Question: Why is the voter turnout rate lower for citizens in the United States who fall within the lower income brackets as compared to citizens who report higher annual incomes?
This question is important to research and investigate as the United States is a democratic society that firmly believes all votes are necessary to ensure all of our citizens are adequately represented by the country’s elected officials. If our country can better understand why people of lower economic backgrounds are less likely to vote than people of the middle and upper income levels, the country can better address the issue of inequality, as it relates to voter turnout, and help close this gap.
Hypothesis #1: If an individual has not graduated from high school …show more content…
This finding would mean that the poor simply chose to not go out and vote even though they were registered and eligible to be part of the election process.
Hypothesis #3: If the state and federal government requires all employers to provide employees with paid time off to vote on Election Day or if the presidential election day was declared a national holiday, then voter turnout rates would increase within the lower income population.
The poor are not able to take unpaid leaves from work to go vote like the majority of the wealthier population can, causing voter turnout for the low income population to be much lower. “The practice of either declaring a national holiday or holding elections on weekends has already spread to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and New Zealand—all of which surpass America when it comes to voter turnout”(http://www.dailydot.com/via/election-day-holiday-too-poor-to-vote/). While this hypothesis could be proved by simply looking at the voter turnout in the other countries that have already implemented paid time off to vote, or have declared voting day as a national holiday, results could be readily available within the United States shortly after election days. Notably, these countries are extremely similar to the United States and
This question is important to research and investigate as the United States is a democratic society that firmly believes all votes are necessary to ensure all of our citizens are adequately represented by the country’s elected officials. If our country can better understand why people of lower economic backgrounds are less likely to vote than people of the middle and upper income levels, the country can better address the issue of inequality, as it relates to voter turnout, and help close this gap.
Hypothesis #1: If an individual has not graduated from high school …show more content…
This finding would mean that the poor simply chose to not go out and vote even though they were registered and eligible to be part of the election process.
Hypothesis #3: If the state and federal government requires all employers to provide employees with paid time off to vote on Election Day or if the presidential election day was declared a national holiday, then voter turnout rates would increase within the lower income population.
The poor are not able to take unpaid leaves from work to go vote like the majority of the wealthier population can, causing voter turnout for the low income population to be much lower. “The practice of either declaring a national holiday or holding elections on weekends has already spread to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and New Zealand—all of which surpass America when it comes to voter turnout”(http://www.dailydot.com/via/election-day-holiday-too-poor-to-vote/). While this hypothesis could be proved by simply looking at the voter turnout in the other countries that have already implemented paid time off to vote, or have declared voting day as a national holiday, results could be readily available within the United States shortly after election days. Notably, these countries are extremely similar to the United States and