Mid-semester course evaluation

1. What do you like BEST about the class?2. What would you like to see MORE of? 3. What do you like LEAST about the class?4. What would you like to see LESS of?5. Which category best describes the number

of hours you spend weekly preparing for this class? a.0 b. 1 c. 2-3 d. 4-5

Judicial assignment

Supreme Court decisions that are on the docket (www.oyez.org)

Choose a case, choose a justice, predict or describe opinion

Due May 3

Optional writing assignment (due March 24)

Go to http://electiononline.org/ and read the Briefing on the 2004 election. According to the report, what issues need to be addressed before the next election? Which issue do you think is most pressing and why?

Participation and Voting

Political Participation

actions of citizens that seek to influence politics– Conventional: voting, writing letters

Suffrage (franchise) is the right to vote

– Unconventional: protests

Why is voting important?

– Elections confer legitimacy on government

– retrospective or prospective judgment

BallotBox

Types of elections

primary: elections to determine party candidate– open: choose party at time of vote– closed: limited to party members– blanket: voting not limited to party ballot

general: elect to office

voting turnout

Proportion of voting-age public that votes In 2004, voting age population was 221

million people. Nearly 120 million (54.2 percent) voted, 58.9 percent of eligible voters (excludes felons, ex-felons and immigrants who are not citizens) voted

More about turnout

Highest percentage since 1968. Since the 1960s, the turnout has not reached 60%

Turnout lowest in state, local elections Midterm elections have not reached 50%

since 1920

Why don’t people vote?

demographic factors connected to voting

Education is the strongest predictor of participation

Income and age are also important

What about youth vote in 2004?

Approximately 10 to 12 million 18-24 year olds voted, with an estimated turnout rate of 48%. Turnout rate improved over the 2000 elections

Age group favored John Kerry, and were important to result in several states

Still lower percentage than other age groups (68 percent of 55-64 year olds)

“mindset” factors connected to voting

– rational ignorance: it makes sense to stay home Fig. 13.6: 27 percent “too busy”

– civic duty (opposite): vote regardless of information– positive apathetics: happy with things the way they are– political impotents: lack efficacy (Chicago’s 24th ward)

logistical factors connected to voting

difficulty in registering to vote– Registration: entry of a person’s name onto a list

of eligible voters; a person must meet certain requirements set by state law

– easier since the Motor Voter Law, required states to allow registration at time get/renew driver’s license and at social services

Short time frame

One day (work day) 2004 election:

– long lines

Absentee ballot

Voting fraud

Help America Vote Act of 2002– Provisional ballots for voters not on voter roll

More than 1 million

– Provided funds to states to improve election administration and replace outdated voting systems

Lawsuits after 2004 election

E-voting

30 million Americans cast ballots electronically (by touch screen)

Phantom votes, and voting results that did not match exit polls in Ohio

Lost votes in North Carolina and Florida

Does it matter that people don’t vote?

What do you think?

History of the voting franchise

In 1780s, only white, male, property owners could vote

property requirements were removed by the states in the early and mid 1800s

15th amendment (1870)

prohibited states from denying the right to vote “on account of race...or previous servitude”

Southern states circumvented through the poll tax, literacy tests, the grandfather clause, and the white primary

Voting Rights Act (1965)

authorized federal action in state election processes

dramatically increased registration

Other constitutional expansions:

19th amendment (1920)– Women received the right to vote

23rd amendment (1961)– allowed residents of Washington, D.C. to elect

electors to the electoral college

26th amendment (1971)– lowered voting age to 18