Jaymie TicknorPolitical Science 1050 Sect. 0024 March 2014Lecture #7Chapter #8 : Political Participation and Voting :Political Participation: primary focus tends to be on voting; yet there are other forms of participation: contacting government officials, contributing resources to a public campaign, signing a petition, and protestWhy Vote? believing your vote will make a significant difference in the outcome (big difference when smaller population, matters more; however always make some difference, big or small; mind-set important, voting when others do not vote)Benefits do you expect to gain (have voice heard, even if not direct; civic responsibility)Other reasons why you choose to vote (keep other candidate out of office)Calculating Voter Turnout Rates: turnout rate may differ depending on calculation; numerator is always the total number of people that votedDenominator is what matters: VAP: voting age population, all residents who are age 18 or older (bigger number); VEP: voting eligible population, excludes non-citizens, felons, and includes eligible overseas voters (gives larger fraction; tries to correct problems in VAP)Rational Calculus of Voting: Vote = (B x P) - C + DB = Benefits of having your candidate win; policies that you care about are enactedP = Probability of your vote making a difference in outcome; pretty low, higher incompetitive states or districtsC = CostD = Civic Duty (social pressure)Cost of Voting: costs to vote are greatest barrier to participation; institutional (rules; school and work) and personal (feelings toward voting) factorsCosts in U.S. explain difference in voter turnout between the U.S. and other developed countries (institutional costs we have to bare can discourage engagement)Registration: registration is automatic in many countries (citizens automatically listed as being added to the registration list); in U.S., voter registration is voluntary; 30 percent of Americans are not registered; motor voter law allowed citizens to register at DMV-limited impactCompulsory Voting: some countries penalize citizens for not voting; Australia (fines nonvoters)Nations with compulsory voting have 15% higher turnout rates than nations without itRight solution to increase turnout in the United States (force people to vote)?Mobilization: get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts inform citizens about candidates and issues; lowers the cost of voting ot citizens; lower mobilization = lower turnoutAmerican parties have decreased their GOTV efforts; weaker mobilization efforts have decreased turnout by 10 to 15 percentOther Institutional Barriers: Americans vote more frequently throughout the year than other countries; Primaries; Midterms; Local electionsVoters must vote at particular polling stations; higher cost of votingInstitutional Costs: registration, voter ID, Tuesdays (nations with non-work election dayhave 24% higher turnout rates than nations without such days), 18 or older requirement, non-compulsory voting, less mobilization, frequency of voting, attached to polling station (vote in district, employees proportion to district population, voter fraud)Personal Costs: time, gas money, distance, age, work, school, ability to bear costs of voting, strength of their civic duty, how often are targets of mobilization; highly-educated voters more likely to show up to polls than less-educated voters; higher socioeconomic status is associated with higher turnout ratesHow Do Voters Decide: party identification: tends to be stable over time; strong partisans are more likely to vote; party ID helps voter simplify their stances on issuesOccasionally, political events shape party affiliations (Southern realignment: Southern states were a solid Democratic voting bloc since mid-1800s; change after passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of1965; now the South is a solid Republican voting bloc)Issue voters (focus on issue over every other issue) and performance (Retrospective Voting: judging candidates based on alignment between voter’s and candidates’ position on issues (past); Prospective Voting: judging candidates and parties based on what one thinks they will do whenin office (future))Candidate characteristics (attractiveness; regional attachment of candidate; personal background; race and gender; religious