...instead of going out to vote the only answer seems to be mandatory voting. Given all of the rights a U.S. citizen is given the least they could do is vote in government official elections and on significant laws and bills, and by making voting mandatory the United States can become a true democracy. In addition, if voting became mandatory then the poor and uneducated would get a voice in our government. However, many would argue, that with the right to vote comes the right not vote. In contrast, by no voting the people of the United States cannot choose what and who can uphold their rights and other personal liberties. Mandatory...
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...attempts at voter suppression and the challenges to these attempts, examine the strengths and weaknesses of the electoral system in the United States. Name: Winston Walker Course Code: GOVT 1000 ID #: 607005957 No electoral system is perfect, but the 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...
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...Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Four principles of the Fourteenth Amendments are: 1. State and federal citizenship for all persons regardless of race both born or naturalized in the United States was reaffirmed. 2. No state would be allowed to abridge the "privileges and immunities" of citizens. 3. No person was allowed to be deprived of life, liberty,or property without "due process of law." 4. No person could be denied "equal protection of the laws." (Kelly) Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in one of the language minority groups identified in Section 4(f)(2) of the Act.” (The United States Department of Justice) 34 states have adopted some kind of voter ID law, which comes in several different variations: * Strict voter ID law requires voters to provide a valid ID. * Non-Strict voter ID law does not require a valid ID but the voters are permitted to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. * A Photo voter ID, voters must show an accepted ID with their photo at the polls. * Non-Photo voter ID is a wide array of IDS that are acceptable for voting purpose, some of which do not include a photo of the voter. (Berardelli) In 2005, the Indiana Legislature passed a law requiring all voters who cast a ballot in person to present a photo ID issued by the United States or the State of Indiana containing an expiration...
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...Since the establishment of the United States, a constant debate has paced through the minds of American Citizens which today has created a deeper debate, franchising. The right to vote and who is allowed to vote has been the overarching question and debate which has regained momentum in recent years. With the low turnout at polls and elections, states and counties have been searching for ideas which would effectively increase the turnout at election polls. In Montgomery County, the voting age has been lowered to the ages of 16 and 17 in order to create a larger turnout which other counties have taken in to consideration as a plausible strategy. This strategy will not create a higher turnout and would instead create uneducated voting within elections. American citizens between the ages of 16 and 17 should not be franchised because of the lack of political knowledge, maturity, and lack of...
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...Is the United States election process fair? It depends on who you ask. There are many facets of the election process that must be explored to determine fairness. The US election process starts with the once a decade census. The results of the US Census help determine how voting districts will be formed. Legislators have worked since the beginning of this country to ensure that the newly formed districts were fair to each member, regardless of race or socio-economic status. The method of drawing districts to accommodate various categories of people is often referred to as gerrymandering and can result in some very interestingly shaped districts. The method of using the US Census to shape districts is only as good as the data collected from individuals completing the form. Each individual who completes the census form contributes to making the election process more inherently fair. Once local, state or national districts are established and vetted by the various groups that have a vested interest in these districts, it is time to review the rest of the election process to determine if it is fair. Elections start with campaigns. And there is a lot of opportunity to mess with the fairness of the US election process. To start with, the amount of money spent on elections inherently leads itself to a lack of fairness. The system is set up in such a way that only those with sufficient funds or political connections are able to run. That means that potential qualified candidates could...
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...Felon Voting In the United States, people convicted with felony are barred from participating in voting in any election. According to Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (2008), it is estimated that about five million felony victims have been denied this chance, a condition referred to as disenfranchisement. Every state in America has its own law concerning disenfranchisement. Felons are only allowed to vote in Maine and Vermont states (Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 2008). Some states demand that felon re-enfranchisement should be enhanced to allow felons who have already completed their sentence to participate in elections. They argue that their privileges and rights should be restored by allowing them to cast votes. According to them, blocking felons from voting is undemocratic, unfair, racially, and politically motivated while opponents state that felons have poor judgment, and should not be entrusted with this fundamental right. This research paper gives a clear summary of two articles concerning their position on felon voting. The first article is Liberal and republication argument against the disenfranchisement of felons by Jeffrey Reiman, and the second one is Locked out: felon disenfranchisement and America democracy by Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen. Both articles indicate that disenfranchisement of criminal offenders who are already through with their sentences is ethically and morally wrong. The two authors lobby for the enfranchisement...
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...It is no strange fact that political participation is quintessential to a representative democracy. The United States employs this system of government in which leaders and officials are voted in by the people. However, the declining political participation in the United States over the last few decades has been an issue for quite some time now, leading to the question of whether or not democracy in America is working as effectively as it could be. This is a more serious issue than most realize, especially considering only about half of eligible voters have been participating in presidential elections and much less participation in lower level elections. The average citizen living today lives in a completely different world from what this country was since its birth; the average citizen today has many more personal and financial responsibilities to tend to, and consequently, many fail to fulfill their civic duty of political participation. This combination of a hectic lifestyle, lack of concern, or sometimes even distrust towards the government and political news leads to people not being able to make time, not interested in making time, or simply refusing to make time for political participation. There are numerous ways in which citizens can participate politically, each with varying degrees of difficulty and potential strength of messages conveyed. Voting and financial contributions to causes and campaigns are the two least sophisticated and most common forms of political...
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...Voting Age In 1870 the fifteenth amendment was passed granting suffrage to men of color. Fifty years later the nineteenth amendment was passed granting suffrage to women, and another fifty years after that the twenty sixth amendment gave eighteen year olds right to 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...
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...are given just for being a citizen. Voting is a personal choice for Americans. The fears of losing rights and freedom have been present for many decades and centuries. Everybody is concerned that citizens may not be as free as they once were. People fought hard to make every American citizen free. Citizens who complain that our government is not perfect and is not doing well for the United States are people who usually do not even vote. One vote can make a difference. Citizens are extremely concerned with our rights and freedom, but do not even attempt to make a change. Citizens are capable of holding the responsibility of voting and being a United States citizen. Although citizens are capable, Americans do not attempt to be more informed. I think that if a citizen is more informed, the better choices that then leads to better decisions in the United States. Citizens are responsible for their own country and they need to take part in making this country succeed. Politicians may not always make the best decisions, so when citizens have the chance; they need to get their thoughts and words out. United States Citizens are Americans; citizens of the United States are live in freedom and have rights. Citizens need to remember that they became free and that the freedom leads them to make decisions that are best for every body, including themselves. If one does not vote, then one does not have a chance to get their opinions out. Voting is a personal chance and everybody...
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...Voting Age Matthew Clayton states in an article that “...Having the right to vote is widely recognized as one of the most important legal rights within a democracy.” (Wing and Clayton 534) With suffrage being an imperative democratic right, the questions of whether there should be a minimum voting age and if so, what age that should be set have quickly become central political issues. In 1971, the United States ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the age standard of twenty-one and granting eighteen year olds the right to vote. This was due to the realization of the double standard that eighteen year olds were old enough to be sent to fight for their country, but not old enough to vote for the people who represented it. A similar situation is occurring today, as American citizens under the age of eighteen pay taxes, drive cars, abide by the laws, are affected by the decisions of politicians, etc., but are denied the right to vote. These citizens are perfectly capable of making informed decisions and fulfilling the duties of a registered voter. Being affected by political decisions just as much as someone over the age of eighteen, citizens as young as the age of sixteen should be granted the right to vote. (Wing and Clayton 536) At the youthful age of sixteen, one can accomplish much more than they could at a prior time in their life. In most states, a sixteen year old can become emancipated from their parents, obtain a work permit, hold a job, choose...
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...The majority of the bills that were discussed were very different from each other with the exception being the Carbon Tax bills that were forwarded by both Dev Gosh and Sofiya Gorban. Notable bills were the national marijuana excise tax for states that had legalized it and the tax on specific ingredients in pesticides in order to save monarch butterflies. While the two aforementioned bills did not pass due to ambiguity in funding and a lack of feasibility, I found it interesting that committees in Congress go through diverse bills like this on a daily...
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...“Why don’t more young adults in America vote?” In the United States the word voting can have different meanings for different people, but in general is defined as a fundamental right at the core of what the country stand for which are called democracy and freedom. Young Americans are apt to vote less because of the criticism that stems from the older generations on the inefficiencies with the current administrations and the government at large. Consequently a trickle down effect occurs which leaves younger Americans critical whether their vote even counts. Many factors can be named to explain the low figure of why young people are not voting. The first factor is ignorance that consists in how a person thinks towards the fact that they need to vote. They think one vote is not going to change anything in the elections, so they just decide to not vote when that decision could change a president election. The apathy among young citizens is big; the lack of interest towards this manner, that has been decreasing throughout years and affecting the electoral decisions. The cynicism is the third factor that explains the absence of trust that the people have with the government institutions and the regime as a whole. This cynicism has been defined as oppositional to political efficacy related to trust the economical, social and political institutions. All this problems are happening every time an election is coming and the amount of young Americans that think this way is increasing...
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...rights. A right to vote is not something that should be taken lightly. The citizens of the United States of America are full of pride when it comes to the world seeing them as a strong, democratic nation. Although, according to Merriam Webster, a democracy is defined as “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections” (Merriam Webster). A democracy is not strong, however, when a low...
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...people born in the United States rights. This meant that...
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...The Electoral College: The Fear of Mobocracy Katherine Kinert Olympic College, Bremerton Abstract The Electoral College is a very important part of the United States Electoral System. However, very few Americans actually understand how it works. The lack of political efficacy in this country is a large reason of why some people do not think the Electoral College should be abolished. However, as Eric Black (2012) stated in an article on PBS News Hour, “Polls for many years have reliably shown that a majority of Americans would prefer a straightforward popular vote for the presidency.” Originally the Electoral College was established to prevent majority factions from having too much power causing mobocracy to occur. However, this system is outdated and the conditions that prompted the founding fathers to institute this precaution no longer exist today. Also, the fact that almost all the states use a winner-take-all system to determine which candidate gets all of the electoral votes for the state. Will abolishing the Electoral College rid the United States from mobocracy? Introduction The Electoral College is outdated and does not follow the true spirit of American Democracy. David Stewart (2013), a lawyer in Washington, D.C., states that, “Because most people knew little about public events or leaders from distant states, the convention delegates reasoned, they would not make a wise choice between presidential candidates.” Today, people have access to information through TV...
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