Voter turnout

Voting: a Right or a Requirement? Although only 60% of eligible voters vote, voting should be an option rather than a mandatory task. People have their reasons for voting and not voting, and they should be the ones to decide whether they want to or not, rather than forcing someone who isn’t educated in politics to vote, which could completely change the outcome of an election. Compulsory voting would be a bad idea as it would alter the results negatively by causing people who don’t care about…

fifty to sixty percent of registered voters actually go to the polls? This is a problem that the United States has been facing for decades and because of these low turnouts, some people say that voting should be made compulsory. Compulsory, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is, “required by a law or rule”. I think that voting should not be made compulsory because voting is a right, not a duty; there are alternatives that tackle the real causes of voter disengagement; and…

the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. Each Floridian 's potential vote, then, carried about one third the weight of a potential vote in the other States listed.” The Electoral Colleges lack of accuracy creates concern amongst voters and officials. The Electoral College gives some states too much power and reduces the influence of the larger…

In fighting for a seat in the US senate in the election simulation game On the Campaign Trail, there are many similarities to a real election campaign which is to be expected. However, the more interesting issues are the dissimilarities the simulation shares with real world campaigns. The issues of polling, campaign advertisements, opponent strategy, and various campaigning techniques to name a few are some of the aspects the simulation goes into. When looking at the similarities of the…

Aucoin, P. (2012). New Political Governance in Westminster Systems: Impartial Public Administration and Management Performance at Risk. Governance, 177-199. This article analyzes the increasing political pressures in four parliamentary systems, which include Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. It looks at pressures from mass media, transparency in the government, more in depth audits, increased political competition and political restrictions in the electorate. The article then…

governments, as well. Electoral Rules and Socioeconomic changes make a rather large difference in who wins. All city and special district elections in Texas are nonpartisan, or not biased, elections. These elections have two negative consequences; voter turnout is low and people take it more personally and are less issue oriented. In Texas’ elections, there is less representation for ethnic minorities and the working class than there is for the rest of the population of Texas. With…

it, in America and the UK problems arise from racially skewed criminal justice systems. In the US almost 40% of prisoners are black, which means that black people are having their voting rights removed much more than any other group and since black voters overwhelmingly vote Democrat (at least they have in every election since 1976) that will have an impact on the political…

Electoral Dysfunction is a comedic documentary that follows Mo Rocca around the country to see how one of the most confusing voting systems in the world works. On his journey, he discovers voter fraud, photo ID laws, absentee voter controversy, and many political activists working to reform America’s voting laws. The documentary puts a comical twist on something serious and fundamental to our democracy. The documentary almost humoredly attacks the electoral college and our strange…

While some may argue that it is not an issue that voter turnout statistics are low in the United States, both mathematical and theoretical reasoning would suggest that it is better to have as many people vote in an election as possible. Daniel Steven Roberts’s of the University of Tennessee states, “In theory, democracy functions best when more people participate...Without a fully representative electorate, there is little hope that the views of all citizens will be expressed or taken seriously.…

nation into a direction which is fair for all, it might spell trouble for all. Not voting can lead to great injustice such as bribes being accepted in turn for election of corrupt officials. As many of the issues we face as a consequences of low voter turnout become vivid in local elections. In many presidential elections, numerous Americans have found themselves compromising their views and voting not for the candidate with whom they resonate best, but rather for the candidate who they dislike…