Module 18
What is policy in relation the American public? A reflection of the electorate's values put into government action A description of people's' lack of interest in politics put into government action A description of the values of disinterested people put into government action A description of the government put into action
A reflection of the electorate's values put into government action
Gerrymandering works by manipulating the districts to an incumbent's advantage
A successful gerrymander can even create an electoral advantage for a numerical minority
When a citizen cannot go to the polls, most states allow absentee voting
Absentee voting is by paper ballot that must be postmarked by Election Day. Nine states allow permanent absentee voting. Once a citizen elects this type of voting method, they automatically receive ballots in the mail. This alternative method of casting ballots serves the disabled and severely ill populations. Alaska permits permanent absentee voting due to the remoteness of some parts of the state.
Select the broad categories of non-violent protests. Alternatives to Obeying Laws Acts of property destruction Institutional Protests Withdrawals and Denunciations
Alternatives to Obeying Laws Institutional Protests Withdrawals and Denunciations
What is an example of a recent successful large scale social movement that incorporated consumer activism? Abolition movement Anti-Apartheid movement Labor movement Women's suffrage movement
Anti-Apartheid movement
Another way that states have made voting participation more difficult is through the Voter ID laws.
Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, only 14 states required photo identification. However, after the terrorist attacks, other states began to require a piece of state-issued photo identification critics argued that some states target minority and older voters. Further the documentation requirements to obtain the free, state issued identification place an undue burden on these segments of the population because they do not have adequate transportation, do not have the original documents such as out of state, original birth certificates, or the time to obtain supporting documents before an election
bulk mailings
Bulk mailings, sometimes called "junk mail," are mass mailings via the US Postal Service at reduced rates.
Who determines the number of Congressional seats each state will receive in the reapportionment process? House of Representatives Joint committee in Congress Independent presidential commission Census Bureau
Census Bureau
Which states allow voting by mail? Alaska, Oregon, and Washington Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska Colorado, Oregon, and Washington Colorado, Alaska, and Idaho
Colorado, Oregon, and Washington
reapportionment
Congressional seats are apportioned according to the results of the latest Census numbers. The redistribution of congressional seats from the Census
Ethical shopping is another type of consumer activism where consumers "vote with their dollars."
Consumer activism has helped disadvantaged workers to better their lives. Fair wages, healthier foods, human rights, and safe working conditions are common themes in consumer movements. Often movements that emphasize worker rights are linked with broader social conditions and framed in terms of human rights. The fairtrade movement is an example of consumer activism that helped producers in developing countries raise their wages, better their communities by publicizing unfair labor, trade, and pricing practices. Another strategy of the fair trade movement has been to advertise these products as higher quality. A label indicating that a product is fair trade certified assures consumers that their purchases meet the criteria of "fairtrade."
Consumer activism is another way of participating publicly
Consumer activism is a mass action directed at a private business or industry that is often associated with and organized as part of a social movement. Activists try to change a product or industry practice that they feel is dangerous to its users, or the public. Consumer activists believe that sustained negative publicity will alter a business or industries products or practices that the group believes is harmful to the public.
One way to achieve social action is through consumer activism
Consumers act politically when they pressure companies to alter their products and services, even if these ends may be associated more with the use of a product than an overt social or political action. Sometimes sustained consumer activism leads to change in government policy. Activists may resort to consumer driven action to accomplish social change when other avenues are not successful. Physical distance and the size of the problem are other possible factors that lend an advantage to consumer activism over other types of resistance activities.
What does the Census Bureau do every ten years? Establishes the per seat population for Congressional districts Redraws district boundaries Distributes Congressional seats to the states Counts the entire population
Counts the entire population
What does socioeconomic status mean? Ideological characteristics of a society Demographic categories such as sex, race, income, and education level Legal classifications of sex, race, and education level The social characteristics of a society
Demographic categories such as sex, race, income, and education level
What factors seem to be better predictors of voter participation rather than early, absentee, or mail-in voting? Demographic factors such as geography, age, and education Psychological factors such as ideology or attitude Geographic factors such as distance to the polls Demographic factors such as age, income, and education
Demographic factors such as geography, age, and education
What does it mean to purge a voter roll? Throwing out entire lists of registered voters Eliminating ineligible voters from an election roll Throwing out voters a local election official does not like Allowing people who want to participate in an election to vote
Eliminating ineligible voters from an election roll
What is one effect of expanding the electorate? Expanding the electorate allows parties to win with less. Expanding the electorate allows parties to restrict more people from participating. Expanding the electorate forces political parties to adapt their platforms to accommodate and capture a winning share of the vote. Expanding the electorate forces parties to cheat to stay in power.
Expanding the electorate forces political parties to adapt their platforms to accommodate and capture a winning share of the vote.
Today, what determines the total number of congressional seats? The results from each Census Federal law The Senate State law
Federal law
Why does the United States have a two party dominant political party system? First-past-the-post electoral system Ideological rhetoric Self-fulfilling prophesy Proportional representation electoral system
First-past-the-post electoral system
What is one legitimate reason for regulating who votes? Restricting the right to vote helps parties win elections Fraudulent elections produce cynicism in the electorate and attitudes of illegitimacy in the electorate. Voter ID laws are used solely to eliminate people of color and poorer voters. Felony disenfranchisement is a way to restrict people of color from voting since poll taxes are no longer permitted.
Fraudulent elections produce cynicism in the electorate and attitudes of illegitimacy in the electorate.
What is the term used when politicians either aggregate or separate blocks of voters with like preferences to manipulate election outcomes?
Gerrymander
The Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims (1964) that states must make __________ in their redistricting effort. Reapportionment Good efforts Good faith effort Least restrictive means
Good faith effort
In 42 States the legislatures have sole control of the redistricting process.
However, there are a number of states that have commissions that act as safeguards to help ensure the redistricting is done in a fair manner. These commissions include advisory, independent, backup, and political
What issue have both political parties debated in the hopes of altering the influence of Hispanic voters? Terrorism Abortion Economy Immigration
Immigration
What is the benefit of motor-voter laws? It allows people to register to vote when they get a driver's license. It does not allow people to vote when they get their driver's license. It allows state troopers to register people to vote . It prohibits people who should not be voting from registering to vote.
It allows people to register to vote when they get a driver's license.
Select the reasons many citizens are apathetic. Lack of coherent political knowledge The political process is distasteful. Favor one political party Parties govern to appease their bases. Check My Answer
Lack of coherent political knowledge The political process is distasteful.
Protesters involved in the Occupy Wall Street Movement and Black Lives Matter Movement were both spearheaded by which of the following groups? The 1% of people who control the nation's wealth Millennials Individuals who did not progress, academically, further than a high school degree Older Americans and members of the Baby Boomers generation
Millennials
Which groups comprise the rising American electorate? White males, Hispanics, and older Americans Millennials, people of color, and unmarried women Hispanics, older Americans, and people of colo r Hispanics, married women, and Millennials
Millennials, people of color, and unmarried women
What must activists keep in mind to achieve successful social change? Movements must be geared towards changing government policy. Movements must fight against corrupt activities. Movements must be continuous, coordinated, and strategic. Movements must be against some illegal activity.
Movements must be continuous, coordinated, and strategic.
n states that allow these types of actions, usually an official petition begins the process.
Once enough signatures are presented to an official of the state, often the Secretary of State, they are verified to make sure they are registered voters. The state official responsible for this phase of the initiative process makes sure the proposed initiative is in compliance with existing state and federal laws. Then, if it is a ballot initiative, the proposed language is drafted. An official initiative petition is released for signatures of registered voters. The state official puts the initiative on the ballot if enough qualified signatures are turned in by the due date. Then, the electorate votes on the question during the next scheduled election.
redistricting
Once the Census Bureau determines the number of seats per state, the respective state legislatures redraw their own district boundaries to reflect the number of seats reapportioned to the states.
anyone who wishes to vote must register, and this has proved to be one of the most significant barriers to voting
One purpose of registration is to safeguard against voter fraud. Tracking each individual voter helps ensure that the person will vote only once for a given candidate in a given election. But registration can be burdensome because it requires people to take the time to go someplace (often a local city hall or post office) and fill out a form. While this may be inconvenient, it helps emphasize the importance of voting and assumes that responsible citizens will take the time to go through the hoops of the process.
Sometimes public officials participate in town hall meetings or one-on-one meetings
One-on-one meetings are those in which a citizen meets with the public official. Town hall meetings are an American tradition. Town hall meetings are usually informal gatherings where citizens ask a public representative to discuss issues that are important to a community. Usually, after a public official makes a statement, a question-and-answer session allows citizens to discuss important issues with their public officials.
Select the factors that led to the success of the Vietnam War protests. Rising incomes in the United States Overlap of interests with the civil rights, women's, and students' movements. Age Television publicized the horrible nature of war.
Overlap of interests with the civil rights, women's, and students' movements. Age Television publicized the horrible nature of war.
So, what are the reasons for the United States' low voter participation rates and higher levels of voter apathy?
Political scientists have found consistently that most Americans not only lack coherent political knowledge, but are generally apathetic about participating in elections and politics in general. There is a relationship between amount of political knowledge and participation. Institutional factors of checks and balances, separation of powers, federalism, bicameral legislature, and the voting system work in concert. The political process is distasteful to many Americans and one explanation for voter apathy. For example, it is extremely difficult for legislation to pass the Congress in uneventful times. When legislation does pass, the charge of special interests often accompanies discussions of the legislation due to the influence of lobbyists.
What is an advantage of protesting? Protests provide the only avenue for changing public policy. Protests are somewhat useful, but not as effective as other types of resistance activities such as letter writing campaigns. Protests can be an effective tool for raising public awareness of an issue. Protests are considerably less effective than social media campaigns.
Protests can be an effective tool for raising public awareness of an issue.
What is the term for the redistribution of Congressional seats from the Census? Realignment Rededication Reapportionment Redirection
Reapportionment
What is the process of redrawing congressional district boundaries? Enumeration Redistricting Reapportionament Malapportionment
Redistricting
independent commissions
Six states draw their Congressional boundaries with independent commissions, not the legislatures. are comprised of non-elected officials that are appointed. Most independent commissions are evenly divided between the major parties to ensure fairness of the redistricting results
What two factors that lend an advantage to choosing consumer activism over other types of protest actions? Public opinion and funding The likelihood of success and ease of implementing the action Lack of government regulations and resources Size of the problem and physical distance
Size of the problem and physical distance
What was the principal method of communication that these two movements used? Telephone Mass media Mass mailings and the internet Social media
Social media
Sometimes civic action involves participating as part of a social movement
Social movements are large-scale, organized actions that seek to reform or change some social or political issue. Examples of social movements have been the abolition movement, women's suffrage, civil rights, and gay rights movement.
Finally, the first-past-the-post (or winner-takes-all) voting scheme produces a two-party dominant political party system
The electorate punishes either of the parties at next election if any legislation becomes too liberal or conservative in nature. So, the two dominant political parties govern from the center, despite their rhetoric. Thus, policy generally reflects the parties' attempts at keeping their respective bases satisfied while at the same time appealing to their broad coalitions and seeking to attract the greatest number of independent voters.
What is an advantage of participating in local government over state or national governments? The less likelihood of having direct contact with public officials The greater likelihood of having direct contact with public officials The less likelihood that citizens can have meaningful change through participation The greater likelihood that no action will be taken
The greater likelihood of having direct contact with public officials
The Occupy Wall Street began as an encampment protest in New York City's Zuccotti Park on September 17, 2011. It soon turned into the Occupy Movement as the protest gained publicity.
The issue was economic inequality. Protesters believed that economic inequality was the result not only of financial and political corruption, but also of many other problems such as degradation of the rule of law, the influence of money in politics, and economic reforms that resulted in student loan debt and home foreclosures. The movement's slogan was, "we are the 99%" which was a reference to the 1% of the population that controlled most of the country's wealth. The organizational structure was unusual in that it promoted a more decentralized, consensus model The movement used social media and the Internet as a way of communicating, organizing, and mobilizing its members.
voter apathy.
The lack of interest by many in the electorate to vote or participate in any other political activity is termed
The Black Lives Matter Movement began after the 2014 Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police office.
The shooting immediately sparked protests in Ferguson that lasted for several days. The militarized response by the Ferguson Police Department added to the tensions causing the Governor of Missouri to send in the Missouri Highway Patrol and National Guard. The organizers of the Black Lives Matter Movement began communicating on social media in the aftermath of the 2013 Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida. The Black Lives Matters movement is a diverse array of members but does not have a central organizational structure.
Which of the following is NOT a reason that violent protests are not advised in the United States? They are not effective. They may violate the USA Patriot Act. They turn people off. They cost money.
They cost money.
Which of the following best describes the party preferences of white evangelical Christians? They prefer Democratic candidates in some off presidential year elections, but Republicans in others. They prefer Republicans in most of the off presidential year elections, but not all. They prefer Republican candidates in all off presidential year elections. They prefer Democratic candidates in all Congressional off presidential year elections.
They prefer Republican candidates in all off presidential year elections.
socioeconomic status is a key determinant of who votes
Those with higher socioeconomic status , i.e., those with more education and money, are more likely to vote than those with lower socioeconomic status, i.e., those who are poor and less educated. As the age increases, the reported registration as well as reported voting rates increase. The more money a family has also corresponds to the higher registration as well as reported voting rates. Education also highly correlates to increased rates of voting.
Overall voter turnout is relatively low in the United States, but it tends to be only slightly higher among those who are registered to vote
Thus, getting people out to vote usually consists of party activists attempting to register unaligned voters. Those least likely to vote are poor people in poor communities, so political party activists often hold voter registration drives in poor communities and knock on doors to get people to register. In a tight race, registering new voters can be the difference between victory and defeat for a party and its candidates.
Originally, each congressional district had a population of thirty thousand
Today, federal law sets the number of congressional districts at 435, and the 2010 census shows the U.S. population at 308,745,538, which creates an average size of 710,767 people per congressional district.
But, other times protest organizers plan to use violence as a tactic as part of their protest.
Violent political actions as a tactic have consequences in the age of terror because the Patriot Act redefines domestic terrorism as any dangerous act that may be "dangerous to human life," that attempts to intimidate or coerce, influence policy in any way by intimidating or coercing, or affects the operations of a government violence. The Patriot Act also makes it a crime to knowingly aid or conceal anyone who has committed an act of domestic terrorism.
Which of the following has helped protect voting integrity? Voter disqualifications laws Requiring a literacy test Charging people to vote Voter ID laws
Voter ID laws
What is the lack of interest by many in the electorate to vote or participate in any other political activity called? Voter inaction Voter apathy Voter approval Voter reaction
Voter apathy
As the level of family income decreases, what happens to voting participation? Voting participation goes up. Voting participation changes, but in no appreciable fashion. Voting participation does not change. Voting participation goes down.
Voting participation goes down.
What effect is there on voting participation as the level of education goes up? Voting participation neither goes up or down with any change in the education level. Voting participation goes up as the education level goes down . Voting participation goes up as the education level goes up. Voting participation goes down as the education level goes up.
Voting participation goes up as the education level goes up.
Unlike some other democratic societies, where citizens may be fined if they fail to vote, the United States does not mandate participation in elections
We also have among the lowest rates of voter participation among western democracies.
Periodically, local election boards will purge their voter rolls
When an election board purges its voter rolls, it will notify a registered voter that it has obtained information of an address change . It will notify the registered voter asking to confirm the change of address. However, this practice may be used to unfairly purge voters.
One way to force parties to adapt their platforms is to expand the electorate.
When the electorate expands, political parties and public officials became more responsive to it. In a first past the post, or winner take all, electoral system, the larger the electorate becomes, the party policy becomes broader to accommodate the larger pool of voters. Even though policy changes are gradual and slow, they do occur as more people are mobilized, and parties adapt to keep from losing elections. Eventually, the parties will reach equilibrium and as they adjust their policies to accommodate the larger coalition required for the political parties to win elections.
Select the ways citizens may communicate their preferences to public officials. Rioting Writing a letter E-mailing and social media Signing a petition
Writing a letter E-mailing and social media Signing a petition
Backup commissions
act as arbiters if the legislatures cannot agree, or there are disputes from the redistricting efforts.
Representatives in Congress still have franking privileges
allowing them free mail service to their district constituents. Political parties and interest groups also use bulk mailing to contact people in the hopes of raising money and educating the public concerning their issues of interest. Bulk mailings are used to grab people's' attention.
Many, but not all, states have both direct and indirect petitions,
and are called initiatives, questions, referenda, recalls,or propositions depending on the state
Political commissions
are comprised of elected officials that are responsible for redrawing their Congressional district boundaries
Protests
are mass actions designed to "address or stop perceived injustices within a political system, without overturning the system itself." There are two types—violent and nonviolent. Protests may be individual actions or part of large-scale social movements. Some nonviolent protest methods are more dramatic and effective than others. Some protests are not planned to be violent but violence erupts when confrontations between opposing parties or the police escalate.
Public meetings
are official gatherings of public officials, such as a city council meeting. Most local government public meetings allow citizens to voice their concerns. Often there is a time limit on how long a citizen may speak; sometimes a person must receive permission beforehand. For example, to speak to a city council on a proposed sales tax, a citizen will request to be placed on the agenda to speak.
indirect initiatives
are official petitions asking a legislature to initiate an action, or change the state's constitution
Direct initiatives
are popular actions that bypass a state's legislature to create statutes or change a state's constitution. Direct initiatives are used in states where many citizens feel the legislatures are not responsive enough, or as an alternative means of direct action.
Likeness of interests
assumes people that live next to each other will have similar demographic, regional, or social similarities.
The reason political scientists use these two measures is to see how much disparity there may be
between the voting participation in the states
Which of the following is an example of ethical shopping? picketing restaurants that refuse to hire gay people refusing to buy a brand of clothing because their products are made in overseas sweatshops buying from a company that abides by "fair trade" criteria instead of buying a cheaper brand petitioning an automotive dealership to improve their safety standards
buying from a company that abides by "fair trade" criteria instead of buying a cheaper brand
In 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Apartheid Act
changed United States policy to "de clare that U.S. policy toward the victims of apartheid is to use economic, political, diplomatic, and other means to remove the apartheid system and to assist the victims of apartheid to overcome the handicaps imposed on them by apartheid."
Political participation can be divided into two broad categories
civic and political. There are three broad categories in which citizens may participate in politics aside from voting.
Advisory commissions
complete their work before the state legislatures decide on the Congressional boundaries by recommending provisional boundaries for the legislatures to consider.
electorate
consists of those who actually vote, while the eligible electorate consists of everyone who could vote, both voters and nonvoters.
Political voice includes
contacting public officials and trying to influence policy. Examples of political voice include direct contact with public officials and candidates, voicing opinion via the media, protests, petitions, and boycotts.
contiguity
contiguity describes the continuous shape of the district. When districts are contiguous, it is not necessary to leave the district boundaries to travel to another section of the district.
What was unique about the organization these two movements used? decentralized national and centralized regional, but centralized through committees centralized and bureaucratic
decentralized
Which of the following describes actions that bypass a state's legislature to create statutes or change a state's constitution? indirect initiatives petitions direct initiatives recalls
direct initiatives
Racial gerrymanders
either increase or decrease the influence of racial minorities in a district
Political participation is divided into categories
electoral participation and political voice
Factors such as registration requirements, polling place location, polling place staffing, and maintenance of voter rolls are all controlled by the states and provide considerable room to potentially
eliminate voters from participating.
The Voting Rights Act of 1964
helped to bolster fairer application of redistricting, too. However, unfair redistricting continued to be a problem for many states despite advances of from federal legislation and the Supreme Court.
Finally in those states with large prison populations,
inclusion of this population skews the number for population but decreases the number of voters that may participate.
petition
is a list that registered voters sign indicating support or opposition to a particular issue. These lists are presented to public officials or business as evidence of a level of support for a particular issue. However, some of these petitions may be used to bypass a legislature in creating statutes.
recall
is a special type of initiative that removes a public official. In 2003 California voters removed Governor Grey Davis from office.
public forum
is an official meeting that allows citizens to raise their concerns about any issue that interests them. However, many local governments combine each of these two means of addressing local government bodies. They allow citizens to be placed on the agenda while discussing a particular issue, and at the end of the meeting allow citizens to address the council in a public forum.
voting eligible population (VEP),
is the ratio between those who participated in an election divided by the total number of those who are eligible to vote.
The voting age population (VAP)
is the ratio of those who voted divided by the total population 18 years of age and older. This group includes all people living in the United States including non-citizens and disenfranchised citizens
Compactness
is the special proximity with which people live next to each other. Urban areas and suburbs are more tightly compacted than rural communities
Civil society
is the term that refers to the collection of organizations in a community that is neither part of the government nor of business. Examples of civil society are religious organizations such as churches, mosques, and temples; charity organizations such as the Salvation Army; civic organization such as Boy's Club and Girl's Club; ideological interest groups such as the American Conservative Union, and single interest groups such as the Sierra Club. These organizations are important to a democratic society because they allow for networks of association between their members. Societies with higher levels of civic participation tend to have higher levels of citizen satisfaction towards government, greater political trust, tolerance, and participation. In other words, the quality of democracy is better in those societies with higher levels of civic and political participation.
The fairest creation of districts rests on three principles
likeness of interests, contiguity, and compactness
Because participation is low in many areas,
many politicians believe that there is no point in campaigning in areas or neighborhoods with high percentages of nonvoters. Candidates must make strategic decisions about where to allocate their resources because running for office is very expensive. They are more likely to spend their time and money in neighborhoods that are known to have relatively high turnout, and less likely to pay much attention to neighborhoods where voters are known to stay home. In choosing where to invest resources, candidates usually pick states with close races. They tend not to spend too much time or money in states where they are already likely to win. Because minority groups, whether racial, ethnic or religious, tend to be concentrated in large, electorally rich states, the electoral system provides representation for these groups that they otherwise might not enjoy. If they vote as a group, they can form a voting bloc that can make or break the state for a candidate.
Gerrymandering: District boundary lines are not necessarily fixed and can be drawn any way that a state sees fit
occurs when a district is intentionally configured to maximize the influence of certain groups (for example, African American or Latino voters, who tend to vote for Democrats, or evangelical voters, who tend to vote for Republicans), or to guarantee that certain representatives keep their seats. Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry originally employed this practice prior to the election of 1812 in an effort to protect his political party. One district ended up looking like a salamander, and as a result the practice came to be known as gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the term used when politicians either aggregate or separate blocks of voters with like preferences to manipulate election outcomes.
Citizen meetings
often invite public officials to address their group. Citizen meetings are meetings held by civic groups. They may be private, or open to the public. These meetings allow another avenue for citizens to contact public officials. Public officials address the issue they are asked to speak about, but these meetings also allow citizens to raise other issues and engage their public officials.
Some states such as Colorado, Oregon, and Washington have mail-in voting, nine states have election holidays, and two-thirds of the states have early voting. But, despite the relative ease casting ballots in these states
participation does not seem to be higher than in states with polling places.
Gerrymandering distorts fair district boundaries, of which there are three types:
partisan, sweetheart, and racial
24th Amendment
prohibited denying the right to vote based on age, paying a poll tax, or any other tax.
The 19th Amendment
prohibited denying the right to vote on account of sex.
15th Amendment
prohibited denying voting rights to people based on their race or ethnicity.
Civic participation
refers to those activities that are not explicitly political such as electoral participation but are equally important for a democratic society. Civic activities relate to those issues in a political community that are of public concern, and revolve around the conditions of communal life. Active community engagement helps to deepen political and civic trust as well as political tolerance and solidarity among citizens. Those citizens who are more active civically are also tend to be more involved politically. Examples of civic activities are charities, volunteering in the community, association membership, and philanthropy.
Sweetheart gerrymanders
result from party negotiations that seek to create safe districts for incumbents of both parties within a state.
Felony convictions
result in a loss of voting rights. Most states restore voting privileges once the felon has completed the probation, the prison term, or parole. However, Kentucky and Virginia voting rights are denied even after the probation, prison or parole has ended. Other states such as Arizona and Wyoming restore rights on an individual basis. However, Vermont and Maine allow prisoners to vote while in prison.
Partisan gerrymanders
seek to create dominance for one party over another.
Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)
that, "as nearly as practicable one man's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's." These two cases set the path for fairer representation.
Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
the Court declared that states must use the "roughly equal proportional" rule when redistricting. Citing the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court forced the State of Alabama to make a "good faith effort" to draw its boundaries to reflect equal proportioning of population in their legislative districts.
Low-income people are less likely to vote
they often do not want to lose the wages associated with taking time off to go to the polls, or they may feel that voting is irrelevant. They believe that electing even candidates who promise to enact economic and social programs that benefit lower-income groups will have little bearing on their lives.
Electoral participation includes
voting, influencing others to vote, public displays of individual vote, party or candidate preference, and working for a campaign.
malapportioned
when states construct their districts to disadvantage some of their citizens by decreasing their representation. Often, state and local officials use malapportionment as a means of social and/or economic exclusion and discrimination towards disadvantaged groups. Examples of malapportioned districts are creating boundaries across geographic areas evenly, and not readjusting them to reflect the proportions of the populations that resided in their states' districts.
motor-voter process
which allows people to register to vote when they register their cars with the state department of motor vehicles or apply for or renew a driver's license.