Political Participation

1
Political Participation

• Voter Registration
• Reasons for Low Voter Turnout

2
Voting

• Voting is at the heart of a modern democracy
• A vote sends a direct message to the government
  about how a citizen wants to be governed

3
Voting

• Over the course of American history, voting
  rights have gradually expanded
• Todayvery few individuals are excluded

4
Voting

• Yetexpanding suffrage is countered by a current
  trend
• Lower percentages of eligible voters in recent
  presidential elections actually going to the
  polls to cast their votes

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Voting

• For exampleonly about 50 of eligible voters
  actually voted in the 2000 and 2004 presidential
  elections

6
Voter Registration

• Laws vary according to state
• All states except North Dakota require voter
  registration

7
Voter Registration

• Until a few years ago some states required voters
  to register as much as 6 months before the
  election

8
Voter Registration

• In other words, if someone moved into the state,
  forgot to register, or passed their 18th
  birthday, he/she would be ineligible to vote in
  any elections for 6 months

9
Voter Registration

• These rigid requirements were the result of
  voting abuses of the early 20th century
• Ballot box stuffing
• People voting twice
• Dead people voting

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Voter Registration

• In recent times, these requirements are believed
  to be responsible for low voter turnout

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Voter Registration

• Federal law prohibits any state from requiring
  more than a 30-day waiting period

12
Voter Registration

• In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter
  Registration Act
• AKA - Motor Voter bill

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Motor Voter Bill

• Allows people to register to vote while applying
  or renewing a drivers license
• Also requires states to provide assistance to
  facilitate voter registration

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Motor Voter Bill

• Removal of names from voting rolls for nonvoting
  is no longer allowed

15
Motor Voter Bill

• Supporters of the law claim that it will add some
  49 million people to the voting rolls

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Motor Voter Bill

• Neither the 2000 or 2004 presidential elections
  showed significant increases in voting percentages

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Motor Voter Bill

• In general, Democrats have been more supportive
  of the bill than Republicans

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Why?
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Motor Voter Bill

• They believe new registration will favor the
  Democrats based on demographic factors

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Other Reasons for Low Voter Turnouts

• Difficulty of absentee voting
• Number of offices to elect
• Weekday, non-holiday voting
• Weak political parties

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Difficulty of Absentee Voting

• Even if citizens remember to register ahead of
  time, they can only vote in their own precincts

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Difficulty of Absentee Voting

• If a voter is out of town on election day, he or
  she has to vote by absentee ballot
• Most states have stringent rules about voting
  absentee

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Difficulty of Absentee Voting

• For example, some states require a voter to apply
  for a ballot in person
• America is a highly mobile society, so this makes
  a difference

24
Number of Offices to Elect

• Because American vote for so many officials on
  many different levels of government, they cannot
  keep up with all the campaigns elections

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Difficulty of Absentee Voting

• Americans vote for more public officials hold
  more elections by far than any other modern
  democracy
• In most states, primary elections, general
  elections are held every year or two

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Weekday, Non-holiday Voting

• In many other democracies, elections take place
  on weekends
• Others that hold elections on weekdays declare
  election day a national holiday so that no one
  has to go to work

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Weekday, Non-holiday Voting

• By law, national general elections in the U.S.
  are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in
  November in even-numbered states

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Weekday, Non-holiday Voting

• Most state local elections are also held during
  the week, and only a few localities declare
  election day a holiday
• Many people find it difficult to get off work in
  order to vote

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Weak Political Parties

• In many countries, parties make great efforts to
  get people to the polls

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Weak Political Parties

• In earlier days, parties called their members to
  ensure that they register and that they vote
• Parties also would often provide transportation
  to the polls

31
Weak Political Parties

• Although parties still have get-out-the-vote
  campaigns, parties today are not as strongly
  organized at the grass roots or local level
  as they used to be

32
Political Participation

• In studies that compare political participation
  rates in the U.S. with other countries, Americans
  tend to engage more frequently in non-electoral
  forms of participation

33
Weak Political Parties

• Examples include
• Campaign contributions
• Community involvement
• Contacts with public officials

34
Enduring Questions

• Does it really matter that the U.S. has a low
  voter turnout?
• Some say no because they think it indicates
  Americans are happy with the status quo

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Enduring Questions

• Others believe that a low voter turnout signals
  apathy about out political system in general
• If only a few people take time to learn about the
  issues we are open to manipulation by
  authoritarian rule

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Enduring Questions

• Did the expansion of suffrage lead to voting
  rates by widening the voting base?
• Will the Motor-Voter Law eventually improve
  voting rates?
• Is voter registration still too difficult a
  process?

37
Enduring Questions

• Do we need to move elections to weekends?
• Do we need fewer elected positions?
• Or do low voter turnouts just indicated that
  people are happy with government dont feel the
  need to vote?

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Whatever the reasons, the U.S. today has one of
its lowest voting rates among modern democracies