Research Design Example
Research Design
U.S voting rates in comparison to other Industrial Nations.
Introduction
Have you ever sat around and wonder why voter turnout throughout the United States is so low? Did you ever sit and think that maybe there are different procedures and processes our government could come up with to make going to the polls a civil duty that more people would show up for? If you are one of those select people, than allow me to introduce and emphasize my research design topic to you. It seems like every year all you hear about leading up to the election are advertisements such as; “get out and vote!”, “increase voter turnout”, “your vote matters”, etc. The reason our country is advertising quotes such as those, is because our voter turnout is extremely low in comparison to other countries. I believe that studying the voter turnout rates in the USA in comparison to turnout rates in other countries is an important topic because, if you look at the statistics of voter turnout by country percentages, the USA is ranked at the bottom. I am doing my research design on this topic to better understand why the USA has such low turnout rates; as well as I would like to research what we can do to improve our voter turnouts on Election Day. This is important to understand and learn from because, without vast majority and/or increased turnout at the polling places, how can our nation be upset and argue about how controlled they believe our government is if most of them never come out on Election Day? Other nations have a vast majority as voter turnout whereas we do not. Some major problems with getting citizens to vote come from the process people have to go through just to place a vote for the more favored candidate. A citizen is able to register to vote starting at the legal age of 18, to place a vote citizens across the country have to vote at their registered polling place only, if the person will not be available during Election Day, than they have the option to
U.S voting rates in comparison to other Industrial Nations.
Introduction
Have you ever sat around and wonder why voter turnout throughout the United States is so low? Did you ever sit and think that maybe there are different procedures and processes our government could come up with to make going to the polls a civil duty that more people would show up for? If you are one of those select people, than allow me to introduce and emphasize my research design topic to you. It seems like every year all you hear about leading up to the election are advertisements such as; “get out and vote!”, “increase voter turnout”, “your vote matters”, etc. The reason our country is advertising quotes such as those, is because our voter turnout is extremely low in comparison to other countries. I believe that studying the voter turnout rates in the USA in comparison to turnout rates in other countries is an important topic because, if you look at the statistics of voter turnout by country percentages, the USA is ranked at the bottom. I am doing my research design on this topic to better understand why the USA has such low turnout rates; as well as I would like to research what we can do to improve our voter turnouts on Election Day. This is important to understand and learn from because, without vast majority and/or increased turnout at the polling places, how can our nation be upset and argue about how controlled they believe our government is if most of them never come out on Election Day? Other nations have a vast majority as voter turnout whereas we do not. Some major problems with getting citizens to vote come from the process people have to go through just to place a vote for the more favored candidate. A citizen is able to register to vote starting at the legal age of 18, to place a vote citizens across the country have to vote at their registered polling place only, if the person will not be available during Election Day, than they have the option to
Cited: Aman, A. (2008). Vote counting methods. Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Retrieved from http://www.idea.int/vt/vote_counting_methods.cfm "Compulsory Voting." International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2012): 4. Web. 13 Sep 2012. <http://www.idea.int/vt/compulsory_voting.cfm>. Fullerton, A. S., & Borch, C. (2008). Reconsidering Explanations for Regional Convergence in Voter Registration and Turnout in the United States, 1956–2000. Sociological Forum, 23(4), 755-785. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2008.00093.x Lapidos, Juliet. "Doing Democracy Right." Slate. (2008): n. page. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/how_they_do_it/2008/10/doing_democracy_right.html>. Morlan, R. L. (1984). Municipal vs. National Election Voter Turnout: Europe and the United States. Political Science Quarterly, 99(3), 457 Patterson, T. E. (2002). The Vanishing Voter: Why Are the Voting Booths So Empty?. National Civic Review, 91(4), 367 Roberts, Daniel Steven, "Why We Don 't Vote: Low Voter Turnout in U.S. Presidential Elections" (2009). University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/1365 Singh, S. (2011). How Compelling is Compulsory Voting? A Multilevel Analysis of Turnout. Political Behavior, 33(1), 95-111. doi:10.1007/s11109-010-9107-z Taylor, E. C. (2011). Political Cynicism and the Black Vote. Harvard Journal Of African American Public Policy, 173-10.