Democracy relies on representative democracy in the ability of the populace to participate in and take part in general elections for the representative leaders of the country. However there are rules in systems in place in a true representative democracy more complicated than it was in the past. Voters today are also faced with a large and increasing number of hot topic issues that require more knowledge than the average voter is likely to know which in turn makes meaningful presence in the election difficult to fully achieve. Campaigns help to ease this massive influx and information and allow the voter the opportunity to know what they’re going to vote for as the political party a politician belongs to indicates their stances on all the…
Ari Berman is a writer for The Nation magazine as well as a journalism fellow at The Nation Institute. According to Ari Berman’s official website, he has a degree in journalism and political science from Northwestern University. Ari Berman’s concentration is American politics as well as foreign policy. His first book is titled Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, published in 2010.…
When it came to drafting the Constitution, the Framers had different options and ideas of the ways to select a president and the Electoral College seemed to fit their society well. After all, politics in 1787 was different than what it has come to be in this time. During that time, there were only 13 colonies, which are states, all of which were located on the Atlantic border. This made “national campaigns... impractical...”, because transportation and communication wasn’t well built between colonies (Kimberling 1). The founders also believed that “State loyalties could trump the best interests of a national government” which would make it difficult to elect a candidate with a national influence and that it would be difficult to elect a candidate…
An additional source that I used for my research was a YouTube video called “The Trouble with the Electoral College” by a channel called “CGP Grey” and was published on November 7th 2011. This source gave me insight into the background of the electoral system in addition to the disadvantages of the electoral college. The video was extremely beneficial as it provided me with insightful information regarding the issue, while also being easily accessed and simple to understand. However, as indicated by the title of the video, it had a majorly biased attitude towards the issue. The video only discussed the negatives of the system and did not reference any positives --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------…
The Voice Of America in Chains Voting is a large part of what America is today. “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”. The voice of the people is what makes the big decisions in America and mostly through choosing who will represent us in our government in elections. This makes the vote valuable, because it has the power to make decisions and change outcomes. Although many will argue that Mandatory voting will provide a better representation of the Consensus, it will actually demote civic virtues and limit individual freedoms.…
Voters are fairly consistent with their views on a number of difficult and complex topics, including government spending and services, and their view on how the American health care system should be operated. Voters are far more liberal with less Education on both government spending and health care, they are more moderate once after they have graduated college. Voters are likely to present a political opportunity to those that represent them in Washington if they too are likely to display consistent behavior in line with the political ideology of the district and of the state. Voters that have less than a high school education about 8% of survey participants are more likely to favor more liberal policies on government services and government spending. 53.9% of voters with less than a high school education favor government spending increasing, 9% of those same voters with less than a high school education will favor the conservative position of cutting spending and services, 37% will favor the “moderate” position on the issue.…
The Electoral College is a flawed system which should be disbanded as soon as it is practical. It causes people’s votes, in many cases, to be rendered irrelevant in a presidential election. In order to keep people’s equality and importance as voters, it is vital that this flawed part of our electoral system is removed. Many people will argue that this isn’t possible in today’s government. This, however, is untrue, as the reasons for its disbandment are beneficial to all americans.…
As of today, almost 6 million citizens are incarcerated and stripped of their given right to vote, these men and women have their voices, thoughts, and opinions silenced due to their past mistakes. “This is a fundamental question on democracy”, said the Sentencing Project’s executive director Marc Mauer. “These polices go back to the founding of this country.” (McLaughin 1). Although some might say that they have broken the law, therefore they should not be allowed to walk amongst decent people let alone be given the right to vote.…
Participation in Politics: Is Compulsory Voting the Answer to Low Voter Turnout? Every few years, the concept of compulsory or mandatory voting appears on United States politicians’ radar as a solution to increasing voter turnout. Following the 2014 midterm elections, when only 33.9 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, President Obama threatened to make voting compulsory via an executive order (DelReal). This announcement by the president brought the idea to the forefront of American politics once again, and constitutional scholars quickly responded, claiming compulsory voting laws violate the rights of United States citizens (von Spakovsky).…
The United States of America are among the lowest amount of voter participation. Some people think the answer is compulsory voting, but is that the right idea? No, Americans should not be required to vote because it goes against our rights and is time consuming, it decreases voter satisfaction, and it increases the amount of uninformed voters. Compulsory voting may be the answer to other countries problems, but not the US. Americans should not be required to vote because it goes against our rights and it is time consuming.…
The Electoral College; the Backbone of Voting Now a days, we live in a world where not many people know a lot about politics. For example, very few people actually know what the Electoral College system is and what processes work in conjunction with it. To help a few people out, the Electoral College is a system in which nominated electors initially represent a certain state to cast votes for the determination of the President and Vice-President during Presidential election years for the United States of America. The Electoral College electors, which is composed of five hundred and thirty-eight members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, are usually nominated by political parties during state conventions.…
Although the article “8 marginalized groups still fighting for the freedom to vote in the U.S.” by Katie Dupere and the expert Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Peña, have different storylines, they both address the theme of feeling like you don't belong. The central theme is crucial because everyone can relate to being stereotyped, it makes people feel left out and as if they don't belong. In the article “8 marginalized groups still fighting for the freedom to vote in the U.S.” demonstrates the theme when the author writes “42 states and the District of Columbia — have laws that could prevent those deemed "mentally incompetent" by a court from voting”. This shows the theme of feeling like you don't belong, since, these people already feel different…
The Electoral College When the founding fathers wrote the constitution, there was conflict on who would determine the president of the United States. While, some believed the President should be elected by Congress, others believed that it should be popular vote by citizens. Hence, the Electoral College was established as a compromise. Conversely, the concept of the Electoral College wasn’t introduced in the Constitution until the 12th Amendment. According to BOOK TITLE the Electoral College is, "DEFINITION HERE" (Dye & Gaddie, 2014).…
The voting rights have changed through history. All colors of all race have the right to vote and even all genders have the right to vote. But you still have to be atleast the age of 18 or older to have the right to vote. Women could vote in New Jersey and in some local areas, in all the other northern states. Non-white Americans could also vote in these areas as well, provided they could meet the property requirement.…
Voting history is about voting in the United States. Now people use computerized voting machines, including optical scanners and direct-recording electronic devices, but that wasn’t always the case. Early on, people just gathered around to cast their votes by voice. They started using ballots to keep their votes a secret.…