POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
CHAPTER 6
vocabulary
• Activist
• Conventional
participation
• 15th amendment
• Grandfather clause
• Literacy test
• Motor-voter law
• 19th amendment
• Poll tax
• 24th amendment
• Registered voter
• 26th amendment
• Unconventional
participation
• Voting Rights Act of
1965
• White primary
• “grass roots”
• Cross-cutting
cleavages
KEY IDEAS
• The American Electorate has expanded
through extended voting rights for
minorities, women, and youth
• Voter turnout is the US is relatively low,
and the difficult process of voter
registration probably accounts for it
• There are many levels and forms of
participation in the American political
system
AMERICAN ELECTORATE
• The constitution did
not give Congress the
right to alter state
regulations regarding
Congressional
Elections
• Control over the voting
process has moved
from state to federal
control (reps by
district, in even #
years)
•
•
Universal Manhood
Suffrage(1830)
15th-race (1870)
–
–
–
•
•
•
Voting Rights Act of
1965(banned literacy tests)
24th – banned poll tax
(1964)
19th-Gender (1920)
–
•
Grandfather Clause(1915)
White Primaries(1944)
Black Voters Up
Female Voters Up
26th-18 and older (1971)
–
Youth turnout low
VOTER TURNOUT
• Voter turnout in America stays consistently between 50-60%
WHY?
• Decline in interest in elections
• Less competitive parties
• Difficult absentee voting process
• Too many offices to vote for/too many elections
OTHER VIEWS
• 1800’s fraud: “vote early and vote often” created artificially
high turnouts
• Difficult registration process made it difficult of many to vote
• Apathy
VOTER TURNOUT CONT.
• In US, only 2/3 of eligible voters register
• In Europe, registration is automatic
• 1993 motor-voter law allows people to
register at the RMV
• In 2002, Congress passed HAVA(databases)
• States with election day registration have
higher turnouts
• Studies show that almost all the differences
between US and foreign turnout can be
explained by
– Party strength
– Automatic registration
– Compulsory voting laws
PARTICIPATION
• Inactive: 20% of population
• Voting Specialists: vote, but nothing else
• Campaigners: vote, involved with
campaigns
• Communalists: non-partisan, active
locally
• Parochials: don’t vote, but contact
politicians on specific issues
• Activists: 10% of population-participate
in all forms of government
WHO PARTICIPATES?
• Education: The more educated, the more likely
to vote: why?
• Religious involvement: The more involved in
religion, the more likely to vote: why?
• Race and Ethnicity: Whites have higher voting
rates than Blacks and Latinos
• Age: the highest % of voters are 45 and above
• Gender: In general, men and women vote at
about the same rate
• Two-Party competition: The more competitive
an election, the higher the turnout (see 2004)
PARTICIPATION
• Although voting rates are down, other forms
of participation are on the rise
CONVENTIONAL:
– Persuasion, petitioning, $ contribution,
running for office
UNCONVENTIONAL:
– Protesting, civil disobedience, violence
Americans elect more offices than those in
most other countries. The difference in voter
turnout should be considered less
embarrassing and more a result of the
system
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Which of the following is the best explanation for low
voter turnout in the United States?
more than half of all Americans are apathetic towards
politics
The voting process is difficult to understand, and
ballots are complicated
Most potential voters do not identify with a political
party
The burden of registering falls on individual voters
It is difficult for many voters to get enough information
about the candidates to vote with confidence
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
2.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
The table to the right supports
which of the following
conclusions about voter turnout
from 1996-2000?
Voter turnout in the US, as a %
of registered voters, was below
50%
Mandatory voting, as required
by law in Australia, has no
impact on voter turnout
Voters in the US are more likely
to vote if they are registered
The main reason for not voting
in the US is apathy
There is no more than a 5%
difference between turnout as a
whole than turnout among
registered voters
TWO WAYS OF CALCULATING VOTER TURNOUT
1996-2001
TURNOUT AS A % OF
VOTING-AGE
POPULATION
TURNOUT AS A % OF
REGISTERED VOTERS
BELGIUM
83.2
AUSTRALIA
95.2
DENMARK
83.1
BELGIUM
90.6
AUSTRALIA
77.7
DENMARK
86
SWEDEN
76.8
NEW ZEALAND
83.2
FINLAND
75.3
USA
63.4
GERMANY
74.6
JAPAN
62
USA
47.2
CANADA
61.2
SWITZERLAND
34.9
SWITZERLAND
43.2
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
3. All of the following were used to keep
blacks from voting except
a) Segregation
b) Literacy tests
c) Poll taxes
d) Grandfather clauses
e) Intimidation and threats
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
4. Which of the following is most likely to vote?
a) A 65 year old African American high school
graduate
b) A 35 year old white college educated woman
c) A 70 year old white college professor
d) A 40 year old hispanic with an associate’s
degree
e) An 18 year old African American just starting
college
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
5.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Which of the following make it difficult to compare voter turnout
rates in the 19th century with those today?
In the 19th century they used printed ballots and today we use
the Australian Ballot
Fraud was more common back then
Voters are now required to register
IN the 19th century, political machines tried to control election
outcomes
I and II
I, II, and III
II and III
II, III, and IV
I,II, III, and IV
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Free Response:
Over time, voting rights have been expanded to
include groups previously excluded from the
formal political process. For two of the groups
below, explain how voting rights have been
expanded and discuss the impact of these
groups on the political process.
Women
African Americans
Voters 18-21