Voting and Voter Participation

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Voting and Voter Participation
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Will you be 18 on November 4th, 2008?

• Yes
• No

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Are you registered to vote?

• Yes
• No

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Could you have voted for the President in 1800?

• Yes
• No

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How many times have we extended the right to vote
and to what groups?

• Voting is the type of political activity most
  often engaged in by Americans.
• The Electorate has expanded many times in
  history
• 1870- 15th amendment-black men right to vote
• 1920- 19th amendment-women
• 1924- Congress granted Native Americans
  citizenship and vote
• 1964- 24th amendment prohibited use of poll tax
• 1965- Voting Rights Act of 1995-removed
  restrictions that kept blacks from voting.
• 1971-26th amendment, 18 year old vote

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What Amendment guaranteed the right to vote for
women?

• 1870 13th Amendment
• 1870 14th Amendment
• 1870 15th Amendment
• 1920 19th Amendment
• 1964 24th Amendment
• 1971 26th Amendment

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What Amendment guaranteed the right to vote for
18 year olds?

• 1870 13th Amendment
• 1870 14th Amendment
• 1870 15th Amendment
• 1920 19th Amendment
• 1964 24th Amendment
• 1971 26th Amendment

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What Amendment guaranteed the right to vote for
minorities?

• 1870 13th Amendment
• 1870 14th Amendment
• 1870 15th Amendment
• 1920 19th Amendment
• 1964 24th Amendment
• 1971 26th Amendment

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Elections in the 1800s were different

• Parties prepared ballots in 1800s.
• They used different colors of paper that allowed
  them to monitor how people voted.
• Reform led us to the Australian ballot-devised
  in Australia in 1856.
• We moved to this type of ballot in the early
  1900s
• it is printed by the state-public expense,
• it lists the candidates names,
• it is given out at the polls,
• it is secret

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Elections Today

• Today we are voting electronically (with voting
  machines) and there are a lot of problems with
  this new technology.

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Here are some sample Ballots

• Travis County Sample Ballot
• http//www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/2
  0081104/sample.asp
• Williamson County Sample Ballot
• http//www.wilco.org/CountyDepartments/Elections/t
  abid/450/Default.aspx2008sb

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Voting Today

• All neighborhoods are divided into voting
  districts or precincts of about 500-1000 people.
• This precinct number allow you to find your
  polling place place where you go to vote
• Poll watchers are assigned to the polls, one from
  each party to challenge anyone they believe is
  not qualified to vote.

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Elections today are

• Done on Australian Ballots
• Done at precincts
• All done electronically
• Paid for by political parties
• All of the above

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Elections are conducted at

• Precincts
• Polling locations
• Elementary schools
• Voting districts

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In which Presidential election did the highest
percentage of the electorate actually vote?

• 1960
• 1968
• 1972
• 1980
• 1996
• 2000
• 2004

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Voter Turnout

• We hold more elections for more offices than
  others countries do.
• Our highest turnout is in presidential general
  elections. We also turn out more for federal
  elections more than local does.
• 1960, we peaked at 63 of people over 21.
• http//www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html
• Turnout should have gone up since 1960 because of
  the Voting Rights Act.
• Women have increased their voting turnout.
• The electorate has grown richer and more
  educated it seems we would have an increase
  because of that.

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Registration and Voting

• Registration tends to discourage voting. Most
  other democracies have automatic voter
  registration.
• Average voter turnout in the U.S. is more than 30
  points lower than other democracies.
• Registration varies from state to state.
• Every state except North Dakota requires
  registration.
• 3 states permit election-day voter registration.
• In most states, 30 days residency is needed, and
  you must register 30 days prior to an election.

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Why is Voter Turnout so Low?

• 85 million eligible Americans fail to vote in
  presidential elections why?
• People are lazy, they are apathetic, and voter
  registration appears to be the major block to
  voting.

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What percentage of eligible voters aged 18-25
voted in the 2004 election?

• 100
• 80
• 60
• 50
• 44

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There has been a decline of voter turnout since
1960 because of the 26th amendment lowered
voting age to 18 it expanded the electorate,
but lowered the overall turnout percentage,
because this block of young voters just dont
vote.
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Why is Voter Turnout so Low?

• Others say, there is not a candidate who is
  appealing.
• Candidates themselves are not real choices.
• They are not exciting, and they avoid taking
  stands on issues.

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Who is most likely to vote?

• Christians
• People 18-25
• High School grads
• College grads
• African-Americans

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Who Votes?

• What kinds of things help us to predict who
  will/does vote?
• Level of education helps predict whether people
  will vote, as education increases, so does the
  propensity to vote.
• Race and ethnicity are also linked to voting in
  large part because they are correlated to
  education.

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Who is most likely to vote?

• Parents of young children
• People age 18-25
• People over 70
• People age 55-70

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Who Votes?

• Income and age are also important.
• Those with higher income vote more.
• 18-24 year olds vote the least
• People over 70 also have low voter turnout.

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How can you vote in Texas?

• Register on election day
• Anyone with a drivers license can vote
• Register 30 days prior to the election
• Register online

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Who Can Vote?

• 1. In the State of Texas, you must be registered
  to vote.
• 2. In Texas, you must be a citizen and a resident
  of the state for 30 days.
• 3. Most states make you register 30 days prior to
  the election.

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Who Can Vote?

• 4. In Texas, if you will be 18 soon, you can
  register 60 days before your birthday BUT you
  must be 18 on election day in order to vote.
• 5. All States require registration EXCEPT North
  Dakota
• 6. Maine and Washington allow you to register at
  any time up to and including the day of the
  election.

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Who are the CAN NOT voters?

• 1. Aliens (non-citizens) even though nothing in
  Constitution disallows them-states choose (p.132)
• 2. convicted felons lose privilege
• 3. some religious disallow people to vote.
• 4. some are physically ill and can not get to the
  polls
• 5. mentally restrained in institutions.

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What is a NON VOTER?

• 1. People that choose not to
• 2. Voter who thinks vote does not count
• 3. People who are satisfied with the status quo
• 4. Those who distrust the government
• 5. Those who are not interested
• 6. Those who are not registered
• 7. Most of the time these are the NON VOTERS-
  younger than 35, unmarried, unskilled,
  uneducated, live in rural areas, in the South.
• 8. Band wagon effect (choose not to because
  everyone else has already voted one way)
• 9. Bad weather, long lines, inconvenient
• 10 Non voters who vote (vote top of ticket, leave
  bottom blank-ballot fatigue)

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What Factors influence us to vote?

• Psychological- how do you feel about the issues?
  How do you feel about the candidates-what are
  your perceptions?
• Sociological-groups that you belong to-age,
  occupation, religion, geographical area in which
  you live, sex, education, party identification.
• Party identification is the single most
  significant and lasting predictor of whether a
  person will vote, it is also the most important
  factor that brings us to the polls.

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Voting Choices

• Party ID- has a lot to do with ones evaluation
  of candidates and often predicts a persons stand
  on issues.
• 2/3rd of all independents are, in fact, partisan
  in their voting behavior, meaning they have two
  choices-vote democrat or republican. Independent
  democrats vote democrat. Independent republicans
  vote republican.
• Voting on the Basis of Candidates-the 1980s
  marked the emergence of candidate-centered
  elections. Greater weight given to the
  candidates strengths and weaknesses is not new.

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Voting Choices

• Most scholars agree, issues are NOT as central to
  the decision process as partisanship and
  candidate appeal. Candidates are intentionally
  vague on their positions. By not detailing their
  plan, they can appeal to the middle.
• The state of the economy is often the central
  issue in midterm elections. It is common for the
  presidents party to lose seats in Congress in
  the off-year elections.

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Voting Choices

• Voters tend to see the responsibility of the
  economy resting more with the president than with
  Congress, governors, or local officials.
• Less-educated people tend to judge a candidate on
  the basis of their own financial standings.
  Upper-status voters are more likely to watch the
  overall performance of the economy.

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Some cool voting websites

• http//www.votersunite.org/takeaction/federalpaper
  ballot.asp
• http//www.rockthevote.com/voting_is_easy.php
• http//www.openvotingconsortium.org/
• http//www.electoral-vote.com/evp2006/Info/politic
  al-websites.html
• http//www.factcheck.org/