1. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

2. The American Electorate Framers of the Constitution were unable to reach a compromise on voter eligibility Left to states to decide 15 th Amendment – voting rights for African-American men States pass laws to deny suffrage

3. 19 th Amendment – 1920 – Women’s Suffrage Voting Rights Act of 1965 – suspended all literacy tests 26 th Amendment 1971 – suffrage for 18 yr. olds

4. Table 6.1: Two Ways of Calculating Voter Turnout, 1996-2001 Elections, Selected Countries :

5. Voting Turnout* Participation based on the following Demographics EducationincomeAge

6. Ethnicity Interest in politics Regular Church goer

7. Figure 6.4: Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, by Age, Schooling, and Race, 1964- 1996 Source: Updated from Gary R. Orren, "The Linkage of Policy to Participation," in Presidential Selection, ed. Alexander Heard and Michael Nelson (Durham, N.C.: Duck University Press, 1987). Data for 1996 are from Statistical Abstract of the United States 1998, 296, as supplied by Christopher Blunt.

8. Why is Voter Turnout so Low?* Institutional Obstacles –Difficulty of Registration –Difficulty of absentee voting –Number of Elections –Weak political parties

9. Other Possible Reasons Voter Attitudes Misleading – less fraud today

10. Figure 6.2: Voter Participation in Presidential Elections, 1860-2000 Sources: For 1860-1928: Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, 1071; 1932-1944: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1992, 517; 1948- 2000: Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, "The Myth of the Vanishing Voter," American Political Science Review 95 (December 2001): table 1, 966.

11. Types of Political Participation Voting Writing to your representatives Signing a petition Campaigning Running for office Discussing politics

12. FORMS OF PARTICIPATION According to Verba & Nie INACTIVES- VOTING SPECIALISTS CAMPAIGNERS- vote & get involved in campaigns COMMUNALISTS-more nonpartisan than campaigners’ – they devout their time to community activities and local problems

13. PAROCHIAL PARTICIPANTS- they don’t vote, but often contact local politicians about specific, often personal problems COMPLETE ACTIVISTS- Participate in all forms of politics

15. Journal A program of universal citizen service has been proposed to promote in increase in political participation. It would enlist every young American – male and female- in a service corps for 1 to 2 years of either military or nonmilitary training and service. What do you think? Explain.

16. Table 6.2: Voter Registration in the South