Chapter 8 Essays

1. There are two ways to calculate voter turnout. The first way is to measure the turnout as percentage of voting-age population (America: 47.2%), and the second way is to track the turnout as percentage of registered voters (63.4%). If you were to compare percentages of American citizens with those of other countries (using both methods) America would not be at the top of the list, or even in the first half of the list. These staggeringly low number would give the impression that Americans have lost interest in voting and are failing at their civic duties. Some even believe that the low numbers are a result of apathy of voters; however, when campaigns were done to help voters get more informed or involved with politics, the voter turnout saw little to no improvement. Clearly, the real issue here would be the lack of registered voters, rather than the lack of the informed voters.

2.Hands down one of the biggest factors that affects voter turnout would be the lack of Americans who are willing to put in the work to register to vote. Even though Congress passed the motor-voter law in 1993, there is still a multiple step process citizens have to go through to register. In many European countries, where voter turnout is higher, the government actually registers the citizens for them. If the United States adopted a similar policy, it would dramatically help increase voter turnout. 63.4% of Americans who are registered voters actually participate in elections, so if the government took on the responsibility of registering citizens, a larger number of people would exercise their right to vote.

3. In the beginning, only white males were given the right to vote, but throughout the years that right has been extended to a wider variety ...

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...cans would rather CLEARLY demonstrate which issues are bothering them and spell out exactly what they want done about it. At that point, it becomes less about who is in office, and more about who is going to listen to them and how they are going to accommodate the wants of the people. Also, in order to be heard better, American citizens can focus more on a local level rather than a national level with their votes. In some European countries, citizens only need to vote once per year and for one office. Whereas here, we vote for dozens of offices ranging from school boards to Congress members. With that being said, it is easier for Americans to pick and chose which offices they want to vote for. Often they will focus only on the offices that will implement the changes they are wanting to see, or the offices that will address the issues that are most important to them.