Low Voter Turnout In America

There are many factors that have led to a culture of low voter turnout in the State of Texas. For example, Texas being a poor state with an uneven distribution of wealthy plays an important role. According to the text book, “the poverty rate is important because the poor and less educated, in the absence of strong parties to persuade them to go to the polls on Election Day, have a tendency to stay home”. Because the poverty rate is so high, it makes a big difference on voter turnout when the poor don’t

In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.

“From 1972 to 2012, citizens 18-29 turned out at a rate 15 to 20 points lower than citizens 30 years older” from this data we can conclude that age is a demographic that affects voter turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). Voting laws such as those of identification or registration impact voter turnout. For example, the introduction of early voting was meant to increase voter turnout, but has in fact decreased turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). In response to the argument that the system lowers voter turnout rate, one should take the many other variables that contribute to turnout into account.

The voter barrier explanation for the decline in voter turnout in US national elections was researched and analyzed by, Fair Vote- The Center for Voting and Democracy, organization. They classify these barriers as being registration and the scheduling of elections during the workweek that intensify the disparity in turnout between low and high income voters (Fair Vote, 2012). Given that Fair Vote does recognize and acknowledge that this is not the only problem that has affected voter turnout to decline, they do believe that it plays a substantial role in it. However, not only do they state that these

Voter turnout drastically decreased in 1968, when the voting age was lowered to 18. America is ranked extremely low in political participation amongst other industrialized countries, coming in above only two countries, Russia and Switzerland. As a whole, mass participation is not stressed in The United States. Texas, ranks below the bottom for voter turnout among other states. Texas already does not stress mass participation as compared to Midwestern states and New England states. Texas also has many factors than can contribute to its low voter turnout such as racial diversity, socioeconomic diversity and political culture.

Voter turnouts in the U.S. are spectacularly low compared to most other democracies. Turnout has not reached over 70% in the last century while other developing nations and quite a few third world nations have registered higher turnouts. During the 2016 presidential election, only about 55.7% of the population cast their votes according to newly released Census Bureau figures. The U.S. trails far below compared to the other developed nations hovering over 80% which were, Belgium (87.2%), Sweden (82.6%) and Denmark (80.3%). How could this be? Is the U.S. political system built in a way where many people believe that their votes don’t matter or should compulsory voting be enforced? There are many factors that go into the results of voter turnouts in the U.S.

Hypothesis 1: Voters with higher education (which generally results in higher household incomes) are more likely to vote.

In my opinion, I believe that low voter turnout is problematic for U.S. democracy. I believe that should be viewed as a symptom of an unhealthy democracy because it essentially represents a democracy where the people do not believe in the system that is established, they do not believe that their vote actually matters, or they do not feel informed or comfortable to make their voice heard. These are just a few of the potential reasons for why there is such a low voter turnout in the U.S.

Many Americans don't vote because they think their vote doesn't count. This is a common excuse that's rooted in the belief that the Electoral College chooses the President, not the voters. In reality, the popular vote in

The special election process is not fair and therefore not adequate, because it is more difficult for working-class citizens and minority voters to participate in the election. Currently, elections take place on weekdays during working times. This decreases voter turnout, as many people are unable to leave work to go vote. Furthermore, this disproportionately affects working-class citizens and people who earn hourly wages. Voter ID laws, while practical, further decrease voter turnout because people who do not own adequate identification or who are not aware of the need for identification are unable to vote. Next, the lack of widespread voting centers makes it more difficult for voters to reach a voting center, especially working-class citizens and urban dwellers, many of whom do not own cars or other forms of transportation. Lastly, the language barrier also makes it increasingly difficult for minorities to participate in the voting process, decreasing voter

Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System

In this essay, I would like to discuss the major obstacles to voting, recent changes to overcome voting barriers and the political influence of changed rules. Low turnout in the U.S. reflects that there are obstacles for people to voting and changes to overcome these obstacles may also bring new problems to different social groups. I will elaborate on these aspects in the following parts.

The U.S Constitution gives the states considerable latitude in the way of conducting elections. The American citizens have many opportunities to vote. However, a turnout in American elections has dramatically decreased over the past several decades. In order to address this issue, majority of states have allowed absentee voting reforms. These convenient reforms are thought to increase the voter turnout in the elections, as well as to reduce administrative costs.

Low voter turnout in the United States is due to poor rules and regulations, demographics,

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter