Chapter 8: Political Participation
What do proponents and critics of voter identification laws argue?
Proponents: laws are needed to prevent voter fraud (but studies have found this very rare) Critics: many citizens lack photo ID and then cannot vote; voter ID laws are not enhanced uniformly, so minorities are lacking in IDs and asked to show them more often
What is the simplest barrier to voting, but also the most profound?
Registration
26th Amendment
States cannot deny the right to vote based on age (18+)
Fifteenth Amendment
The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African Americans.
political participation
The many different ways that people take part in politics and government
parochial participants (political participation type)
Those who avoid elections and civic organizations but will contact officials regarding specific problems.
communalists (political participation type)
Those who join organizations and participate in politics but not in partisan campaigns.
Two different ways that voter turnout can be measured?
VAP and VEP
campaigners (political participation type)
Vote and get involved in helping in campaigns. Better educated than the average voter and have strong political ties to a party.
What act dramatically increased black voting turnout after challenging the restrictions placed on black voters in court?
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Even after all of the legal changes are taken into account, has citizen participation in elections still seems to have declined?
Yes! It cannot be explained by all of the changes
Australian ballot
a government-printed ballot of uniform dimensions to be cast in secret that many states adopted around 1890 to reduce voting fraud associated with party-printed ballots cast in public
Voting Rights Act of 1965
a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage
literacy test
a requirement that citizens show that they can read before registering to vote
voting-age population (VAP)
citizens who are eligible to vote after reaching the minimum age requirement
voting-eligible population (VEP)
citizens who have reached the minimum age to be eligible to vote, excluding those who are not legally permitted to cast a ballot
Voting Rights Act of 1970
gave 18 year olds the right to vote in federal elections, contained provisions lowering the voting age to eighteen in state elections.
voter identification laws
laws requiring citizens to show a government-issued photo ID in order to vote
Studies of efforts to facilitate registration have come to similar conclusions: increasing registration increases voter turnout only ____________________.
modestly
activists (political participation type)
people who tend to participate in all forms of politics -highly educated, high incomes, middle aged, 1/9 population
voting specialists (political participation type)
people who vote but do little else; tend not to have much schooling or income and to be substantially older than the average person
another factor other than voter eligibility that affects how many people can vote?
registered vs unregistered voters
white primary
the practice of keeping blacks from voting in the southern states' primaries through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation
Some reasons why Americans vote less than individuals in other countries? common reasons why registered nonvoters don't vote?
-large number of elections, unregistered -scheduling conflicts, uninterested in voting, illness/disability preventing them from running, did not like th ecandidates
How is being mobilized a key to participation? Key mobilizers in contemporary elections include...? Under what realization does mobilization become even more important?
-many active citizens are asked or mobilized by other people or organizations to participate - political parties, campaigns (GOTV) , organizations, religious organizations, service clubs, etc. -participation is habit forming
Why is it ironic that few citizens in America vote? Was the power to decide who could vote and for what offices determined by Congress or the states? What part of the Constitution required a popular election?
-mass of people first became eligible to vote in America -states -clause in article I stating members of house of reps must be chosen by the people
Did the fifteenth amendment actually give African Americans the right to vote? What three especially notorious, but then legal devices to keep blacks from voting occurred as a result?
-no, just asserted if somebody was denied the right to vote, it could not be explicitly on the grounds of race -literacy test, poll tax, white primary
Two groups of US citizens above 18 that are not eligible to vote?
-noncitizens who reside in the US -convicted felons who are disenfranchised in most states
Why should low political participation rates be unsurprising?
-political participation is a costly activity requiring resources like time, money, etc.
What were the consequences of stricter voter registration procedures, intended to reduce fraudulent voting?
-reduced voting in general, creating a new problem -reduced fraudulent voting
A large reason why people are unregistered to vote in the US compared to other democracies? What law sought to change this?
-registration is not done automatically and it is burdensome -motor voter law
Has the proportion of voting age population that has gone to the polls in presidential elections increased/decreased/stay the same since 1928? When were voting rates the highest?
-stayed the same -1860-1900, since not a single election has had turnout of greater than 70%
What affects how much GOTV drives will be able to increase political participation? Arguably, what is the most effective GOTV?
-types of message used, how campaign makes contact with voter, salience of the electron, etc. -"social pressure" message
Even though voting fraud may have inflated numbers in the 19th century, why do scholars still believe that turnout did decline somewhat after the 1890s?
-voter registration regulations became more burdensome (in effect limited the amount of people who could vote) -voters had to register in advance -educational requirements and aliens could not vote
Every presidential election since 1972 has been accompanied by beliefs that what group of voters is likely to greatly increase their turnout? Have these predictions been correct?
-voters 18-21 -no, many young people don't vote
When we look at the percentages of various demographic groups participating in recent presidential elections, several interesting patterns jump out:
1)citizens need resources necessary to participate in politics like time, money, and civic skills 2) political engagement 3) mobilization 4) care deeply about an issue 5) experiences with governmental programs (ex Social Security, etc)
There are two views on the low, but stagnant voting turnout rates in the US since 1928?
1. It is real and is the result of a decline in popular interest in elections and a weakening in the competitiveness of both parties; citizens lost interest because it was no longer relevant to their needs 2. decline is more apparent than real; voters may have been more easily manipulated in the 19th century since voting fraud was common "vote early and vote often"
Education increases political participation in two ways:
1. providing civic skills 2. increasing political interest
grandfather clause
A clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867.
poll tax
A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote
Motor Voter Law (National Voter Registration Act of 1993)
Allows people in all 50 states to register to vote when applying for driver's licenses -states provide mail based registration and to offer registration at some state offices
Political participation
Any method that citizens engage in to try to influence politics
How have congressional laws and constitutional amendments limited the power of states to have complete control over voting?
-In 1842 a law passed requiring all members of the house be elected by districts -all federal elections held on even numbered years on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in november
What would occur if a national election was held with a 100% voter turnout rate? would it look very different from our elections now?
-It has been argued that it would strongly benefit democrats, but careful studies have found that the nonvoters are representative of current voters so it would only slightly change
Have voter ID laws been challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional?
-No, Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that such laws are not necessarily unconstitutional while subsequent court challenges have struck down some laws, while leaving others intact, depending on the law
What gave 18 years olds the right to vote? When were 18 year olds allowed to vote in state elections? What was most surprising about these changes?
-The Voting Rights Act of 1970 -Twenty sixth amendment -the turnout rate was very low, lower than for the population as a whole
In one study, scholars analyzed the ways in which people participated in politics and came up with six forms of participation that are characteristic of 6 types of US citizens:
-activists -inactive -voting specialists -campaigners -communalists -parochial participants
One of the most striking political inequalities in participation occurs in respect to...? Which group of this participates more?
-age -young people tend to vote less
More generally, political scientists have shown that GOTV effort often heighten participatory inequalities by targeting those who are ____________________, rather than those who are _____________________. What does this suggest?
-already most likely to vote -those who are more marginal -while GOTV drives can help to reshape the electorate, they are not likely to expand significantly US voter turnout
What reforms have states begun to adopt and rely on to increase voter turnout?
-automatically registering all eligible citizens to vote -GOTV drives
Why were women kept from voting (were they under similar circumstances as black people)? When were they allowed to vote? Did it significantly change voting procedures and voting as we know it?
-by law more than intimidation -1920 (passing of the 19th amendment) -no, women essentially vote the same as men
When the requirements prohibiting black people from voting became discovered, what was done to remove them? Did this greatly increase black voter turnout?
-challenging each restriction in court one by one -no, only a small proportion of voting age blacks were able to register and vote in the south and they were mostly found in the larger cities
Although we vote at lower rates in the US than abroad, why is the meaning of our vote different? How does this contrast with many European nations?
-elect more public officials than citizens of other nations, voting affects more of the political systems -voters only vote once per every four years and sometimes even less
What main factors help explain disparities in resources between demographic groups? What does this explain on racial lines?
-employment and education -voting eligible Hispanics participate at lower levels than voting eligible blacks and whites (when resources are accounted for gaps become smaller)
Other than resources one has, what else determines ones' likelihood of voting? Where is this likely to come from?
-engagement with politics -school/education
What are the most important changes in elections in the US?
-extending suffrage to women, African Americans, 18yr olds, making mandatory the direct popular election of US senators
What displays how Americans participate more in politics than Europeans or anyone else, even though our voter turnout is low?What do low rates of registration also indicate on a more positive note?
-joining civic associations, supporting social movements, writing to legislators, fighting in town hall, etc -people are reasonably well satisfied about how the country is governed
inactive (political participation type)
Do not participate in government -little education, low incomes, young, African Americans, 1/5 population
Politicians respond to those who do not vote more than those who do. True or False?
False
