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This chapter explores the topic of voter turnout and the various factors that influence participation in democratic elections, including race and ethnicity, educational level, age, and social class. It also examines the impact of voter registration systems and the role of party identification, candidate appeal, and issue voting in shaping voting choices. The chapter discusses recent concerns and controversies in voting, such as contested ballots, outdated voting machines, and voter ID laws. Additionally, it examines the significance of mobilization efforts in driving voter turnout and addresses the reasons why some people choose not to vote.
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LongmanPoliticalScienceInteractive Magleby & Light Government by the People Chapter 8 Public Opinion, Participation, and Voting
Who Votes? • Race and ethnicity • Educational level • Age • Social Class
Voter Turnout in Western Democracies Average Turnout 1991-2000
Voting Voter registration: A system designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents, including proof of residency • -Reduces voter turnout • -Instituted in the U.S. only in the late 1800s • -Most other democracies have automatic registration • -Recent reforms • - “Motor Voter” bill (1993)
Voting In an effort to make registration easier, states have made registration forms available at motor vehicle stations, schools, public buildings, and even highway tollbooths
Voting on the Basis of Party • In the absence of reasons to vote otherwise, people depend on party identification to simplify their voting choices • Dramatic increase in self-declared Independents since 1970s Party Identification An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood
Voting on the Basis of Candidates Candidate Appeal How voters feel about a candidate’s background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities • 1980s mark a critical threshold in the emergence of a candidate-centered era • Increasingly, campaigns focus on the negative elements of candidates’ history and personality
Voting on the Basis of Issues Prospective Issue Voting Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected Retrospective Issue Voting Holding incumbents responsible for past performance on issues
Recent Concerns about Voting • Florida 2000 • Contested ballots • Outdated voting machines • Lingering perceptions of partisanship • Help America Vote Act 2002 • Ohio 2004 • Voter I.D. Laws
Counting Votes • Until the 2000 election, Americans took the counting of ballots for granted • Election officials must make judgment calls on incomplete/flawed ballots • Poll workers (regular people from the neighborhood) influence the security, efficiency, and overall environment of polling locations
Mobilization • Mobilizing the “base” (most loyal supporters) – primary elections • Mobilizing “swing voters” – general election • Canvassing - asking people how they are going to vote (door-to-door)
How Serious is Nonvoting? A huge army of nonvoters “hangs over the democratic process like a bomb ready to explode and change the course of history.” -Arthur Hadley “I’m not going to shed any crocodile tears if people don’t care enough to vote….I’d be extremely happy if nobody in the United States voted except for the people who thought about the issues and made up their own minds and wanted to vote.” - the late Senator Sam Ervin
How Serious is Nonvoting? • Concerns about “class bias” • Negative effect on Democratic candidates • May indicate approval of the status quo
