1. Voting: Part III

2. Voting Gerrymandering:  Practice of drawing electoral district lines in order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party  District lines are boundaries of the geographic area from which a candidate is elected to a public office  Originally used to disenfranchise African Americans

3. Voting Gerrymandering:  Gerrymandering is a form of redistribution in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage. Gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder particular constituents, such as members of a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.redistributionelectoral districtconstituencyconstituents

5. Gerrymandering Original cartoon of "The Gerry-Mander", this is the political cartoon that led to the coining of the term Gerrymander. The district depicted in the cartoon was created by Massachusetts legislature to favor the incumbent Democratic-Republican party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists in 1812. Gerrymander Massachusettslegislature Democratic-Republican GovernorElbridge GerryFederalists

6. Gerrymandering  Gerrymandering is used most often in favor of ruling incumbents [2] or a specific political party. Societies whose legislatures use a single-winner voting system are the most likely to have political parties that gerrymander for advantageincumbents [2]political party voting system  Most notably, gerrymandering is particularly effective in non-proportional systems that tend towards fewer parties, such as first past the post.non-proportional systemsfirst past the post

7. non-proportional systems A vote with multiple winners election of a legislature different practical effects than a single- winner vote. participants in a multiple winner election are more concerned with the overall composition of the legislature than exactly which candidates get elected

8. non-proportional systems many multiple-winner systems aim for proportional representation, which means that if a given party (or any other political grouping) gets X% of the vote, it should also get approximately X% of the seats in the legislature proportional representation

9. first past the post The term first past the post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) was coined as an analogy to horse racing, where the winner of the race is the first to pass a particular point on the track (in this case a plurality of votes), after which all other runners automatically and completely lose (that is, the payoff is "winner-takes-all"). There is, however, no "post" that the winning candidate must pass in order to win, as they are only required to receive the largest number of votes in their favour.analogyhorse racing pluralityvotes

10. Voting Systems Most democracies have partly proportional electoral systems, where several political parties are proportionally represented in the national parliaments, in proportion to the total numbers of votes of the parties in the regional or national elections. In these more or less proportional representation systems, gerrymandering has little or less significance.proportional representation

11. Gerrymandering Packing & Cracking:  The two aims of gerrymandering are to maximize the effect of supporters’ votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes

13. Gerrymandering Arizona's 2nd congressional district contains the northwestern corner of the state, and some of the western suburbs of Phoenix as well as a small western portion of Phoenix itself. The odd shape of the district is indicative of the use of gerrymandering in its construction. The unusual division was not, however, drawn to favor politicians. Owing to historic tensions between the Hopi and the Navajo, and since tribal boundary disputes are a Federal matter, it was thought inappropriate that both tribes should be represented by the same U.S. House of Representatives member. Since the Hopi reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo reservation, and in order to comply with current Arizona redistricting laws, some means of connection was required that avoided including large portions of Navajo land, hence the narrow riverine connection.PhoenixgerrymanderingHopi Navajoriverine

15. Voting Packing & Cracking:  One strategy, packing, is to concentrate as many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts.  In some cases this may be done to obtain representation for a community of common interest, rather than to dilute that interest over several districts to a point of ineffectiveness

16. Voting Packing & Cracking:  A second strategy, cracking, involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting block in any particular district.  The strategies are typically combined, creating a few "forfeit" seats for packed voters of one type in order to secure even greater representation for voters of another type

17. Voting Packing & Cracking:  Gerrymandering is effective because of the wasted vote effect. By packing opposition voters into districts they will already win (increasing excess votes for winners) and by cracking the remainder among districts where they are moved into the minority (increasing votes for eventual losers), the number of wasted votes among the opposition can be maximized. Similarly, with supporters holding narrow margins in the unpacked districts, the number of wasted votes among supporters is minimized.wasted vote effect

18. wasted vote effect In the study of electoral systems, a wasted vote may be defined in 2 different ways:electoral systems 1.any vote which is not for an elected candidate.vote 2.any vote which does not help to elect a candidate. The first definition includes only those votes which are for losing candidates (individual or party). The second definition is wider as it also includes surplus votes for winning candidates who would have won anyway without the wasted vote.

19. wasted vote effect An electoral system which reduces the number of wasted votes can be considered desirable on grounds of fairness or on the more pragmatic basis that a voter who feels their vote has made no difference may feel detached from their government or lose confidence in the democratic processgovernmentdemocratic process

20. wasted vote effect In election campaigns, a leading candidate may appeal to voters who support a less- popular candidate to vote instead for them for tactical reasons, on the basis that a vote for their preferred candidate is likely to be wasted. In some electoral systems, it may be plausible for less-popular candidates may make similar appeals to supporters of more- popular candidateselection campaignstactical

21. Wasted Vote effect Opponents of the concept of a wasted vote point out that voting one's conscience is fundamental to democracy - an example of this is the adoption of major Socialist legislation by more mainstream parties in the United States in order to halt the Socialist party

22. Voting Nonvoters  Idiot-Greek word referring to those citizens who did not vote or otherwise take part in public life.  Millions of Americans who do not vote!!!!

25. Voting Figures/Trends:  2004-217.8 million persons of voting age in US  120.2 million actually voted = 55.2%  Even lower rates of turnout exist in off-year elections  General Election greater than mid-term election

26. Voting Ballot Fatigue:  Every state, more votes cast in presidential election, than gubernatorial election  More votes are cast for governor than for other state wide offices  More voters vote for state wide offices than county positions.

30. Non Voters “Cannot-voters”  10 million residential aliens, barred from polls from every state  5 to 6 million citizens are ill or physically disabled  2 to 3 million sudden travel  Thousands of other mentally incapacitated or in incarcerated, or don’t vote for religious beliefs

31. Non-Voters Actual Nonvoters:  80 million people who could have voted but chose not to  Political Efficacy-They do not believe that their vote can have any real impact on what government does  No matter who wins things will continue to go well or vice versa

32. Non-Voters Other Factors:  Difficult election procedures  Registration requirements  Long ballots  Long lines at the polling places  Time zone fallout!!!  Lack of Interest

33. Voters Characteristics- (Higher levels):  Income  Education  Occupational status  Integration into community  Party identification  Self-efficacy

34. Non-Voters Characteristics:  Younger than 35  Unmarried  Unskilled  Rural areas  man

35. Voter Behaviors Sociological factors:  High income-Republican, Low income-Democrat  College Graduates-Republican  Woman-Democrats(abortion, healthcare, social assistance)  Younger Voters-Democrat  Protestant-Republicans Catholics, Jews-Democrats  South, Midwest-Republican Northeast, Great Lakes, West Coast-Democrat

36. Voter Behaviors Psychological Factors:  Party Identification, vote for the party (straight-ticket voting)  Increase in split-ticket voting  Increase in number of independents

37. Non-voters Time Zone Fall Out  Polls in Eastern & Central Time Zones fall before Western & Pacific  Outcomes in the election can be projected before polls close in the west