Voter turnout

internet and that fact alone may change the current outcome of internet usage for political participation. Traditional resources seem to have less influence than technological advances. Some traditional resources actually have a negative impact on turnout such as family income. Free time does not have a positive…

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…

society. Despite this, there are a significant amount of people who do not do so. Once a place of incredibly high voter turnout, New Zealand in recent years has taken a remarkable shift in the other direction. Only by understanding which groups of people do not vote and why they choose to do so, can we take the best initiative in changing the path we are going down. The reduction in voter turnout has not occurred across the board. Particular groups of people are significantly less likely to…

of view, Hans von Spakovsky and Shelia Jackson Lee. Spakovsky believes it protects the integrity of elections, while Lee believes it suppresses voter turnout. Hans von Spakovsky immediately defines his argument on photo identification by bullet pointing his reasons for supporting photo IDs, for example, he says it prevents “voting under fictitious voter registrations” and “double voting by individuals registered in more than one state or locality.” (Rourke, pg. 96) He also continues by…

The data on the total number of votes for each election year revealed that states with strict voter ID laws; actually had a smaller decrease in their percentage of total votes, than compared to the states without voter ID laws. For instance, Georgia, Tennessee and Kansas (states with strict voter ID laws), there was a combined decrease in votes by 12.2%; whereas in Illinois, California and New York there was a combined decrease by 16.2%. Similarly, the nation popular vote totals for all six…

truthfulness of this statement. The article, The Republicans Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Turnout, and Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections, opts to put an end to the confusion surrounding the accuracy of inclement weather negatively affecting voter turnout. Together, Brad T. Gomez, Thomas G. Hansford, and George A. Krause, work to find the long sought after answer to if weather has a real effect on voter turnout and how or if the reaches of that effect extend to the political parties. The…

The Michigan model of voter choice most prominently featured in the book The American Voter emphasises the role that social identity plays on our decisions made at the ballot box which we gain from our environment around us such as our parents’ political views. In this essay, I, will show why the Michigan model of voting offers an inadequate explanation for the way people vote and why I believe that the rational choice theory of voting specifically the altruistic theory of voting with a focus on…

Thinking About Political Reform by John R. Johannes is about making the American government operate smoother for the people and politics. Political reformers are faced with these challenging issues. They must think about what reforms are great for politics and if they will work out for the people. In the book Thinking About Political Reform Johannes discuss what reform is and list numerous reforms that can benefit American government. This essay is intended to break down each chapter of Thinking…

trying to understand the effect of voter turnout with new ideas being presented for the cause. Countries’ electoral systems offer a wide range of reasons behind the causes of voter turnout. Anthony Downs’ theories are leading principles in voter turnout field by using rational choice thinking of voters. Downs tries to explain people’s thinking when coming to elections. Downs ' (1957) ‘calculus-of-voting’ model, voters are instrumentally rational. The model is about voters will vote in order to…

Canada to represent the impact these organizations confrontations have had on Indigenous communities. It is no surprise that voter turnout among Aboriginal Canadians is lower than among non-Aboriginal Canadians. Upon researching surveys conducted with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal electors following the last four Canadian federal elections there are reasons for the gap in turnout. Aboriginals who live on First Nations reserves tend to vote less than those who reside off reserves. There are many…