1. Political Participation
Why Do People Vote?

2. Today Forms of political participation
Explaining the individual decision to vote or abstain

3. Start With Some Definitions . . .
Political Efficacy
Social Capital
Social capital flows from “civic engagement”
Specific forms of social capital:
Norms of trust, reciprocity, and connectedness
Information
Efficacy

4. Definition of “Participation”
“acts that aim at influencing the government, either by affecting the choice of government personnel or by affecting the choices made by government personnel” (Verba and Nie, 1972)

5. Influencing who gets elected
Voting
Threshold activity (most people who don’t vote don’t participate at all)

6. Voting as a threshold activity
People who vote
People who engage
in other forms of
participation

7. Influencing who gets elected (campaign participation)
Voting
Threshold activity (most people who don’t vote don’t participate at all)
What if you want to do more?
Or if you can’t vote??
Not a U.S. citizen
Not yet 18
Convicted of a felony

8. Influencing who gets elected: Beyond Voting
Donating money
Volunteering for a campaign
Signs / buttons / bumper stickers / t-shirts
Convincing your friends
Attending a rally
Registering people to vote
Participating in caucuses / primaries

9. Influencing what they do once they’re in office
Focus on causes or issues
Groups
Rallies
Boycotts
Litigation
Individuals
Writing letters/phoning/ ing
Signs and bumper stickers
Civil disobedience

10. Important things to remember
Voting may be the single most important act of political participation (why?) but
There are many, many other ways to participate, many of which are open to everyone (regardless of eligibility to vote)

11. Turning Now to Voting . . . First thing you need is the right to vote
Also called “the franchise”

12. History of the franchise
Colonial era
Early 1800s
1870: 15th Amendment, but . . .
Poll taxes
Literacy tests

13. History of the franchise, cont.
1920: 19th Amendment extended right to vote to women
1924: Snyder Act extended U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans and brought them under the 15th Amendment
1961: 23rd Amendment gives D.C. residents right to vote for president
1964: 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes
1971: 26th Amendment extended voting rights to everyone over 18

14. Who is still officially disenfranchised?
Citizens under 18
Felons
Resident aliens and illegal immigrants
But among those who *can* vote, why do some choose not to?

15. Pre-1990s Scholarship Two camps Rational choice theorists
“Demographic predictor” researchers

16. Rational Choice Theory
People have preferences
Act to maximize those preferences/utility
Constrained by
Resources
Information
What other people do

17. Anthony Downs, “An Economic Theory of Democracy” (1957)
People vote if (P*B) – C > 0
Benefit
Discounted by Probability of Getting Benefit
Cost

18. Good theory, bad prediction
“Predicts” that rational people never vote
Possible “fix”
Focus on different benefits Psychic benefits, “duty”
Turnout not always sensitive to changes in costs
National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter Act) of 1993) increased registration but not turnout
BUT what about effects of “same day registration”?

19. 2004 Total Turnout Rates for Voting Eligible Population
Minnesota: %
Wisconsin: %
Maine: %
What do the top three states have in common? They are all the states that allow same-day registration. Why would same-day registration affect turnout while Motor Voter might not? (People forget they’re registered?) Alternative explanations for these numbers The states that allow same day registration are states where voting is emphasized, strong civic duty states – so it is a cultural phenomenon that leads to both the law and the high turnout.

20. Possible explanations:
Law High Turnout
Law
Civic Culture
High Turnout

21. Other Camp
Demographic people are able to predict behavior based on characteristics
Education
SES
Race
Age
But, they don’t really explain why people vote (description rather than explanation)

22. So . . .
One camp is developing explanations that don’t do a good job of describing actual behavior
The other camp is developing descriptions but not bothering to explain the “why” question

23. Civic Voluntarism Model
Henry Brady, Sidney Verba and Kay Lehman Schlozman
“Voice and Equality”

24. Civic Voluntarism Model
Interest/Engagement
Mobilization/Recruitment
Resources

25. Interest/Engagement interest in politics
political efficacy (“I can make a difference, I can participate effectively”)
sense of civic duty (“It’s my job as an American to participate”)
group consciousness (“As my community goes, so go I”)
party identification
commitment to personal issues

26. What might affect interest/engagement?

27. Mobilization/Recruitment
Being asked to participate
What increases chances of recruitment?

28. Resources Time Money “Civic skills” What increases resources?
Organizational skills
Language skills
Social adeptness
What increases resources?

29. Implications for Civic Voluntarism Model
“Equal opportunity” not all that equal
Importance of social capital and group membership
Importance of “political entrepreneurs” – politicians and groups that mobilize people
Importance of childhood experiences (family life, education) in adult political behavior