...such a low voters turnout because voters are not forced to vote. The countries with a high voter turnout have strictly enforced laws. In American you have to register to vote but in other countries if you are a citizen, you are automatically registered. If the United States changes the voting system a little, it could increase voter’s turnout. Americans need to be more educated and know each candidate’s platforms. Voter’s turnout could increase if voters did not have to work on Election Day. If America followed some of the guidelines other countries use, the United States would have a higher voters turnout. Countries with a high voter turnout are due to the countries strictly enforced voting laws. In some countries you can be fined if you do not show up to the polls to vote. America does not have strict voting laws so it is not mandatory to show up and vote. In other countries if you are a citizen of the country you are automatically considered a registered voter. The United States is one of the only countries to hold Election Day during the week. Countries with high voters turnout have Election Day on the weekend. Voters in America do not want to...
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...States Voter Turn-out so Low Question 4) What are some explanations for why voter turnout is so low in the U.S. compared to other wealthy, literate and democratic countries? INTRODUCTION Voter turnout is the rate by which people vote in elections. The simplest way to calculate a given election's turnout rate is to compare the actual number of voters with the voting-age population. “Voter turnout in the United States is among the worlds’ lowest.” (E.S. 371) The graph below taken from an article written for the Huffington Post in 2012, illustrates how poor United States voter turnout has been as compared to other industrialized nations. Our voter turnout is less than half of the turnout in Belgium and Australia for example and it is getting worse. "Starting in the early 60's, the proportion of the population that turns out to vote in the U.S. steadily decreased, to the point where only slightly more than half the electorate voted in presidential elections in the last three decades of the 20th century" (E.S. 370) [pic] Although there are several factors that contribute to low voter turnout in the United States, three factors appear to have the most direct influence. • Voter Registration and Voting Processes in the United States make it more difficult to vote as compared to other nations. • The Decline of Social Capital in the United States • The decline in the strength of our political parties has contributed to voter apathy Voter Registration...
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...Webster). A democracy is not strong, however, when a low...
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...literally thousands of cross-sectional surveys have indicated that turnout rates climb with years of formal schooling,” a few scholars have published literature that discredit the positive relationship between levels of education and voter turnout. Steven Tenn (2007:446) is the first to phrase the relationship as education being “spuriously correlated with voting.” His work focuses on the impact of the marginal impact of an additional year of schooling. Ultimately, Tenn’s (2007:451) analysis reveals that “an additional year of education has very little influence on voter turnout. This is in direct contradiction of one of the most influential studies on education and voter turnout, Wolinger and Rosenstone’s (1980:102), which found that increased levels of schooling do in fact raise the participation rate of voters. Similarly, Kam and Palmer (2008:617) wanted to test the claim made by multiple scholars that higher levels of education cause political participation. Rather than conferring with the scholars, Kam and Palmer (2008:612) take on a differing perspective and focus on other factors that could in turn influence political participation. They find that “the same factors that propel...
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...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 participation. Since all votes are equal and voters vote for a candidate due to a number of reasons instead of one, the amount of information conveyed is relatively low compared to more active and sophisticated methods of political participation. (Losco and Baker 156) Forms of political participation that require a bit more skill and commitment than voting and...
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...In the United States, voter apathy has been a consistent theme. Many eligible Americans fail to participate in elections. Between 1960 and 2008, the average voter turnout was approximately 49% to 63%. This means that close to half of the Americans do not really care which candidate will become their resident. In the United States, the lowest voter turnout was recorded in the year 1996 when only 49.1% of eligible Americans turned to vote. The low turnout in the country is an international disgrace. It is worrying that democracy in America has lost meaning. According to Fulton (16), one may not understand what happened to the government that Abraham Lincoln used to call “government of the people, for the people and by the people.” People should not be satisfied when...
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...taking this course. Of the many chapters discussed during this course, I found Parties and Elections in Texas (chapter 21), Public Opinion (chapter 6), and Political Participation and Voting (chapter 8) to be the most interesting and informative. Parties and Elections in Texas Political parties play a major role in Texas politics. Approximately 91 percent of Texas voters either identify with or lean toward the Republican or the Democratic Party. Despite all of the complaints about parties, they perform roles that are critical to the operation of our democratic system and to the overall coordination and functioning of our political system. The most important function of parties in Texas is to provide a label under which candidates may run and voter may identify. The party label becomes the standard used in casting a ballot for a candidate. Parties recruit candidates, assist in getting out the vote, and helps to organize the government once officials have been elected. The organization of political parties in Texas can be somewhat complex. Texas does not have a system of party registration for voters. Texas parties conduct primaries to select each party’s candidates for office. The precinct chair heads the precinct convention and serves on the county executive committee. The county executive committee is responsible for running the county’s primary elections and planning the county convention. Conventions are held at the precinct, county, and state levels. Participation...
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...electors. Rather, it provides only that the electors shall be appointed as the state legislatures direct. Once a state determines that electors shall be chosen by popular vote it has wide latitude to determine eligibility to vote” (Hardaway 106). The electors are chosen based on the amount of House of Representatives and Senators each state has in Congress; the few hundred electors controls the United States vote (ABC News). This system is not democratic because the people are not the direct electors of the President, elite men and women of both political parties are in charge of choosing. If the system is kept that way, there is no real reason in having the eligible voters in voting because at the end of the day, their vote does not count causing various effects in the elections such as low voter turnout and lower voter efficacy.Citizens of the United States are discouraged to vote because they feel that their vote does not count since their government has established a group of people to “double-check” their preferred candidate. Why hasn’t the government abolish the Electoral College if more than 54% of the United States population believes that the popular vote should be the only counted votes? (Polling Report).Based on the polls, the majority of the United States population believes the current electoral system is incorrect, just by simply eliminating the Electoral College the system will become democratic because the people will directly elect the President. Allowing the members...
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...Whether it’s from decreasing voter turnout or decreasing numbers in party membership. In my opinion I believe that the UK is suffering quite a large crisis. The first reason to suggest that Britain is in a crisis is if we look at recent voter turnout. In the 2010 and 2015 General Election the voter turnout was between 65-66%. This is considered as a crisis because in contrast to the election in the 1970’s the turnout was about 80%. It is a crisis because voter turnout has been decreasing over the years. The problem with lower voter turnout is that it becomes harder for the government to make decisions that would be more representative. When there is low voter turnout the government’s decisions are mainly based upon the people that voted. This would result in a large minority being left out and unrepresented in the process. Furthermore, it is considered a crisis because it also highlights the fact that UK citizens aren’t politically active. This means that less people are engaging with politics and are less aware with what is happening in their country. On the other hand, others may argue that the figure is relatively high and will improve overtime. This is because in the 2005 General Election the turnout was 60%. They would use this to suggest that voter turnout isn’t evidence to suggest...
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...Mandatory Voting as a Response to Declining Voter Turnout In many parts of the world, the act of voting is seen as an act that empowers citizens and an act that gives them a voice. However, with the decline of voter turnout, this voice seems to be coming from a select few, leaving political scientists wondering about the remaining of the population. In response to this situation, many have suggested making the act of voting, a mandatory one. Making voting a compulsory act for all citizens does provide both the citizens and the political system with many benefits. However, there are those that oppose this idea, stating possible disadvantages and contradiction in ideologies. The matter in hand is tough for any nation to deal with but making voting a mandatory act proves to have more advantages than disadvantages. With the issue on hand, each side of the debate has to be given an equal opportunity to present their ideas in hopes of coming up with a viable way to deal with the situation. The hopeful outcome of making voting mandatory in countries has shown is to have an increase in voter turnout. This can be approached in different ways. For example, countries such as Switzerland, Peru, Argentina and Australia impose fines on people who do not vote. (Henry Milner 11). Other countries use other methods to single out non-voters. In Peru, voters carry around stamped cards that confirm they have voted in the election and these cards are presented at public offices for services to...
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...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...
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...The midterm elections historically have low turnout, which could be detrimental to the Democrats’ hopes of flipping the U.S. House of Representatives. In order to combat this, the Democratic National Committee must commit to creating pro-voting messaging for college-aged adults. The Democratic Party has a numbers problem. Only 18 out of 50 governors in the United States are Democrats. Below the Mason-Dixon line, there are only three Democratic governors. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the House of Representative and the Supreme Court. Republicans hold 31 statehouses, including every state house in the South. Millennials are the answer to the Democratic Party’s problem in purple and red states. As we have seen in recent elections in Alabama and Virginia, voters aged 18-29 carried both Democrats Doug Jones and Ralph Northam to victory. Alabama millennials favored Jones over Republican candidate Roy Moore by a 22-point margin. In Virginia’s gubernatorial election, young adult turnout doubled between 2009 and 2017. Virginia’s millennial turnout in the 2017 gubernatorial election was 14 percentage points higher than their turnout in the 2016 presidential election. Millennial votes in Virginia rivaled Baby Boomer numbers, both generations making up nearly 18 percent of Northam’s Votes....
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...AP Government McKinley CHAPTER 8 Political Participation I. A closer look at nonvoting A. Alleged problem: low turnout of voters in the U.S. compared to Europe 1. Data are misleading: tend to compare turnout of voting-age population; turnout of registered voters reveals problem is not so severe 2. Real problem is low voter registration rates a) Proposed solution: get-out-the-vote drives b) But this will not help those who are not registered 3. Apathy is not the only cause of non-registration a) Registration has costs in the U.S.; there are no costs in European countries where registration is automatic b) Motor-voter law of 1993 took effect in 1995, lowered costs and increased registration throughout the country B. Voting is not the only way of participating—by other measures, Americans may participate in politics more than Europeans. C. Important question: how do different kinds of participation affect the government? II. The rise of the American electorate (THEME A: POPULAR PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS) A. From state to federal control 1. Initially, states decided who could vote and for which offices 2. This led to wide variation in federal elections 3. Congress has since reduced state prerogatives through law and constitutional amendment. a) 1842 law: House members elected by district b) 15th Amendment (1870): seemed to give...
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...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...
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...Dior Hunter Bailey-Hofmann English 103 17 January 2015 Should Voting Be Mandatory? In the United States, voter turnout during elections has decreased over the last fifteen years. In 2012 the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) compared voter turnout rates, for the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, The BPC states “Despite an increase of over eight million citizens in the eligible population, turnout declined from 131 million voters in 2008 to an estimated 126 million voters in 2012 when all ballots are tallied. Some 93 million eligible citizens did not vote.” Many Americans feel like their vote doesn’t count anyway, mainly citizens who are already disadvantaged. Australian professor of Politics Lisa Hill states in her article What We’ve Seen in Australia With Mandatory Voting that, “Places with mandatory voting also have less wealth inequality, lower levels of political corruption and higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy is working than voluntary systems.” Critics say that implementing mandatory voting is against the constitution, and what we value the most, freedom. Furthermore, Hill states “ Is being required to vote a violation of autonomy? Sure, but so is mandatory taxation, jury duty and the requirement to educate our children. Yet, these are all good ideas.” Voting should be mandatory because as American citizens we live in a democratic society where everyone should have an opinion. Although, Americans value independence and the free-will to do...
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