Introduction
Franklin D. Roosevelt once stated, “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” At the heart of any successful democracy is the idea of citizen participation – that the people dictate the path their government takes. In countries like the United States of America, citizens demonstrate their opinions by voting for representatives who will adequately champion the ideas they were voted for.
In theory, this is an excellent idea for a governmental system. As long as an adequate portion of the population participates in voting for their representative,
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An examination of the voter turnout percentages of the U.S. presidential election demonstrates how the voter percentage was once around 80%, but has dropped to around 60% within the last century. (Appendix A). An examination of voter turnout by age demonstrates how the younger an individual is, the less likely they are to vote (Appendix B). According to the Center for Voting and Democracy, the voter turnout rate are affected by four main factors: demographics, voting laws, election types, and electoral representatives.
Demographics is the most important. In terms of age, young people are much less likely to vote than older ones. From 1972 to 2012, citizens of 18-29 years of age turned out with a rate of 15-20% less of turnout that citizens 30 years and older. In terms of ethnicity, in 2012, only 48% and 47% of eligible Latino and Asian American voters respectively voted, compared to 64% and 66% of eligible white and black voters respectively. Regarding socioeconomic status, research has shown that wealthy Americans vote at much higher rate than lower socioeconomic status citizens. People making less than $15,000 a year had a voter turnout of 41%, whereas those making more than $15,000 a year had a voter turnout of 78% in 2008 presidential
For every year that passes, it seems as though more and more people are beginning to lose their faith in the US government. Many have grown tired of being ignored by their representatives, while others are disgusted by the greed and corruption that appears to control every movement congress makes. In the blog, "The Disease of American Democracy," published in the Huffington Post, the author, Robert Reich, explores this very idea; however, instead of merely agreeing with the majority of the American public, Reich uses his blog to motivate Americans to once again become politically active, so as to restore the democracy that there once was in the US. Just like any other author, Reich certainly took his audience into much consideration. Reich
Hey jackson! I completely agree what you said in your discussion. The low voter turnout should not be worried about and that it is a good thing in general. The people should not vote if they are not interested or are not educated on the election. As you said, If you introduce and educate the people on politics this should help the low voter turnout in time.
There are a number of differences in the demographics between the ones that are and are not politically involved. Older people tend to vote more than the younger people by their concern toward the government, as well as the number of white Americans voting more than the other minority races would. The educated will vote more than the uneducated by having more knowledge of the election, along with families with higher income of over $65,000 having time to vote than the low income ones of $35,000 or under. The ones who shows party identification would want to get involved in politics, whereas independent individual would not care as much. People who grew up with specific ideology would want to have a say in politics, in contrast to those who did not.
Voting is an important activity which is helpful in expressing the insights, ideologies and motivations of a mass for political parties. Voter eligibility in both national and state election has boundaries and limitations. In some states, only adult white male property owners having certain religious believes had the privilege to vote. As a result, only five percent were eligible to vote in 1790. There were other obstructions such as white only primaries, literacy tests, race, gender and age.
Since the founding of America in 1776 countless people have either become disenfranchised by the federal government or backed the government. From laws being passed to decisions being made there will always be a division amongst the American people. Whether arguing over gun laws or citizenship rights, the debate is always there and met with some form of counter argument from either side. What makes America so great is the fact that you have the right to have a voice and speak out for your opinions. One of the greatest ways for a citizen to be heard is voting.
There is not just one reason as to why voter turnout is so low, it is actually the collection of a few reasons. For example, some people stated that they were simply out of town, which in the U.S. you are only allowed to vote in your state of residence. Other elderly voters claimed to be sick or had a disability that prevented them from going to the polls to cast their ballot. Another reason could be that people had registration issues of some sort that didn’t allow them to vote. Then there are voters that are discourage that their vote is useless when it comes to voting on any matter.
In the United States, low voter turnout rates depend on numerous aspects, such as: the type of election, the requiring of registration, level of education that has been accomplished by the voter, and the voters’ socioeconomic status. The type of election in America is different compare to other democracies around the world. Most democracies have more than one day to vote, but in the United States is on the first Tuesday of November. During election season many citizens do not vote due to the registration process. The responsibility is on the citizens to get registered to vote.
Voting is one of the many civic duties, as an American citizen, that is the most exercised. In the recent years, the voter turnout has increased from the previous years, but the turnout is still less than desired. In the 2008 presidential election alone, 61.7% of the eligible United States population voted and 53.7% of the eligible Texan population voted. This is much better than previous years, but still does not show a collective effort on the part of all eligible populations to vote. Americans have been known to have low voter turnouts.
However after various discussions, my opinion is changed. I now believe that it would not be beneficial to make voting mandatory,
This unfamiliarity and thought of the process being confusing deters the younger people from registering to vote in the first place. By removing this process, voters can just show up to cast their votes and move on with their day without worrying about this potentially confusing process. These three methods combined could increase the voter turnout for each
Many statistics change over the years, however, one that has been steadily decreasing is the voter turnout. Which is odd considering the overall population has increased roughly 3.3 million every year. Many theories have been proposed to attempt and increase these numbers and encourage more people to vote, but none have really been put into action. There must be a better way. First lets cover possible reasons why the turnout has decreased.
In 1787 there was a constitutional convention which composed a new structure for our American government. (Study.com 2003) During the convention the delegates weren’t able to decide whether the people or congress should elect the president, thus creating the Electoral College. (Study.com 2003) The Electoral College is an arrangement between the majority vote of Congress and qualified citizens for the election of the president.
However, the argument on the other side is stronger. Compulsory voting can be used to show the least you can do for your country, and that compulsory voting could fix many of the problems in your state, city, or even country, and compulsory voting proves that the rate of voted go
It is clear that American voters tend to avoid local elections and off-year elections. Run-off elections are also likely to register lower voter turnout as compared to first-round elections. The larger the gap between first round elections and run-off elections, the higher the decline in voter turnout. Moreover, there are lower percentages of young people voting as compared to the older population. This is an important point to note since it highlights that young people do not have information guiding them on the importance of voting.
In the United States, people always talk about freedom and equality. Especially they want elections could be more democratic. In American Democracy in Peril, Hudson’s main argument regarding chapter five “Election Without the People’s Voice,” is if elections want to be democratic, they must meet three essential criteria, which are to provide equal representation of all citizens, to be mechanisms for deliberation about public policy issues, and to control what government does. Unfortunately, those points that Hudson mentions are what American elections do not have. American elections do not provide equal representation to everyone in the country.