Preview

Voter Turnout Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
599 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Voter Turnout Research Paper
Voter turnout is defined as a number of voters who actually cast ballots in an election, to a percentage of people eligible to register and vote. About half of the voting age population historically does not vote, even in presidential elections. The voter turnout is even lower in off year congressional and state elections. Turn out in local elections is even lower. Voter turn out is always higher in years with a presidential election. Voter turn out has generally declined since the 1960’s. Voter turnout can take a huge upswing when the elections have highly contested issues with differing candidate platforms.
To exam this decline in voter turnout we must consider several factors. One of those factors is voter registration; the process

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The two party system sometimes affects voting turnout. A state is usually considered a Democratic, Republic, or swing State. Some people think that their vote doesn’t matter because if their states is Democratic (or Republic) then the Democratic (or Republican) candidate will receive their state’s electoral votes. This results to only 45% of eligible voters actually voting.…

    • 57 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    POSC AG21 13

    • 1446 Words
    • 7 Pages

    7. One of the reasons for the low turnout among American voters is that the individual in the U.S. assumes responsibility for registering to vote, whereas in most other democracies voters are registered automatically by government officials. True…

    • 1446 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The presidential election in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore was a close race, unfortunately for Al Gore, the election was not fair. When Florida voted the first time Bush won all 25 electoral votes, he won by 15,000 votes. Palm Beach county in Florida demanded a recount because many citizens believed they voted for the wrong person due to the confusion of the ballot. The machine which counted the votes didn’t count correctly and somehow took away thousands of votes away from Gore and gave Bush and extra 3,000 votes. After realizing what had happen another machine recount took place and the difference of Bush and Gore votes was 1,784, not including dimpled chads. The Secretary of State at the time, Katherine Harris, denied an extension.…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several different reasons that affect the lower rate of turnout, income levels, education levels, partisanship and voter registration are some examples of the issues. People today do not trust the government as much as they use to.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Powell goes on to explain that voter turnout is disadvantaged 13% by the party system and institutional factors, and 14% by registration laws. Legal and administrative obstacles, including time/place restrictions on registration and voting, affect the poor and uneducated more than the well-off and educated. Additionally, parties strategize which eligible voters, i.e. those they believe will vote for them, they will reach out to “activate and enlist.” They even went a step further with their attempted termination of the Motor Voter Act. They approach specific groups and tailor their campaigns and platforms around those people.…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voters Turnout Ratio

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Voters’ turnout ratio is the ratio of valid votes on all registered voters in this referendum, and the results show this referendum voters’ turnout ratio is only 35.3%, which is especially low (see table 1). Analyzing whether rebel violence influences voters’ willingness to vote might explain the reason why this turnout ratio is so low.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Krauthammer’s article In Praise of Low Voter Turnout raises an important issue America faces as a democratic republic. The problem that is frequently addressed tends to be that voter turnout is lower than most other democratic countries; however, in respect to the working population, being over 50% nationally is not nearly as poor as it would seem.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had 19 separate sections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected the rights of voters in the United States. No voting qualifications to voters shall be imposed. It outlawed poll tax. American citizens could not be denied the right to vote based on race or color. The United States Attorney General was given the authority to appoint federal examiners to audit states, voting policies and practices if they felt there was a violation.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voter Turnout Analysis

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    First, Models 1-4 suggest that turnout does not have a significant impact on party strength. In the national party strength models, turnout does indeed have a significant and positive impact on party strength. This finding makes perfect sense. At the start of the period of study, whether one voted was highly dependent on class. Today, this relationship is not as strong. Figures 3.3 and 3.4 show a distinctive upward trend in the data. Moreover, midterm effects are visible. It makes it reasonable to expect that more new voters were showing up at the polls and voting for at least some Republican candidates in high profile races. Turnout is not by itself significant in any of the state party strength models. This suggests that candidates such as Senator Trent Lott and President Ronald Reagan may have been able to convince new southern voters to show up and vote for them, but those new voters continued to vote for Democratic candidates in state level…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voter apathy is a growing problem in the United States. It’s when people who are eligible to vote choose not to. There are many causes of voter apathy and I believe not all of the reasons are done intentionally by people. One reason is, not knowing enough about the candidates running for office. When you don’t know anything about who is actually running how are you expected to make an educated and sincere vote? I think the mind set of people is if they don’t know enough information then they are better off just not getting involved. Politics can become boring and mundane therefore citizens chose not to pay attention to what’s id going on in the campaigning process. All too often we hear the same old things out of these politicians so shutting them out and choosing not to learn more about that is an easy escape. Negative campaigning and advertisements are another cause of voter apathy. When all we see on TV are negative ads about each candidate or each party then our attitudes towards either side change. Nobody wants to be involved in something that has a negative effect or outcome. I think that the negative advertisement is the main problem. It’s the fastest way to communicate to a lot of people but unfortunately people don’t want to hear complaining, whining, put downs and derogatory comments.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voter Turnout Rate

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Voter turnout is the number of voters who actually showed up to vote vs. the total number of eligible voters. This is calculated by dividing the number of valid votes by the number of registered voters. There are two ways of calculating that determines voter turnout. The reported turnout (Voting-age Population or VAP) is the result of the population who are aged 18 and older. This turnout rate includes people that are ineligible to vote which include felons and non-citizens. The more accurate measure of voter turnout is the Voting-eligible population (VEP). This turnout rate subtracts the ineligible population. The VEP turnout rate is normally higher than that of the VAP.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This book used many graphical charts and statistical data to basically prove many points, but one of the most vivid facts is that suffrage did not cause the decline in voter participation. If anything, it is more based on demographics and how people have begun to become disinterested in the electoral process over time – by feeling that one person alone is unable to change anything.…

    • 2809 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Voter turnout can increase if the United States makes it compulsory like the other democratic nations who turnout is 90% and up. The US is one of the few democracies that require its citizens to register to vote. In most other democratic nations this is not a separate step. The government provides the polling location to each citizen as they comprised a listing of each citizen with the person’s name, age and address. The person just has to show up to the poll to vote, show identification and then are checked against that location’s list. The US leaves the registration to each citizen. A significant number of voters never take the initial step of bothering to register. And then those that take this step may show up to vote to find out there…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voting In Texas

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Voter turnout in the United States compared to other countries is extremely low. The text book explains that low voter turnout in Texas can be attributed to wealth, race and education. If we attribute the same reasons as to why voter turnout…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Voter Turnout

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Specifically to Texas, some major factors that affect voter turnout are traditional and individual actors have a major impact on elections. The traditional culture is more of a conservative type that embraces the old roots of Texas and does not really place an emphasis on voting. Also the history of…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays