Voting system

In the essay “Undecided” by David Sedaris, the author speaks about our voting system through ridicule of “undecided” voters. First, we have to take in consideration that David Sedaris wrote the essay in the wake of 2008 presidential election, when two candidates had completely different views on the main issues, such as: economy, taxes, the war in Iraq, and immigration. The narrator makes it evident with his comparison of airplane food choices, as he says “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she…

to have a voice. But what about when the cost of voting is too high? Especially when people don’t see their vote as mattering? When voter turnout is extremely low, is the government still of the people, by the people, for the people? For many people information about candidates and free time are too hard to come by and voting has to take a back seat. When voter turnout during a pivotal presidential election cycle, 2012, is just over half of the voting age population (53.6%) and is only 30-40% on…

The American nation is a declared cabinet of hope and freedom in which the people are liable for regulating what the country will take part in. Voting is a primary action for citizens to get their opinion and beliefs acknowledge by the government. When citizens appoint the decision to disengage in voting they are purloining their own freedom of speech, that individuals across the nation desire to receive. The foundation of America is a democracy, in which people should have the willing thought…

dramatically. I too mentioned that today people do not understand the importance of voting. I never really thought about the fact that people do not vote simply because they do not trust the government. I have never understood why we are seen as the model of democracy when our voting turnouts have been tremendously low in the past decades. As you mentioned countries like Belgium and Turkey have compulsory-voting laws within their countries. So, this means that they require all registered voter…

The process in voting for the president of the United States is by no means straightforward. In the 2000 presidential election the candidates were Al Gore and George Bush, Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote but however lost due to Bush receiving a majority of the electoral votes. Al Gore lost because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is voting system extremely outdated, and should be replaced by the Popular Vote system. The Popular Vote system is a system that allows…

Political parties in the United States of America has become prominent in today’s political world. They are a way to identify one’s true values and beliefs. According to The American Political System, a political party can be defined as a group of candidates and elected officials organized under a common label for the purpose of attaining positions of public authority (Kollman, 411). Many people can recall George Washington warning the U.S. of the dangers of starting political parties in…

The Precedent of Mandatory Voting “Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” In his autobiography, Abraham Lincoln said this when discussing the voter turnout among the general population (Cite1). The idea of mandatory voting is not a new one, dating back to the city of Athens in ancient Greece (Cite). Since then, the idea of forcing a nation’s citizens to vote…

Third-Party Voting Is Not An Option More than any election before, voters want a viable third-party candidate. We have third-party candidates, of course, but none of them are going to win. The system of government we have set up completely blocks any third-party candidate from even having a chance of winning. Even candidates that aren’t a third party candidate and win the majority vote, Al Gore, for example, aren’t guaranteed to win. In 2000, Al Gore won the majority vote for most states, but…

Epistocracy is a system of government in which voting is knowledge-based. The way democracy in America works is that a campaigning politician will reach for a center audience in order to appeal to the common people while really having plans for the left or right. More often than not, the common people are not as educated on the important topics at hand. Many voters are ignorant, uneducated, or misinformed. Epistocracy is a form of democracy but instead there is a test that determines if…

Have you ever wondered exactly how the voting process works and what happens once you make that little check mark next to the candidate of your choice? Well thankfully these and many more questions were answered by Ms. Kirk Showalter at the October meeting of the Richmond First Club. An organization that since 1919 has been dedicated to educating the public on a variety of civic issues, policies and hopefully coming up with solutions to these problems. Focusing mainly on issues central to the…