...Mandatory Voting as a Response to Declining Voter Turnout In many parts of the world, the act of voting is seen as an act that empowers citizens and an act that gives them a voice. However, with the decline of voter turnout, this voice seems to be coming from a select few, leaving political scientists wondering about the remaining of the population. In response to this situation, many have suggested making the act of voting, a mandatory one. Making voting a compulsory act for all citizens does provide both the citizens and the political system with many benefits. However, there are those that oppose this idea, stating possible disadvantages and contradiction in ideologies. The matter in hand is tough for any nation to deal with but making voting a mandatory act proves to have more advantages than disadvantages. With the issue on hand, each side of the debate has to be given an equal opportunity to present their ideas in hopes of coming up with a viable way to deal with the situation. The hopeful outcome of making voting mandatory in countries has shown is to have an increase in voter turnout. This can be approached in different ways. For example, countries such as Switzerland, Peru, Argentina and Australia impose fines on people who do not vote. (Henry Milner 11). Other countries use other methods to single out non-voters. In Peru, voters carry around stamped cards that confirm they have voted in the election and these cards are presented at public offices for services to...
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...Angela Choi 111 ND-A Achoi5892@gmail.com Informative Speech Outline Topic: The importance of voting Type of Speech: issue Strategy for Presenting Content: Explanation General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform my audience the importance of voting. Thesis Statement: Voting is essential and should be exercised by everyone because one vote can make a difference. Introduction: How many people are registered to vote? How many people are registered to vote and have voted? This is the dilemma the United States is facing today. Many people are registered to vote, but choose not to vote. It is important to exercise your voting rights because the decision our government officials make can have a huge impact on our lives. Voting in any type of election, from local races to Presidential primaries, provides an important way to voice your opinions regarding elected leaders and overall policies. In addition, voting decides our future by electing officials who reflect your own views. Therefore, voting is essential and should be exercised by everyone because one vote can make a difference. The ability to vote is one of the most cherished Constitutional Rights that many have fought, marched, and died for over the centuries. 1. Many people do not realize that voting is so vital that it can even have an impact on your daily life. Voting is the best way to...
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...Politics 10/20/2014 Voting Requirements Effect on Turnout The right to vote is a very important aspect of United States government, the voting process present itself as the representative act that the fundamental basis to our Democratic system here in the USA. Unfortunately if you go back not even a century ago African Americans and women was denied this fundamental right to vote, securing the right to vote in United States was a long battle both for African-Americans and women. We can see how voting outcomes is essential to the true democratic process by having tight voting requirement it hinders the process and effects turnout. Voting Turnout, while undergoing new legislation since the repeal of the Jim Crow Laws, are still undergoing voting suppression, still disproportionately effecting racial minorities and the poor. To truly understand how voting requirements effect voter’s turnout we would have to look at the history of voting requirements in the U.S. Throughout United States history there have been many barriers that states have imposed that restrict voting rights especially for racial minorities and the poor. One requirement that definitely made voting a little more difficult was with requiring Americans to register prior to voting this meant that not only a citizen was care enough to go out and vote on election night they also must register prior to doing so. Registration was mainly intended to stop voter fraud, so each state was allowed to create their own registration...
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...democratic process should treat all citizens as free and equal persons. As applied to the electoral process this requires that each citizen equal opportunity to have his or her vote equally counted. Contention 1: Super PACs decrease voter turnout Subpoint A: Voter turnout is a pre-requisite to the election process A flourishing democracy presupposes citizens who care, who are willing to take part, and who are capable of helping to shape the common agenda of a society. Participation through the act of voting, is always seen as an essential prerequisite of stable democracy. Subpoint B: Super PACs decrease voter turnout by 25% “Unlimited spending by supposedly independent super PACs is creating widespread perceptions of corruption and undermining public confidence that elected officials serve in the public interest, The perception that super PACs are corrupting government is making Americans disillusioned, and an alarming number say they are less likely to vote this year. Americans say they are less likely to vote because big donors to super PACs have so much more influence over elected officials than average Americans. Americans believe super PAC spending will lead to corruption Subpoint C: Negative campaigning also leads to decreased voter turnout One reason the campaign has been so negative is the skyrocketing involvement of interest groups, who have increased their activity by 1100 percent over four years ago Contention 2: State Level Judicial Elections are harmed...
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...way to solve the problem of low voting turnout. He structured his argument stating two of the biggest problem with low turnout and solution to increase turnout. The first problem is that the election votes are not a representation of the overall votes towards a policy or elected official. The other problem is that certain groups vote in greater number than other groups, which show a disproportionate influence on the government and its policies. This illustrates bias states Lijphart, giving already-privileged citizens an advantage favoring their interest and the low-privileged interests are not rewarded. To solve these problems Lijphart believes that a minimum of 90 percent turnout...
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...and software tampering — a man-in-the-middle attack somewhere between the voting terminal (be it at home or at a polling station) and the end point where tabulation occurs — but these can be ameliorated by instigating a chain of custody and public, open inspection of the systems used. In short, it’s not like the US lack the ability or technology to run a secure, internet-based election. Just imagine what would happen if suddenly everyone with an internet connection — anyone with a smartphone — could vote. Heck, why not go the whole hog and enable voting by SMS? On election day, just open up an app on your phone and cast a vote; it would take 30 seconds, tops. The entire landscape of voting would change overnight. For some 40 years, voter turnout has decreased across the Western world — and almost exclusively in younger generations. The decline isn’t fully...
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...corrupting the rest of the election. This is due to the attention they pay to “swing states”; defined as “a state of the U.S. in which the Democratic and Republican candidates both have a good chance of winning” (“The Definition of Swing State”). Candidates will often focus their campaign efforts towards these states because they can be the key to victory. In fact. “Swing states are usually the only ones who ever see the candidates campaigning for election” because of the advantages associated with them. Furthermore, the Electoral College system has created divisiveness between states by the use of the red-state blue-state system. These terms have become the basis for discrimination and prejudice over the course of American history. They have also “imposed the false notion that political ideology is entirely defined by geography” (Rich, Alex K., Heather Newton.). Simply put, red and blue state labels assign false identities to the many Democrats in red states, Republicans in blue states, and independent voters everywhere. In addition, these terms give candidates the “mistaken impression that an entire state supports them simply because they won the plurality in that state” (Rich, Alex K., Heather Newton.). This can also alter their campaign efforts, as well as create false information about the...
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...The 1963 historic March on Washington and the subsequent passing of some sweeping civil rights laws spurred African-Americans who had grown angry and frustrated over the slow rate of their social and economic progress. They were now finally prepared to realize their potential force in order to exercise a decisive measure of political control over their own lives. Consequently, several African-American mayors of major cities, especially in the industrial North, were elected opening the floodgates of other African-American elected officials throughout the nation, including city council-members, aldermen, school board members, governors and presidents. After winning the primary and the general election with 95 percent of the African-American vote (At the same time, Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio), Richard G. Hatcher became the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana, and the first in the state of Indiana. He was elected in November 1967 and inaugurated in January 1968. Hatcher served an unprecedented five terms and as one of the beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Movement, he set the tone and was used as the standard by which many African-American mayors, that came after him, throughout the nation, were evaluated or criticized. Hatcher broke the racial glass ceiling for a host of African-American mayors who followed him. In the light of this watershed moment, it is the purpose of this paper to analyze how Richard Gordon Hatcher became the first African-American...
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...Democracy Voter Turnouts in Canada: Restoring a Civic Duty Grant Macewan University December 6th 2011 Political Science 101 Term Paper In a democratic system it is vital that citizens engage in their civic duty of voting; only then can a proper governing body be chosen to represent the will of the majority. Abraham Lincoln got to the core of democracy when he stated, “the government of the people, by the people and for the people.” In the last 50 years of Canadian history we have begun to see a decline in voter turnout; ranging from 80% of citizens voting in 1962, gradually dwindling to 59.1% in the year 2008 (Dickerson, Flanagan & O'Neill, 2010). It is important to understand why citizens vote the way they do in order to determine what may or may not be successful in regards to winning a majority government; factors that influence the voter’s choices include socio-demographic characteristics, beliefs and values, partisanship and confidence in political leaders. There is a great deal of debate surrounding which policies could increase voter based participation in democratic systems, but the most irrefutably successful policies would be those applied in systems of proportional representation ("Statistics by country," 2011). Voting is part of Canadian civic duty; unfortunately not all Canadians exercise their right to vote. Over the past 20 years the Canadian voter turnout has been on a steady decline, from 75.3% turnout in 1988, to 59.1% voter turnout in 2008...
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...Voting Problem in America Voting Problem in America Numerous studies have been steered to support with observing for influences that will demonstration by public do not contribute in voting. It has remained a mounting difficulties with appropriate voters not registering and object their ballot. Over the decades, Americans have vanished trace with the antiquity of voting. Voting for in determinations supports in providing underpinning on why society do not participate in voting. Analyses provide tangible influences with why societies do not vote with illustration clusters support. Discovery of behaviors will show the unabridged development with the existing system supports with the American community. The 2008 elections enquiry provides awareness with the diverse motives from highest to lowest. Giving some understanding on the origin of the unruly and outcome resolutions to battle these problems. Examination can transform that are currently in domicile and assuring voting contributions on the ability to speak on the issues and distresses. Observing at other countries for potential solutions to the problem can be one riposte for the United States voting delinquent. Using tads and shards can support with altering he existing classification that does not work. Without transformation, the voting contribution will endure to diminish. The history behind the voting in America helps wonder why this pass civil liberty has fallen to many Americans waist side in today’s world. As America...
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...DEVELOPING AND MANAGING VOTERS REGISTRATION SYSTEM Introduction Voters’ registration is a process in which qualifying citizens are registered in order for them to be eligible to vote in an election. Voters registration is a process whose output is the voters’ roll which is basically a list containing the necessary details of all individuals who are eligible to cast their votes in an election. Governments operating under democratic principles around the world have to invest in this process in order to ensure smooth transition of power when time comes. Elections have been a major source of violence and consequently wars when one side feels that it wasn’t given a fair chance in the process. With this in mind, it is important for states to have proper voters roll in order to carry out elections in a credible and peaceful manner. If this process is not conducted in a transparent and collaborative manner, the credibility of the election process will as well be put into jeopardy at the end of the day. It this process which sets the stage of an election to be acceptable or add more credible reasons to rendered the election as not free and fair. In Tanzania, early voters’ registrations involved writing details of voters in a ‘counter’ book and have that book retrieved for verification on the Election Day. Voters were not given any sort of identification for them to keep as a form of authentication; no photographs of the ‘would be’ voters were being taken or kept by the registration...
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...Political advertising – a brief survey The empirical political advertising literature is limited. Most authors refer to Rothschild’s seminal (1978) article, which is both a review and a report on his tests of an involvement model. The level of involvement of voters in a particular election could depend on a wide range of factors, but Rothschild offers three general ones: 1. the level of the election (national/local etc.); 2. the closeness of the race; and 3. the volatility of the issues or candidates. There is some more recent work examining voter recall of political messages. Faber and Storey (1984), note voter responses to different messages and presentations (see, for example, Thorson et al., 1991), in particular negative ones (Faber et al., 1993; Garramone, 1984; Tinkham and Weaver-Lariscy, 1994). These studies used subjects in experimental groups rather than actual electoral or opinion poll data. More recently Ansolabehere and Iyengar (1995) have substantially added to the literature on negative advertising through the use of a very rounded and full quantitative and qualitative study which shows that a highly focused negative campaign can increase the turnout of those potential supporters predisposed to abstain by something in the order of approximately 29 per cent, thus maximising your supporters’ vote. Weaver-Lariscy and Tinkham (1987) investigated how Congressional election candidates evaluated different media and proposed six levels of response to political...
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...Imagine standing in a long line, in a hot, crowded courthouse, why are you there? Are you there to renew your driver’s license? Are you there to get new tags for your vehicle? You’re not there to renew your license, or get new tags for your vehicle, you’re there to VOTE. Ignore the crowd around you and keep in mind that you are there for a great reason. As a registered American voter, I would like to share with you the 4 steps for voting, show you the importance of voting, and encourage you to become a registered voter. Let me take you back to a critical time in America’s history. Let us begin by talking about the time or the civil war. It started in 1861. By the time of the Civil War, most white men were allowed to vote. In 1869, the 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote to black men, with most women of all races still unable to vote. Before the civil rights movement, which started in 1955, only free, rich, white men who owned property could vote. Although freed African Americans could vote in four states, white working men, almost all women, and all people of color were denied the right to vote. There is no doubt that people lost their lives fighting for rights to vote. People have lost their lives for us to vote in war. Also, some people performed courageous acts on their own to try and prove a point and died. Who fought so hard for us to vote? Women and men who supported the cause fought. Susan b Anthony, perhaps the most well-known women’s rights...
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...Enticed by the offer of a $100 stipend, I signed up a few weeks ago with the Registrar of Voters in Broward County to become a poll worker on election day. As a soon to be High school graduate working as a cafe barista in the local mall, I figured the experience would offer a good opportunity to earn some extra spending money. Of course, as I soon figured out, the stipend, spread out over 15 hours, amounts to less than the minimum wage. So my real motivation for working on election day would be to fulfill a sense of civic duty -- and simultaneously satisfy my curiosity about how the mechanics of a democracy really work, all the way down at the level of punch cards and chads. Despite lacking any prior election experience, I was assigned by the county registrar to the highest post there is: inspector. This meant that I was in charge of opening and closing the polls, managing three election clerks and arbitrating often-murky cases of voter eligibility. A few days before the vote, I attended a pre-election training class at University of Miami For an hour and a half, I listened to an energetic, spastic man speak to us about voting procedures. Like a motivational speaker, he circulated around the room with a wireless microphone and did his best to raise our level of enthusiasm. Thanks to him, I learned how to dislodge faulty punch-card ballots from voting machines -- but not much else. Many in the room appeared to be recently naturalized citizens with little grasp of English. An official...
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...Sun Star Davao By Ivy C. Tejano Thursday, August 1, 2013 THOUSANDS more registrants trooped to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office at Magsaysay Park during Wednesday's final day of registration for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections. While many of them made it, many failed to make it on time and blamed Comelec for its snail-paced processing. Still, others were hoping Comelec will extend the registration period. Analiza Mantimo, 15, of Tamugan Calinan, said it will be disappointing if ever she would not be registered. Mantino added that she had been at the Comelec office twice, but still she has not been accommodated. "Dili namo masabtan ang sistema nila diri. Bisan ako na mag pa transfer ra, wa gani ka sulod didto unya katulo na ni nako na adlaw diri (I can’t understand their system here. I just need to file for transfer of registration and yet I never made it into their office even on my third day of lining up)," said Marites Premitiba, 44, of Dumoy, Talomo District. "Sa kadaghan sa mga registrants kulang lang jud ang 10-day registration. Dagsa kayo ang mga mag pa rehistro unya pulo lang ka adlaw ilang gitagana para didto sa mga wala pa ka rehistro. Kulang ra pud kaayo ang adlaw (With the number of registrants, the ten-day registration is not enough. There were mobs every day. Ten days is not enough)," said May Ann Ambos, 15, of Tamugan Calinan. Exhausted registrants were still seen at the long lines Wednesday as they waited for several hours...
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