The Electorate
Do Now:
Who should be able to participate in democracy?
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Is it time to end women’s suffrage?
Yes
No
Not Sure
Suffrage
“The right to vote”
The Electorate
“The potential voting population”
The “Non-Electorate”
In your groups discuss the following:
If you were creating a democratic nation, who
would not be able to vote?
Expanding the Electorate
At America’s birth only property owning white
men and freed male slaves were allowed to vote.
Over the course of America’s history there were 5
crucial expansions of the electorate.
Expanding the Electorate
While states set voting requirements (even for
federal elections) the federal government has
intervened multiple times in order to protect the
voting rights of certain groups.
Expanding the Electorate
•White Males (state statutes)
•All Races (15th Amendment)
•Women’s Suffrage (19th Amendment)
•All Races (Voting Rights Act of 1965)
•Voting Age (26th Amendment)
Voter Qualifications
•Citizenship
•Residence
•Age
•Registration
“Persons” Denied “The Vote”
•Mentally Incompetent
•Criminals (Felonies/Dishonorable Discharge)
David Hanson, TED 2009
“Robots That Show Emotion”
David Hanson's robot faces look and act like
yours: They recognize and respond to emotion,
and make expressions of their own. Here, an
"emotional" live demo of the Einstein robot offers
a peek at a future where robots truly mimic
humans.
David Hanson, TED 2009
What does this video say about
defining “personhood?”
So, who should vote?
What are we really looking for
in potential voters?
Intelligence?
Self-Awareness?
Political Awareness?
A pulse?
Could “others” fulfill these same
requirements?
Another species?
Primates?
Dolphins?
Robots?
The American Middle Class
Notes on demographics, public
opinion and trends.
The American Middle Class
The middle class has long been publicized
as the most important class from which a
candidate needs support. The large
middle class in the United States has
traditionally wielded considerable voting
and monetary power.
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What class does your family fall into?
Upper
Middle
Lower
How do we define
“Middle Class?”
Richard Wilkinson
Watch the following video about
economic inequality which splits
populations into quintiles for
statistical analysis.
Using Income Quintiles
Quintile
Income Range
Average
Upper
Greater than $101,583
$178,020
Upper-Middle-
$62,435-$101,582
$80,080
Middle-
$38,521-$62,434
$49,842
Lower-Middle-
$20,263-$38,520
$29,204
Lower Class-
Less than $20,262
$11,239
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What quartile does your family fall into?
Upper
Upper Middle
Middle
Lower Middle
Lower
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How should we define middle class?
$50,000-250,000
$40,000-120,000
Self-Identification
Cultural Values
Quintiles
The Problem
Electoral campaigns focus on the middle class
because they have been the largest group of
voters in the US. As the middle class shrinks and
the lower and upper classes grow we face a society
increasingly dominated by the upper class. In a
world where money buys power this is an obvious
problem (the very few ruling the many).
4.1 Assignment
Politicians seem to be bowing to the very
wealthy views of the very few and ignoring the
will of the less wealthy masses.
How do we ensure that individual votes are
determining our course (true representative
democracy) and not the few votes with money
behind them?