Damon Cann: Electronic vs. Paper Voter Guides and Citizen Knowledge Cann began his presentation by describing how political knowledge is decreasing. Specifically, only 50-percent of college students can identify the term lengths of U.S. Representatives and Senators. Cann explained that while someone can say that it is impossible to know every subject, such as chemistry, politics may be more impactful on a daily basis than chemistry. Citizen knowledge matters because it is essential in the political process. Cann theorized that a possible solution to counter a lack of political knowledge is a neutral voter guide that is typically state sponsored.
Cincinnati voting controversy The first and largest voting scam that baseball had every seen happened in 1957, only a decade after fan voting had been put in place. It was set to be the 24th All-Star Game that Major League Baseball between the American League and National League all stars. Fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot boxes with members of their team, to the point that seven members of the team got the most votes. It showed how weak the selection system was at that time, and would lead to changes being made that would better elect players into playing on the all star team. How it Started
The general perception of voters is that they are ill-informed and ill-equipped to vote on complex measures. Nonetheless, Ethan Rarick argues that voters generally act rationally and that they “rely on cues such as endorsements from people or organizations they trust to make their decisions.” (143). By providing more information and resources to voters, more constituents will be able to vote wisely and
Concept: The Importance of Voting Article: “Patriot Connectors to Discuss Importance of Voting” My article began by introducing a group named the Patriot Connectors, and the entirety of the article expressed the group 's views on why people should vote and exactly how important voting is to American society. The group states that not voting or not even being registered to vote in essence, undermines America 's representative democracy. They attribute the lack of voters being related to the fact that many feel that their votes do not matter in a government system they see as unfair or rigged. The article relays the fact that voting is something citizens learn to do.
In chapter four of The Sagebrush State one of the main points of the reading is “the Five Periods of Voting Patters”. The Five Periods of Voting Patterns are divided by the years in which one political party won most of the elections on the state of Nevada. The first period was dominated by the Republican Party and was from 1864-1890. The second period was dominated by Silver Party and was from 1892-1906, the third period was dominated by both the Democratic and Republican Party and this period was from 1908-1930. The fourth period was mainly dominated by the Democratic Party and it started from 1932 to the mid-1980s, the fifth period was dominated by the Republican Party and it started in the 1980’s and lasted until the 1990’s.
Political parties greatly influence and affect how Americans vote. Political parties are essentially the main source of support for elected officials. The parties are who choose the leaders that they want to represent them and support these leaders in the elections. This alone is a big affect parties have had on how Americans vote. Delegates are no longer sent to the electoral college because they represent the people, but because they represent the parties.
Prior to this class, I was unaware of the knowledge on websites, media, and further informational outlets to aid me in researching political events, interest groups and legislation, and thus providing me a more well rounded viewpoint. Now with my knowledge of the government system, informational outlets, and many other things, I can exercise my rights to change the community and country; I believe the familiarity with our systems obtained in this class, it will be easy to find and participate in political events around me and make a
From September 1st to September 17th, I asked 17 random students from the University of Texas at San Antonio if we should abolish the Electoral College. Out of my findings, I discovered that the majority of students were for the abolishment of the Electoral College. The results were relatively close with 58.82% of the respondents for abolishing the Electoral College and 41.18% for preserving it. However, there was a margin of error of 23.76%, and a 95% confidence interval of 35.06% to 82.58%.
The period between 1824 and 1848, known as the Era of Mass Politics, marked a time of significant changes in the American Republic. The emergence of political parties, a new national culture, and economic growth through innovations in technology and agriculture characterized this era. While the Era of Mass Politics had both positive and negative impacts on the American Republic through its political changes, its social and economic developments had a notably beneficial impact on the nation. Following the War of 1812, the Federalist Party had withered from the political stage, leading to a period of political unity under the Democratic-Republicans. This eventually came to an end, and the contested election of 1824 took place.
Today’s political arena is so tremendous that few voters can fully understand it. Policies of jobs, foreign relations and gay marriage are great factors that forge party lines and get out the vote. However, when forced to choose, voters must make sense of their vote by using very limited information and tangles of misperceptions guided by politically biased newscasts . With so many factors beyond comprehension often voters are hindered due to a limited number of sources to receive unbiased information from (Lenz, 2012) .
The presidential election is around the corner and the people of this nation have a very important job to stay updated and willing to compromise. Watching campaigns and keeping up with the race is only a small task. Soon an individual will be asked to form a stern decision and cast a very vital vote. This will give a candidate the key to our future. Of those running in the election, the democratic candidates share similar beliefs and concerns with a portion United States citizens, no matter their economic status.
Like Richard Nixon, I also feel like America’s new voters will always the key to our country’s brighter future. The younger generation of voters are not only more enthusiastic, but also have more of an understanding of what our continuously-evolving world needs. Based on their experiences, they know what type of government policies work and didn’t, and would also know the best types to solutions to fix this problem. I think that voting is extremely important factor to maintain a functional democracy and is a great way to figure out what our people need. I feel like our government should increase the voting turnout by not only making the voting registration process easier, but also by publicizing and educating the American people about local
Voter turnout in the 2014 midterm election hit American democracy hard. The country’s average turnout was 36.3%—the lowest it’s been in 72 years. Worse yet, no state exceeded 60%, and in the great state of Utah, only 28.8% voted.
Speaker: I have found topics regarding the American voter incredibly interesting in my current research. I have also spent a significant time studying the work of my academic peers. There have been plenty of debates about the ability of the American voter to think rationally. I am not sure what people mean, exactly, by rational. However, if I were giving out grades on the basis of the ability of an American voter to formulate reasonably well-thought opinions grounded in substantive knowledge, I’d be handing out a lot of failing grades.
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.
