America is regarded highly in the world, due to its economic, political, as well as social development. As countries mature politically, voter turnout is expected to increase. This is the case for most industrialized nations who experience an average voter turnout above 70%. However, it is troubling to see that America still lags below 60% in voter turnout.
Viewed as one of the healthiest democracies in the world, the United States is always referred to as an example that other countries should follow. However, one of the key characteristics of a healthy democracy is a high voter-turnout. If people do not turn up on Election Day, it is likely that they do not see the point of holding elections or the conditions are not suitable for them to vote. People vote because they believe that their vote has the power to make changes in the country. Voter apathy often develops when voters do not see voting as a way of voicing their concerns. America therefore continues to tread on risky ground, if a way of increasing voter turnout is not found.
Data indicates that voter turnout in the United States keeps on
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It is clear that American voters tend to avoid local elections and off-year elections. Run-off elections are also likely to register lower voter turnout as compared to first-round elections. The larger the gap between first round elections and run-off elections, the higher the decline in voter turnout. Moreover, there are lower percentages of young people voting as compared to the older population. This is an important point to note since it highlights that young people do not have information guiding them on the importance of voting. More women as compared to men, turnout to vote. Surprisingly, the number of women who vote has been on a consistent increase over the past elections. Notably, more persons from high income-families turn out to vote as compared to those from low-income
In “ Race in Beyond: Why Young, Minority, and Low-income Citizens Don’t Vote,” Sam Fulwood III claims “ regardless of whether favored candidate won or a popular ballot initiative passed, our nation suffered because of a number of people who don’t vote at all” (par.2). I believe this too be true because I’m one of those Americans. However Americans change this, I can change this. Have you ever that expression, “The straw that broke the camel’s back”? Anyone of us Americans can be single straw.
Concept: The Importance of Voting Article: “Patriot Connectors to Discuss Importance of Voting” My article began by introducing a group named the Patriot Connectors, and the entirety of the article expressed the group 's views on why people should vote and exactly how important voting is to American society. The group states that not voting or not even being registered to vote in essence, undermines America 's representative democracy. They attribute the lack of voters being related to the fact that many feel that their votes do not matter in a government system they see as unfair or rigged. The article relays the fact that voting is something citizens learn to do.
Hey jackson! I completely agree what you said in your discussion. The low voter turnout should not be worried about and that it is a good thing in general. The people should not vote if they are not interested or are not educated on the election. As you said, If you introduce and educate the people on politics this should help the low voter turnout in time.
There are a number of differences in the demographics between the ones that are and are not politically involved. Older people tend to vote more than the younger people by their concern toward the government, as well as the number of white Americans voting more than the other minority races would. The educated will vote more than the uneducated by having more knowledge of the election, along with families with higher income of over $65,000 having time to vote than the low income ones of $35,000 or under. The ones who shows party identification would want to get involved in politics, whereas independent individual would not care as much. People who grew up with specific ideology would want to have a say in politics, in contrast to those who did not.
The 1965 Immigration Act, which resulted largely from the civil rights movement and Democratic Congress of the 1960s, played a vital role in the change in demographics of the United States (“History of U.S. Immigration Laws,” 2008). Replacing the existing system of assigning specific countries a limit on the number of people that could immigrate to the United States each year, the 1965 Immigration Act established quotas for each hemisphere: 170,000 immigrants a year for the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 a year for the Western Hemisphere (Hatton, 2015). Although the limit was expanded to 700,000 immigrants a year in 1990 and has been adjusted many times in the years since (“History of U.S. Immigration Laws,” 2008), the 1965 Immigration Act has been the most significant of all of the immigration reform legislation because it allowed more immigrants from individual countries to come to the U.S., a
The world is full of problems, some are recognized, and others are not. You wouldn’t think that the world’s lowest voter turnout rate is found in the world’s largest democracy. But, surprisingly, it hasn’t gotten much attention. Ironically, the approval rating of congress is at just 15%. Americans aren’t voting, and they don’t approve of who gets elected as a result of their refusal to participate, I think there is a responsibility issue here.
Nowadays, the young generations are not aware of how important it is to go out to a poll and vote. Without the votes, voter turnout will continue to decline. The citizens should be more aware of what is going on, fight for their beliefs and issues, and make a
Presidential candidates will only seriously campaign in the 10-15 “swing” states where it is possible to persuade the vote (Liptak, NYTimes). These candidates do not show much campaigning effort toward “stalwart liberal states such as California and Massachusetts, or staunchly conservative states like South Carolina and Texas” either because “they know they have no chance of winning in the state or because they take for granted that they will win it” (Newton and Rich, “Point: Electoral College”). However, this attitude leads to indifferent voters. In 2008, 67% of the voter turnout was from the 15 states that received the most campaigning attention, which was six points higher than the turnout in the other 35 states (Liptak, NYTimes).
Over the past decades Texas has had the lowest voter turnout. This is due to the fact that in previous years a lot of people we ineligible to vote because of discrimination in the southern states especially in Texas. In the nineteenth century many laws and regulations were placed on citizens that prohibited them the right to vote. These individuals consist of African American, Hispanics, and women. Many laws has been amended since then to allow people the right to vote therefore, voter turnout has been increasing, but is still ranked the lowest in Texas.
There is not just one reason as to why voter turnout is so low, it is actually the collection of a few reasons. For example, some people stated that they were simply out of town, which in the U.S. you are only allowed to vote in your state of residence. Other elderly voters claimed to be sick or had a disability that prevented them from going to the polls to cast their ballot. Another reason could be that people had registration issues of some sort that didn’t allow them to vote. Then there are voters that are discourage that their vote is useless when it comes to voting on any matter.
I don 't think the populars have a very good argument being that they want a 100% voter turnout. And if you know anything about the human race, it 's almost impossible to get every single person in a group to do something until you have them at gunpoint. And even then you will still have a few people who would rather take the bullet than do what they are being told. To sum up my opinion, I don 't think the populars have a very solid argument, but I do believe that as a country, we should have at least a 75% voter turn out. Especially because that when only 1/2 the country votes and the person elected turns out to not be the best, you will hear everyone and their mother bitch and moan about who was elected.
Abi H. Civic Reflection Issue 1- Change in Point of View: In Canada, voter turnout has become a major issue; as there is a large amount of the population that does not vote in elections. Back in 2008, a total of 58% of the countries` population voted in the election. This is a startling low number, which since has begun to increase only slightly in recent years. In a democratic society, voting is essential for it to function with its full potential. Doing so enacts one of your basic responsibilities as a citizen, as well as shows that you are staying involved in your community and government.
The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.
“ While compulsion of any kind is a restriction, so is the compulsion to drive only on the right side of the road.” ( “Is It Time To Consider Mandatory Voting Laws? Worsening Voting Statistics Make a Strong Case.” by John W. Dean.) One way voter turnout can increase is by compulsory (required) voting.
Basically what I learned for this experience was that even though I tried to show people that voting was important and it was a very simple process that they could complete in minuets those that didn’t want to listen were either just too lazy to get up and register or they just didn’t really care about which candidates were picked and how that could affect them in positive or negative