94% voter turnout for the last federal election compared favourably to 65% in the 2010 United Kingdom election and 57% in the 2012 United States presidential election (Padmanabhan, 2015). The argument that compulsory voting is incompatible with democratic government obviously does not apply to Australia that is considered one of the most transparent, representative and least corrupt nations of the world (White, 2013). The whole point of freedom is that everyone has a say and a responsibility to voice their opinion. Fifty per cent or less voter turnout is not a democracy. Unethical charismatic candidates may able to attract a large following and distort the will of the general public. When only a minority of people vote, it reduces the power of lobby groups and...
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...strengths and weakness of the electoral system is based on the system of government used. The two most common systems of government are the Federal system and the Unitary system. According to dictionary.com, the term electoral system refers to, the legal system for making democratic choices. The United States of America operate under a federal system of government, which by definition, refers to a government in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments. The electoral system of the United States is set up in this manner, you vote for a mayor, senator, a member of the House of Representatives, you vote directly for that person. However, when you vote for president, you are really voting for an elector who has pledged to represent that candidate. The electors chosen by each state are called the Electoral College. This consists of 538 members, comprising 100 senators, 435 congressmen, and 3 members from the District of Columbia. States with large populations, like California have over 50 electoral votes, while sparsely populated states like Alaska has only 3 electoral votes. This system of government makes the electoral system highly susceptible to voter suppression. Voter Suppression is the strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning because, it attempts to reduce the number of voters who might...
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...elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media What makes a government legitimate? * Referendums (‘Yes’ answers) * High turnout * Free, fair and regular elections * Lack of dissent * Displays of public support How legitimate is the UK? Legitimate | Not legitimate | * House of Commons is elected | * Electoral system unfair and distorts political representation (FPTP) | * Government elected with mandate to govern | * Every government elected has only achieved the minority of the popular vote | * House of Lords has traditional authority and political influence is widely recognised | * House of Lords members are not elected and so do not have the people’s consent | Direct democracy: * The people themselves directly make the important decisions which affect them * The people are directly consulted on political decisions * Action taken by the people shapes political decisions (via protests, e-petitions,...
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