1. Political Participation Voting

2. Types of Participation
2000 Election participation
82% watched the campaign on television
73% voted in the election
34% tried to influence others how to vote
10% put a sticker on their car
9% gave money to help a campaign
5% attended a political meeting
3% worked for a party or candidate
Is this true? 73% of people vote? – No

3. Who REALLY participates?
Different factors can tell us who votes
Education – MOST IMPORTANT, more education=more voting
Religious involvement
Race and Ethnicity – Whites higher than minorities (might be economic based)
Age – is the lowest, and 45 and up is the highest

4. Who REALLY participates?
Gender – men traditionally voted more, now it is more equal
Two-party competition – more competitive elections have higher turnout
Cross-cutting cleavages – issues that engage different types of groups – overlapping interests amongst people who don’t fall into same category

5. Voting Trend of low voter turnout 1964 – 69.3%
(Voting Age Population %)
1980 – 41.3%
1984 – 60.9%
1988 – 40.5%
1992 – 55.2%
1996 – 49.1%
2000 – 51.3%
2004 – 56.7%
2008 – 58.2%

6. Participation in the Political Process
Voting Eligibility
Elimination of property requirements in nearly all states (1830)
Elimination of racial discrimination in 15th Amendment (1870)
Elimination of sexual discrimination in 19th Amendment (1920)
Elimination of poll taxes in 24th Amendment (1964)
Elimination of literacy tests in Voting Rights Act (1965)
Partial elimination of state registration laws in Voting Rights Act (1965)
Reduction of voting age to 18 in 26th Amendment (1971)
Potential further elimination of state registration laws in Motor Voter Act (1993)
Reduction of residency requirement to 1 or 2 months in most states

7. Expanding Suffrage
Lifting of property restrictions (1830) – “universal manhood suffrage” gave voting rights to all white males
Suffrage for African-Americans ( )
th Amendment – Voting Rights to all
Brown v. Board – separate but equal is illegal, killed Jim Crow laws
th Amendment – banned poll tax
1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal law prohibited (no literacy tests, fair elections etc.)

8. Expanding Suffrage
Women’s Suffrage (1920) – 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote
18-year-olds (1971) given right to vote – 26th Amendment, sparked by Vietnam

9. Voter Turnout Registered Voter turnout vs. Eligible Voter turnout
Voting-Age Population: All U.S. residents age 18 or older.
Voting-Eligible Population: Excludes U.S. residents that are not legally permitted to cast a ballot (e.g. convicted felons and non-citizens)
Voter Registration – blamed as one of the causes of low turnout
“Motor-Voter” (1993) – National Voter Registration Act – allowed people to register to vote while they get license

10. A Closer Look at Voter Turnout
Sources of low voter turnout
relatively low percentage of the voting-age population is actually registered to vote.
approximately one-half of all nonvoters are registered

11. Other reasons for low turnout
Difficulty of Absentee Voting
Number of Offices to Elect too high
Too many influences/voter confusion
Weekday, non-holiday voting
Weak political parties – less “get-out-the-vote campaigns
New Voter ID laws confusing – discourage people from getting required ID

12. A Closer Look at Voter Turnout
Registered nonvoters gave three major reasons why they did not vote:
Too busy or had scheduling conflicts
Family chores or obligations
Believed their vote would not make a difference

13. Reasons for Not Voting Lack of interest (Lacks Political Efficacy)
Lack of faith in political system
Lack of government responsiveness to the individual voter
Lack of any real choice between candidates
Difficulty and confusion around new voter laws

14. Reasons for Not Voting (Cont.)
Indecision on merits and/or positions of candidates
Domination of area by one party
Illness on election day
Lack of transportation (poor/elderly)
Out of district on election day
Failure to obtain an absentee ballot (young and old)

15. Voter turnout rAnalysis of Voter Turnout…
Rates reached a long time low in the elections of 1996 and 2000
In 2004 extraordinary efforts by political parties, candidate campaigns, and interest groups increased the voter turnout to about 60%.
The highest turnouts in American history happened around the turn of the 20th century, when higher voter fraud artificially elevated voter rates

16. Profile of individuals most likely to vote (Core Electorate)
Middle aged or older
Poor record for 18 to 24 year olds! (That is you!!!!)
White
Highly educated
Living outside the south
Male
Married
Employment in white collar job
Long time resident of an area
Wealthy
Disappearance of racial factor with consideration of socioeconomic status

17. http://elections.gmu.edu, accessed May 8, 2009.
Source: Updated from Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, “The Myth of the Vanishing Voter,” American Political Science Review 95 (December 2001):
table 1, 966. Reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press; Michael P. McDonald, “2008 General Election Turnout Rates,” updated April 26, 2009, at
accessed May 8, 2009.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

18. Source: Rafael Lopez Pintor, Maria Gratschew, and Kate Sullivan, “Voter Turnout Rates from a Comparative Perspective,” in Voter Turnout Since 1945: A Global Report (Stockholm, Sweden: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2002).
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

19. Source: Adapted from U. S
Source: Adapted from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, June 2008, Table 400.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

20. Figure 8.1 Voting and Registration
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey,
“Voting and Registration,” June 2008.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

21. The Rise of the American Electorate
From State to Federal Control
Literacy test
Poll tax
Grandfather clause
White primary
Department of Social History/Smithsonian Institution
After Reconstruction ended in 1876, black voting shrank under the attacks of white supremacists, p. 188.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

22. Copyright © 2013 Cengage

23. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, blacks and whites voted together in a small Alabama town.
Flip Schulke/CORBIS
The campaign to win the vote for
women nationwide succeeded with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
Library of Congress
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

24. The Rise of the American Electorate
Voter Turnout: Is the decline real?
Yes: There is a decline of popular interest in elections and a weakening of the competitiveness of the two major parties.
No: In the 1800’s and early 1900’s voting fraud was commonplace and there were few serious efforts to deter this behavior. Voting percentages were inflated.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

25. Figure 8.2 Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1860–2008
Replace with jpeg, p. 181
Note: Several southern states did not participate in the 1864 and 1868 elections.
Sources: For 1860–1928: Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, 1071; 1932–1944: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1992, 517; 1948–2000: Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, “The Myth of the Vanishing Voter,” American Political Science Review 95 (December 2001): table 1, 966; 2004 and 2008 elections, American National Election Studies (ANES).
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

26. Young women volunteers work rebuilding an area in Katrina-damaged
In 2010 supporters of President Obama urged people to vote, but turnout fell and the Democrats suffered major losses.
MIKE THEILER/EPA/Landov
Young women volunteers work
rebuilding an area in Katrina-damaged
New Orleans, p. 192.
Kayte Deioma/PhotoEdit
Copyright © 2013 Cengage

27. Figure 8.3 Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections
Source: Adapted from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, June and November 2008.
Copyright © 2013 Cengage