US Government Mrs. Lacks Voter Turnout

Qualifications (set by states) Citizenship: must be a US citizen Residency: must vote where you live (or where you are specifically registered) Age: must be at least 18 Registration: must have formally applied/registered to vote All states except North Dakota (only need to be a resident of the precinct in which you’re voting for 30 days)

Changing in Voting Eligibility 1870: 15 th Amendment (African American men) 1920: 19 th Amendment (Women) 1924: Native Americans get citizenship and voting rights 1961: 23 rd Amendment (DC residents can vote in federal elections) 1964: 24 th Amendment (prohibits poll taxes in federal elections) 1965: Voting Rights Act (removes anything that might restrict African Americans from voting) 1971: 26 th Amendment (changes voting age from 21 to 18)

Voter Registration Designed to reduce voter fraud Also seen as discouraging Motor Voter (1993)– register at DMV when you renew your driver’s license

Absentee & Early Voting Absentee voting if you’re going to be out of your district on Election Day, you can mail in your vote Has to be post marked no later than Election Day Used since the Civil War 2004: more than 1 in 5 voters voted absentee Early Voting 2008: 31 states allowed early voting 2012: all states allow early voting; how early depends on the state

Precedent 2012 NY Governor Andrew Cuomo (Dem) signed an Executive Order on November 5 th allowing voters in NY to vote at any polling place by signing an affidavit saying that they’re registered

Voter Turnout The proportion of the voting age population (VAP) that votes in a given election Declined significantly since 1960 Oddly enough, parallels rising levels of education

YearVoting Age PopulationRegistrationTurnout% T/O of VAP ,511,000146,211,96096,456, % ,650,000130,292,82275,105, % ,529,000133,821,178104,405, % ,812,000121,105,63067,859, % ,778,000126,379,62891,594, % ,566,000118,399,98464,991, % ,466,000124,150,61492,652, % ,938,000110,671,22567,615, % ,597,000113,043,73486,515, % ,373,000103,291,26558,917, % ,309,190105,037,98681,555, % ,336,00096,199,020*55,943, % ,776,00097,328,54177,718, % ,498,00082,496,747#58,014, % ,328,18681,658,18073,211, % ,132,00076,288,283^56,188, % ,090,00073,715,81870,644, % ,423,00065,393,751+53,141, % ,159,00064,833,096x68,838, %

Reasons for low voter turnout in US Institutional (political) barriers Registration Long Ballot Type of Election Higher in general elections than primaries Higher in presidential elections than midterms Higher in federal elections than state elections Higher in state elections than local elections Absentee Ballot Young people 4 Political Reasons: efficacy, candidates, no competition, mobilization efforts

Who votes in US? Activists (elites): people who participate in all forms of politics Educated White Older Wealthy

Factors affecting voter behavior 1.Geography 2.Strong Presidential candidates (coattail effect); Candidate Appeal 3.Timing (realignment, midterms) 4.Party Affiliation (strongest) 5.Demographics 1.Sex 2.Race 3.Social class 4.Religion 6.Issues (Retrospective - are you better off today than you were four years ago vs. Prospective- looking ahead at how a candidate will handle something)

Voter Turnout in Industrialized Democracies Much higher than US voter turnout Automatic voter registration Multi-party systems Penalties for not voting

RED: Compulsory voting, enforced. DARK PINK: Compulsory voting, not enforced. ORANGE: Compulsory voting, enforced (only men). LIGHT PINK: Compulsory voting, not enforced (only men). YELLOW: Historical: the country had compulsory voting in the past Compulsory Voting (fines, service, imprisonment)

Participation Voting is not the only way to participate in politics joining civic associations supporting social movements writing to legislators fighting city hall