Voter turnout and political efficacy amongst a people are crucial to the proper maintenance of a democratic society. In order for changes to be made and the largest amount of voices to be heard, people must feel like their vote counts, and that a direct result to their vote is a response from the government. As former US President Dwight David Eisenhower once quoted, “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter,” and for this reason political scientists commonly inquire on what factors cause a variance in voter turnout. These factors may be socio-economic, do age, income, culture or religion play a role in who votes and who doesn’t? ; political affiliation, do democrats vote more than republicans, or vice-versa? ; or education, does a person’s level of education cause variance in their turnout?…
Voting rights are an extension of civl rights. Since 2001, almost 1,000 bills that would tighten voting laws have been introduced in 46 states. In the 2008 election, 2.2 million registered voters did not vote because they did not have the proper identification. In 2011, the number affected rose to 3.8 million. The majority of these bills have been in regard to voter ID laws, which have been billed as a seemingly reasonable way to prevent people from impersonating voters at the polls. The laws, however, don't address the more prevalent forms of voter fraud, like double voting, absentee ballot fraud, and ineligible felons voting. Absentee voters particularly tend to be much older and much whiter than in-person voters. In 2012, 46% of absentee…
Voter turnout has two different ways that it can be measured, which are: the percentage of registered voters voting or the percentage of the voting-age population voting. The most commonly used is the voting-age population since it streamlines variation in different state voting requirements and elections that have an effect on voter turnout. Historically, the participation of voters had been lower than the national average in Texas. Among the factors that can influence voter turnout are: the time of election, how important the election is perceived, even the day of the week can affect voter turnout.…
The two party system sometimes affects voting turnout. A state is usually considered a Democratic, Republic, or swing State. Some people think that their vote doesn’t matter because if their states is Democratic (or Republic) then the Democratic (or Republican) candidate will receive their state’s electoral votes. This results to only 45% of eligible voters actually voting.…
Voter qualification is set by the individual states, which creates different cultures throughout the country.…
Robert Powell goes on to explain that voter turnout is disadvantaged 13% by the party system and institutional factors, and 14% by registration laws. Legal and administrative obstacles, including time/place restrictions on registration and voting, affect the poor and uneducated more than the well-off and educated. Additionally, parties strategize which eligible voters, i.e. those they believe will vote for them, they will reach out to “activate and enlist.” They even went a step further with their attempted termination of the Motor Voter Act. They approach specific groups and tailor their campaigns and platforms around those people.…
Voter turnout in Texas is below the national average in the United States when it comes to national elections. Statewide elections have an even lower voter turnout in Texas.…
It can also cause potential voters to not vote at all because of the burdensome steps to obtaining and ID. Voter identification usually requires several documents such as a birth certificate which cost money. Many people oppose voter photo identification because it creates problems for the low income people, the disabled, the elderly, and the minorities who are eligible voters but require identification. The process of getting a photo identification can take a long time and can be tough for the elderly. “a wait of four hours for one 95-year-old. “It was so hard on them,” says Immaculate Heart of MarySister Margaret Gannon, 87. “Many of them have diabetes and arthritis” ( Hannun pg.18). Everyone should be able to understand that old people are fragile and cannot wait that long especially with sicknesses. With voter identification in place, it can be a great obstacle for minorities to vote due to suppression just like when the African Americans’ votes were suppresses by the Southern Whites. ““This is not a small thing; it’s an attempt to suppress the minority vote coming at a time when we have a much more diverse country.” (Hannun pg.19). the disenfranchisement of minorities specifically African Americans usually occur in the southern states of America. Another group of people who are affected are the poor people who simply cannot get to the election or cannot afford certain documents such as a birth certificate if they had lost it. Disabled people would have a difficult time retrieving a Voter photo identificaton. The hardship of voter identification laws in some states with stricter voter laws show a reduction in voter turnout. “Studies to this point suggest that voter-ID requirements may reduce voter turnout by 2-3 percentage points”( Sobel pg. 81) Although it may seem a small reduction, voting is an important factor in a…
7. One of the reasons for the low turnout among American voters is that the individual in the U.S. assumes responsibility for registering to vote, whereas in most other democracies voters are registered automatically by government officials. True…
While the monetary incentive for voting may be extremely influential another influential factor is registration issues. Studies show that over eight million voters were not able to vote due to registration issues, and other issues concerning paperwork. Additional faults in the…
In recent decades, Texas seems to have been having a typically low election turnout rate in comparison to other parts of the country. The election turnout in Texas has remained fairly stable but is extremely low when compared to the rest of the United States. For example, in the 2012 presidential elections the Texas voters’ turnout was 41.9 percent. In other words, it was 13 percent below the rest of the nation. Also, during the year of 2012 Texas was ranked 50th having the lowest turnout rate of any other state in the U.S.…
* The older you are the more likely to vote. Slightly Fewer males vote than females. More whites than AA, then Asian Amer., then Latinos. More educated you are the more likely you are to vote. More married people vote than divorced. Slightly more employed vote than unemployed. The richer you are the more likely you are to vote.…
America’s voting system is in dire need of changes. Is this because American voters do not care about who is running? Why is it that when election time comes around the middle and lower class feel like they are nothing? Is this due to the fact that they cannot afford to take off work to vote, or they feel their votes do not count, or rather that they are simply less educated on politics and not very politically active? Only about 68% of African Americans voted in the 2008 election and only about 63% of Caucasians voted. This is the reason that America’s voting system is in dire need of change.…
Voter turnout can increase if the United States makes it compulsory like the other democratic nations who turnout is 90% and up. The US is one of the few democracies that require its citizens to register to vote. In most other democratic nations this is not a separate step. The government provides the polling location to each citizen as they comprised a listing of each citizen with the person’s name, age and address. The person just has to show up to the poll to vote, show identification and then are checked against that location’s list. The US leaves the registration to each citizen. A significant number of voters never take the initial step of bothering to register. And then those that take this step may show up to vote to find out there…
IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH VOTER TURNOUT? There is not a problem with low voter turnout because that would signify that educated people voted. It is better for the people who don’t care about politics not to vote because if they would vote there is a chance they could jeopardize the outcome. There is no point in voting if they did not take the time to learn about or care about the issues in the society. For example, let’s say that people are voting whether or not guns should be illegal. If most people who are serious about politics voted that guns should be illegal and let’s say the other people who don’t take it seriously voted that guns should not be illegal, then there would be a big problem.…