By Tyrell Christopher TG15
 Define
Voter Turnout
 Political participation is any activity that
shapes, affects, or involves the political
sphere
 Give recent voter turnout stats – 1979: 79.0
to 2005 :61.3
 Refer to reasons why people vote the way
they do e.g. Rational choice –sanders 1996 on
the economy
 Turnout has been declining for more than 30
years but is still higher today than earlier in
this century.
 Modern
forms of political participation should
be understood to be new ways participating in
politics instead of traditional ways. New ways
could be joining human rights campaigns.
 For some people Politics is not important in
their life's which is more interesting than
political activity
 You cant really do anything to force people to
vote. Refer to how many countries e.g.
Australia use compulsory voting which is an
infringement of liberties
 Increase in the amount “donkey votes”
Parliament reflects more accurately the "will of
the electorate."
 Governments must consider the total electorate
in policy formulation and management.
 Edmund Burke – “It is necessary only for the
good man to do nothing for evil to triumph “
 It is a counter to the rise of political extremism
 1800 – one vote in the electoral college made
Thomas Jefferson President over Aaron Burr.

We can put the polling stations in more
convenient places e.g. a supermarket
 E-voting was introduced in many countries but
was seen as a security threat with hackers and
identity theft.
 As stated before compulsory voting could be
introduced but Australia also has a much higher
rate of spoiled ballots than nearly any other
democracy.
 Postal voting –People could post to vote but did
not show an increase in voter turnout.
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Voter Turnout is the not the most important factor in
determining political participation.
Pressure group membership is on the rise with political
parties seen to becoming more consensus politics
Contentment: Lack of participation indicates satisfaction
with the status quo—if they were upset about an issue,
people would participate. This is also seen as hpathy
.Refer to how people only vote at times of crisis, turnout
increased when the Nazis started their extremism and the
conflict with left and right.
These are modern times which means you can inflict
human rights or some people are JUST not interested .In
1890’s in America Live pigs were given to voters to make
them vote for certain people.