1. About half of the people vote in American presidential elections, and even less in off year elections. Many believe it is due to voter apathy, and demand the government and other groups to get out the vote.

2.  1. It is a misleading description of the problem  2. It is an incorrect explanation of the problem  3. It proposes a solution that will not work.

3.  1. How best to describe the problem  Data on voter turnout in America is misleading because they compute participation rates by two different measures.  In America only 2/3 of the voting age population is registered to vote  Voting age population VS registered voters.  2. A better explanation for the problem  It is not apathy on election day it is that those that are registered vote.  The real source of the problem is that a relatively low percentage of the population is not registered to vote.

4.  3. How to cure the problem  A get out the vote drive will not make a difference instead a plan that would get more people to register could work.  2008 political scientists Donald Green and Alan Gerber examined the findings from over 100 studies of GOTV tactics  Door to door and phone calls were the only tactics that showed significant results but most voters stilled did not vote.  Another 2008 study fount that social pressure through mailings increased voter turn out but still 62% of those pressured still did not vote.  If voter turnout is to improve we must  1. more registered voters to vote. 30% do not vote  2. nonregistered voters must become registered  When asked why they do not vote registered voters answered  Too busy/scheduling conflicts  Family chores/obligations  Their vote would not make a difference.

5.  The answer to problem one could be  Make election day a national holiday  Hold national elections on weekends  Mail-in ballots/absentee ballots all states do this and since 2004 26 states allow voters to use absentee and they do not need to show that they live out side the state. (no fault absentee)  2008 research showed that this flexibility and convenience has done little to increase voter turnout.  The answer to the second problem  In our nation the burden of registering to vote falls on the individual.  Must learn how when, and where to register  Must take the time and trouble to go somewhere and fill out the registration form  They have to do it all over if they move  In other nations the government registers the people that is why less people are registered here than abroad.

6.  In 1993 Congress passed the motor voter law to make it easier to register.  It requires states to allow people to register when applying for a driver’s licenses and provide registration through the mail and at some state offices that serve the disabled or provide public assistance.  The law took effect in 1995 and within two months 630,000 new voters registered in 27 states, but the results of the law have been mixed.  There is little evidence that the motor voter law has had much of an impact on either voter turnout or election outcomes.  In 2001 study showed that millions had registered but they were less likely to vote.  Is it that low voter turnout is a symptom of political disease or a sign of political good health?  The important question about participation is not how much participation there is but how different kinds of participation affect the kind of government we get.

7.  When the Constitution was ratified the right to vote was limited to property owners or tax payers, but by the time of Andrew Jackson the right to vote had been extended to virtually all white males .property restrictions (New Jersey 1944 North Carolina 1956)  African Americans even if they were free  Women not until 1920 19 th Amendment  Chinese Americans denied the right to vote  Aliens were allowed to vote if working toward citizenship.

8.  Initially, who got to vote and for what office was left to the states to decide.  Constitution only gave Congress;  The right to pick the day on which presidential electors would gather  Alter state regulations regarding congressional elections.  The only Constitutional provision requiring a popular election is found in Article I saying that members of the House of Representatives are to be chosen by the people of the states.

9.  Because of this freedom given to the states early federal elections varied greatly.  Some states picked their House members at large while others used districts  Some states had more than one representative per district  Some held elections on odd numbered years  Some states required that a candidate had to win a majority instead of a plurality to win election.  Presidential electors were picked at first by the state legislatures and not the voters directly.  Congress by both law and Amendments, has steadily reduced the states freedoms on elections.

10.  In 1842, a federal law required that all members of the House be elected by districts  All federal elections have to be held in even- numbers years on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November.  The most important changes have been those that extended the right of suffrage  1. 15 th Amendment 1870  The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied by the United States or by any state on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.  This did not mean that African Americans could vote why?

11.  The Supreme Court in the 1870s interpreted the 15 th Amendment as not necessarily giving the right to vote to anyone but that the amendment merely stated that if someone was denied the right to vote it could not be explicitly on the grounds of race.  Burden of proof that race was the reason for the denial fall on the African American turned way at the polls.  This interpretation paved the way for states to keep African Americans from voting.  Literacy test  Poll tax  Grandfather clause (before 1867)

12.  White primary  Keep African Americans from voting in in primary elections in the south through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation.  A long and slow legal process started to challenge in court each of these restrictions and one by one the Supreme Court ended them all  1915 grandfather clauses declared unconstitutional  1944 white primary were ended in the case Smith v Allwright  Since political parties select candidates for public office, they may not exclude blacks from voting in their primary elections.

13.  The result of these rules was only a small proportion of voting age blacks were able to register and vote in the south Why?  Real change came with the Voting Rights Act 1965  Suspended literacy test  Authorized the appointment of federal examiners who could order the registration of blacks in states and counties where fewer than 50% of the voting age population were registered or had voted in the last presidential election.  Provided criminal penalties for interfering with the right to vote.

14.  2. Women  They were kept form voting not through intimidation but by law.  By 1915 many western states had started to give women the right to vote.  19 th Amendment ratified in 1920 that gave women the right to vote this almost doubled the size of the voting eligible population.  No dramatic changes, women voted more or less in the same manner as men, though not quite as often.  Winners and substance of public policy did not change.

15.  3. lower the voting age to 18  He voting rights Act of 1970 gave 18 year olds the right in federal elections, it included a provision lowering the voting age to 18 in state elections but the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Why?  26 th Amendment was ratified in 1971 and the 1972 election was the first time those 18-21 could vote.

16.  National standards now govern almost every aspect of voter eligibility  All people 18 and older  No literacy test or poll taxes  State can not have residency requirements longer than 30 days  An area with a large no English speaking population must have ballots written in their language.  Federal voter registrars and poll watches may be sent into areas where less than 50% of the voting age population participates in a presidential election  23 rd Amendment DC residents can vote for President 1991.

17.  Debate about declining percentages of eligible adults who vote (two theories)  1. real decline caused by lessening popular interest and decreasing party mobilization.  2. Apparent decline, caused in part by the more honest ballot counts of today.  Parties once printed the ballots  Ballots were cast in public  Parties controlled counting  Rules regarding voter eligibility were easily circumvented.

18.  Most scholars see some real decline why?  1. registration is more difficult  Longer residency requirements  Educational qualifications ;discrimination  Registration has to occur far in advance of the election.  Australian Ballot government printed replaced party printed ballots, cast in secret.  2. Is voter turnout really down (NO)  Voting age population  Voting eligible population

19.  Voting is the most common form while giving money to a candidate and being a member of a political organization are the least common.  Americans almost always exaggerate how often they vote or how active they are in politics.  Studies show that 8 to 10 percent of Americans misreport their voting habits  Young, low income, less educated, and nonwhite are more likely to misreport  Research shows that politics is not at the heart of the day to day life of Americans  Studies show that a larger amount of Americans take part in nonpolitical activities

20.  A study analyzing the ways in which people participate in politics.  1. Inactive (22 percent) they rarely vote and do not get involved in organizations, almost never talk politics. They are typically young, low income, African Americans.  2. Activists (11 percent) they participate in all forms of politics. Highly educated, high income, middle-aged

21.  3. Voting Specialists they vote but do little else. They tend to not have much schooling or income, and tend to be older.  4. Campaigners they vote but they also like to get involved in campaign activities, they are more educated than the average voter, they are interested in the conflicts, passions, and struggle of politics. They identify with a political party, willing to take strong positions

22.  5. Communalists like the campaigners in social background but they do not like the conflict and tension of partisan campaigns they instead use their energy for community activities of a nonpartisan nature (form or join groups to deal with local issues and contact local officials)  6. Parochial participants They do not vote and stay out of campaigns but are willing to contact local officials.

23.  1. Those with more education, high level of political information.  2. Religious involvement  Leads to social connectedness, teaches the skills associated with participation.  Awareness of issues  3. Men and women vote at the same rate but blacks and whites do not Why?  Social class  Income  Education  Among people of the same socioeconomic status blacks tend to vote more than whites.

24.  Because the population has become younger, and because the population of minorities is growing this could explain lower voter turn out why?  The number of people graduating from college what should this mean?  Why than is voter turn out low  Distrust of government  Data shows that there is no connection between distrust of political leaders and voting.  Registration requirements  Federal law 30 days before election  By mail  Same day as election (4 states) Maine Oregon Minnesota

25.  1. Younger population together with a growing number of minorities  2. political parties today are no longer as effective as they once were in getting people to vote  3. impediments to registration have influence.  If every state had the same requirements as the most permissive states turn out would increase.  Universal enrollment.

26.  4. Since not voting is costless there will be more nonvoting.  Voting compulsory (Italy government papers)  Fines for not voting (Australia)  5. voting will decline if people feel that the election does not matter  There are a number of reasons why we register and vote less often than people of other nations. Two studies of all the factors found that almost all of the differences in turnout among the 24 democratic nations could be explained by  Party strength  Automatic registration  Compulsory voting laws

27.  Americans vote less than people from other nations but we participate more in other ways  Campaigning, contacting government officials  Demonstrations  We vote less but we vote for more public officials than do other nations.  Study estimated that we have 521,000 elected offices in the United States.  U.S. turnout rates are skewed to higher status people  Our elections do not reflect our population  Professional, managerial, white-collar  Minority population is growing faster than white  Nonpolitical institutions  language