POLS 110 1st Edition Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I. Political participation: engaging individuals, shaping politicsII. Elections in the United StatesIII. The act of votingIV. Running for office: the choice to runV. The nature of campaigns todayVI. Regulating federal campaign contributionsVII. Presidential campaigns VIII. Who votes? Factors in voter participationIX. How voters decideX. Why some people do not voteOutline of Current Lecture I. Voting: BallotsII. TurnoutIII. More turnout informationIV. Causes of low turnoutV. Consequences of low turnoutCurrent LectureI. Voting : Ballotsa. Until 1888, virtually all states had public ballotsThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.b. The Australian Ballot was a Progressive-era reformc. The party check-off is a way to discourage split-ticket votingII. Turnouta. Still significant debate about how we actually calculate turnouti. Number of ballots counted divided by number of eligible voters1. “number of eligible voters” is a number based on the last censusb. Turnout after WWII peaked in 1960 and never really recovered -64%c. In 1996 turnout hit a 70-year low of 48.3%d. In 2000, 52%e. 2004, 54%f. 2008, 56%g. 2012, 55%h. Turnout in Congressional elections is even lower (30-40%)i. Pre-1890, voter turnout is no way accurate because population not known beforethen i. For states with governor’s race during presidential race, Congressional elections even lowerj. 1990-2012 compared to the average of other countriesi. Italy 88%ii. Spain 87%iii. Germany 78%iv. U.K. 69%v. U.S. 52%vi. Scandinavian countries over 95%III. More turnout information a. Turnout in state and local is often dismally low i. Many school board elections have average turnouts in the single-digit rangeii. Recent Eau Claire races have been below 10%b. Turnout among younger votersi. The group with the worst turnout performance over time is voters between 18-24 years of ageii. Problem is getting worse over timeiii. Even in the “youth vote” election of 2012, turnout was not goodIV. Causes of low turnouta. Voter apathy and lack of interesti. So are other countries b. Registration lawsi. We put the burden of registration on voters; other democracies use “autoregistration”c. Perceived lack of choicei. People think Democrats and Republicans too far apart and won’t accomplish anythingii. “nobody to vote for” excuse d. Satisfactioni. Drop in turnout when economy is goodii. Increase in turnout when economy is bade. Eligibility criteriai. Can’t vote if in prison, have committed a felony, etc.f. Too many elections i. Americans have 18 in a 4 year period; Britain has 4 in 4 year period V. Consequences of low turnouta. Only slightly less than 1 in 4 eligible voters actually voted for Obama in 2012b. In many congressional races, the ratio is 1 in 8 voters selecting the winner c. Is this still
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