We the People, Sixth edition by Benjamin Ginsberg, Theodore J. Lowi, and Margaret Weir

Chapter 8. Political Participation and Voting

Youth Participation in 2004

It has been true since 18 year olds were given the vote, that young people are less likely to vote than citizens of other age groups.

Often turned off by politics or lacking a sense that their participation really matters, young people tend to stay away from the polls.

In 2004, different political groups attempted to leverage youth-oriented media and popular culture to mobilize the youth vote.

Such groups included: Rock the Vote Vote for Change Redeem the Vote

Despite the ridicule leveled at the “Vote or Die” t-shirts of one of these groups and the common perception that these mobilization efforts failed, 18-24 year old voting actually increased 11 percent from 2000 to 2004.

Political Participation Defined

Forms of Political Participation

Democracy requires the active participation of citizens in their own governance.

Forms of Participation

Some forms of political participation are controlled by the government or otherwise bring citizens’ views into direct contact with political officials. These include:

Voting Contacting political officials Signing petitions

Some forms of political participation are more citizen controlled.

Examples of such grassroots participation include:

Attending meetings Joining organizations Protesting Volunteering in campaigns

Professional Participation

Sometimes citizens participate in politics in professional ways:

Citizens lobby to persuade legislators to pass laws.

They engage in public relations to influence the marketplace of ideas.

They engage in litigation to obtain justice in a court of law.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

How do you participate in politics?

How does the government benefit from regulating the participation of citizens?

Compared to professional participation do average Americans have equal access to political participation?

The Paradox of Voting in America

Americans believe voting is important.

They see it as: A civic duty Key to maintaining

popular control of government;

The very essence of democracy.

And many Americans fought hard to win their right to suffrage.

At the same time, Americans tend not to vote.

Only 70 to 75 percent of the voting-age population is registered to vote

About 50 percent vote in Presidential elections About 33 percent vote in midterm elections Even fewer vote in off-year, special, and primary

elections.

Americans vote less now than they have in the past.

Voter turnout levels in other democracies such as South Africa, Denmark, Israel, Germany, Mexico, Britain, Russia, France, and Canada range from 15 to 35 percent higher than turnout in American presidential elections.

How American Elections Work:

A. types of elections: 1. primary: presidental and

direct 2. general 3. referendums on the ballot 4. initiative petition 5. "long ballot" : a Texas

tradition....

The purposes of elections for the political system

1. socialization and institutionalization of political activity: ballots, not bullets or demonstrations or

terror.... 2. regular access to political power 3. importance of legitimacy: e.g.

the election of 1800

What Is the History of Suffrage in the United

States?

Initially left to the states The Constitution

Fifteenth Amendment Nineteenth Amendment Twenty-Sixth Amendment

Legislation Civil Right Act of 1964 Voting Rights Act of 1965

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Why do you think voter turnout has declined in recent years?

Why do you think Americans tend to vote less than citizens in other countries?

Why do some people vote and others do not?

Explaining Political Participation

Variation in levels of political participation among different groups of American citizens can be explained by social factors such as:

Socioeconomic status Civic engagement

Whether to vote: A Citizen's first Choice

•A. Suffrage expanded... 1800 white males over 21 who owned property: now....

•B. But turnouts have gone from 80% to average of 55%....

•C. Who votes ? Who stays home?

–1. voting is a class biased activity...

–2. young people have the lowest turnout rate...

–3. whites vote more frequently than members of minority groups....

–1. Southners are less likely to vote than northerners....

–2. government employees are heavy participators in the electoral process...

–3. voting is not very strongly related to gender...+

–4. the effects are cumulative...

–5. registration is best predictor of all...

Voter Turnout – Long Term

socioeconomic status:status in society based on level of education, income, and occupational prestige

Americans with higher levels of education, greater incomes, and high-prestige occupations are more likely than others to participate in the various forms of political participation.

Indeed, although African Americans and Latinos are less likely to participate politically than whites, they participate at the same levels when one controls for socioeconomic status.

To the extent that citizens become engaged in civic life and active in their communities, they are more likely to participate in politics.

Thus, social changes that deter such engagement (ranging from television viewing to increases in crime) hinder political participation.

civic engagement:a sense of concern about public, social, and political life; often expressed through participation in social and political organizations

Formal and legal obstacles to voting also depress turnout and political participation in the United States.

For nearly a century after the ratification of the 15th Amendment, southern governments employed poll taxes, literacy tests, and white primaries to deprive African Americans of their suffrage right.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act (and later amendments to that act) removed many of the legal barriers to African American voting.

Still, there remain important obstacles to voter participation in the United States which, though not insurmountable, make it more difficult for Americans to vote.

Electoral College and Voting

•Further, the Electoral College system, which renders the presidential vote in most states essentially irrelevant, makes it hard to justify bothering.  If you’re a Republican in California or D.C. or a Democrat in Texas or Alabama, your vote simply doesn’t count.  So, unless you’re spurred by civic pride or down ballot elections, it’s hard to get motivated.

American voters in most states are required to register to vote well in advance of election day.

This requirement, at one time a reform against voter fraud and political corruption, decreases voter turnout particularly among those with lower income and especially less education.

In Europe, where governments typically register all eligible citizens automatically, turnout is much higher.

In addition, in many states, registered voters are “purged” from election lists for failing to vote in a given election or for other reasons.

For all of our purported commitment to voting as a civic duty, these and other practices (like holding elections on Tuesdays when most people work) predictably depress political participation.

Voter Suppression New laws requiring voters to show photo identification are set

to take effect in Kansas, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. And Democrats, who as a party are staunchly opposed to voter ID laws, are already ramping up their efforts to combat the new laws.

A report from New York University's Brennan Center for Justice showed that in Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, all of which will enact stricter photo ID laws before the 2012 election, 3.2 million potential voters do not have the state-issued ID that will be required for them to vote. 

Lawrence Norden, an author of the Brennan Center report what we are saying is, it's going to make it harder for those

people to vote and some portion of them are probably not going to be able to vote even though they want to."

Voter Fraud ? Research showing that actual voter fraud is

minuscule - perhaps 0.001% of the vote or so - is overwhelming and very well known.

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/06/voter-fraud-or-voter-suppression

Cost of laws: A fiscal note prepared in conjunction with a proposed photo ID law in Missouri estimated a cost

of $6 million for the first year in which the law was to be in effect, followed by recurring costs of

approximately $4 million per year. http://brennan.3cdn.net/2f0860fb73fd559359_zzm6bhnld.pdf

More recent data: New Mexico: [2011]

New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran said earlier this year that her state had a “culture of corruption” and referred 64,000 voter registration records to police that she thought were possible cases of voter fraud. Now a new report from her office proves she was completely right, 0.0296875 percent of the time.

Duran’s interim report now alleges that 104 voters — about one for every 10,577 on the rolls — were illegally registered to vote. Of that group, just 19 — or approximately one for every 57,894 registered voters — actually allegedly cast a ballot they shouldn’t have. [ = 001727294711 %]

Mobilization

Perhaps strong party or other political organizations could help to overcome these impediments to political participation and voting.

But American political parties tend to be weaker than their European counterparts and devote considerably less attention to voter mobilization than in past years.

Participation and American Political Values

Checkbook democracy Buckley v Valeo decision (1976)

It basically states that the government can limit individual contributions to campaigns to address the appearance of a quid pro quo in the elective process. But it puts no limits on what candidates can contribute to their own campaigns.

Political Participation, social and political elites…

Succession of the rich (gated communities)

Most Recent Developments 1

Citizens United (2010) Political spending is a form of protected speech under the

First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.

While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially where these ads were not broadcast.

Independent expenditures  political campaign communication which

expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate, candidate’s authorized committee or a political party

Cannot be limited

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/17/us/politics/a-guide-to-political-donations.html?ref=politics

The Rise of Independent Expenditure Groups Organizations that have made independent expenditures

include party campaign committees, third party interest groups and 527 organizations. 527 groups are tax-exempt organizations that may raise unlimited funds for their voter mobilization and issue advocacy and are only required to file regular disclosure reports they engage activities expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate or electioneering communications

Super PAC’s - they do not have to reveal the names of those who pay for the ads even though the ads themselves may be thinly veiled recommendations for or against a particular candidate. You don’t have to be a voter or potential in the election to contribute!

Impact of Citizens United Percentage change in spending by independent

political groups between the 2006 and 2010 midterm elections: +310

Portion of these funds in 2010 that came from organizations not legally required to disclose their donors: ½

Percentage of such groups that supported conservative candidates: 80

Other Reasons for Non-voting A. The past: West Virginia: 159,000 votes cast in

1888 by 147,000 eligible voters... B. reaction: registration to stop fraud.. C. Making it hard to register , having more frequent

elections, having less clear cut choices all contribute to US's low voter turnout... 1. Other critics say that it has gotten

easier since 1960, but turnout is still low: (Motor Voter Act – 1992??)

2. they point to "social and political disconnectedness"....

3. additionally, declines in political interest and the belief that government is responsive...

OFFICE, 1975–99

political mobilization:the processes by which large numbers of people are organized for a political activity

Lacking strong parties to mobilize voters, mobilization relies on the efforts of interest groups, campaigns, and ideological movements.

Still, these organizations often are just as likely to seek to depress the turnout of voters supporting their opponents as they are to increase the turnout their own voters.

One aspect of “American exceptionalism” is that Americans are exceptional in their non-voting.

Inasmuch as political institutions and processes can counter-balance our political-cultural predispositions, it seems that our institutions and processes add extra impediments to a citizenry already predisposed not to vote.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

What reforms could we institute to encourage more voting?

What are the potential costs of making it easier for people to vote by eliminating registration requirements and roll purging?

Is it necessarily a bad thing that Americans don’t vote? Might it say something good about American politics?

Clicker Questions

Voting qualifications are determined by the:

A. Local governmentsB. Federal governmentC. Constitution D. States, subject to certain federal rules

and limits

Clicker Questions

The Constitution was amended to allow women the right to vote in all public elections in:

A. 1870B. 1885C. 1920D. 1948

Clicker Questions

The most recent expansion of the suffrage in the United States took place in 1971, when the:

A. Motor Voter Act was passedB. Poll tax was abolishedC. Supreme Court struck down white

primariesD. Voting age was reduced from twenty-

one to eighteen

Clicker Questions

In general, voter turnout over the last 50 years has:

A. declinedB. risenC. stayed the same as a proportion of eligible

voters, but more people are voting now that many obstacles to voting have been removed

D. declined in Presidential elections, but risen in Midterm elections

Clicker Questions

Which country has higher voter turnout than the United States?

A. MexicoB. GermanyC. ItalyD. All of the above