Lane Community College Essay

Since 1972, youth voter turnout has been on the decline. According to the Child Trends Databank, 50 percent of Americans aged 18 to 24 participated in the 1972 presidential election (2015). Nearly three decades later, the percentage of young adults aged 18 to 24 who voted in the 2000 presidential election had dropped eighteen

Getting to polling locations can be a hassle, especially for the disabled, the sick, and people without transportation. In addition, voting becomes even more difficult for

Although, being a teenager myself I do have a clear understanding about the momentous moment certian teeangers in the Montgomery County are being offered, but was it worth the controversy within the government to finally make it happen. A Fred Schultz, elaborated on the issue that the outcome would not be as rewarding for the amount of time that was spent to grant this right to the counties teenagers in order to raise the amount of political participation(Shin). Once the results came trickling in, there seemed to still be an exceedingly low rate for voter turnouts. Montgomery teenagers were simply granted the right, and proved to the county there was no point in doing so since there was little participation from their age group. Not to mention that majority of the sampled teenagers would not take the initiative to register to vote, and even though the county had registration at the Motor Vehicle Registration there is a point that not every teeanger is able to drive legally. Thus, that extra step to increase voter registration amongst teenagers was not beneficial. Giving us the right to vote comes at a cost, and it seems

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

Voter turnout is the rate by which people vote in elections. The simplest way to calculate a given election's turnout rate is to compare the actual number of voters with the voting-age population. “Voter turnout in the United States is among the worlds’ lowest.” (E.S. 371) The graph below taken from an article written for the Huffington Post in 2012, illustrates how poor United States voter turnout has been as compared to other industrialized nations. Our voter turnout

Political inactivity on the part of young Americans stems from one fundamental source -- a general cynicism of the American political process. This disdain for politics is further perpetuated by a lack of voter education and a needlessly archaic voting procedure that creates barriers to voting where they need not exist. While many of these existing problems can be rectified with relative ease through the implementation of programs such as Internet voting and better voter education, such programs create only a partial solution.

“All U.S citizens at the age of 18 or older must be registered and vote on all election days. All businesses must schedule employees paid time off throughout the day (minimum 2 hours during business hours), or the business may close for the entire day. All ballots must be mailed-in, turned-in, or casted by 8pm local time zone. Anyone who objects to vote on voting day will be penalized with a fine and sentenced to jail time.”

Texas Politics. The University of Texas at Austin, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, 2009. Retrieved from http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/6_printable.html

Paul Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times. In 2008 Loeb founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonpartisan student engagement effort that helped 500 colleges and universities engage their students in the election. Paul Rogat Loeb has spent thirty-five years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment. This book, more so a handbook, enables anyone who desires to make a change in the environment around them, leading them to get involved in larger communities. The book acknowledges that “it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and to become

Every four years, Americans go to the polls and vote. Experts say approximately 23% of America have unregistered voters. Voting is vital. Every single vote counts on election day. The Presidential Election brings out the most Americans. Democratic and Republican parties go head to head in the race to become the nation’s president. In 2008, the presidential hopeful will be Barack Obama. He will provide citizens with affordable healthcare insurance. Obama will give tax breaks to the working class and improve the education systems.

At the beginning of the semester, our group spoke with the client to develop several goals that they wanted our group to achieve throughout this semester. After speaking to the Vice Chairman John Wood (2016), one of the main tasks that he wanted our group to assist the club with accomplishing was to use the election to boost engagement within the club for both club meeting attendance and also visibility on social media. Since the media was covering he election for a large part of the day, Wood discussed the idea that since the media is covering the election for a large part of the day, politics is on the mind of people more now than it would be during midterm elections. By using the fact that the election is top of mind for many individuals at Liberty, the club wanted to take advantage of this season and also gain members. The last goal that the club wanted to accomplish was to increase voter registration and voter turnout on Election Day.

The Voter Guide Release Party was a non-partisan political event encouraging the community to vote, while also providing the necessary resources and knowledge which would prepare citizens for the upcoming election. MOVE is the nonprofit civic organization that hosted the event. The event had a successful turnout. I recall a person commenting "Wow, this place is bumpin'!" before sliding into a small gap between two people, then vanishing into the mingling crowd. The space was filled with people eager to be involved with the upcoming election. The age range varied, but everyone was either eighteen or older. The event also highlighted a journalist and writer who wrote a book regarding the importance of voter participation.

There are several forms of absentee voting that are believed to improve overall voting quality. Permanent absentee voting is one of them. This particular rule allows the voter to vote absentee without requesting an absentee ballot for each election (Sabato 2013, 98). Generally, permanent absentee voting was available for military voter and individuals with disabilities in order to increase certain categories of voters. Currently, According to National Conference of State Legislatures, every state permits an absentee ballot to certain voters. While 27 states allow no-excuse absentee voting, in other 21 states the excuse is required. Eight states including Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey and Utah offer voters the option to register for no-excuse permanent absentee voter status. Five states such as Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri and West Virginia, allow permanent absentee voter status for voters with disability. While Alaska and Delaware offer

This grant money would encourage young adults to get involved and increase the likelihood that they will continue to be engaged in future elections. In addition, it is beneficial to have more young people working at the voting polls since the job requires the workers to be fairly comfortable with technology as the voting machines are now electronic. A cost of this approach is the amount of money that must be allocated to these grants. If this approach does not garner more college student participants, then it hurts the Election Assistance Committee who oversees the distribution of the grants. This approach has the benefits concentrated on college students and the costs are concentrated on the

Voter turnout, as well as election results, depend upon and are effected by several different factors. Everything from family status to beliefs about abortion can determine how a person will vote. In my presentation, however, I focused on three aspects that effect voter turnout and elections. I found, in my research, that a voter's age, sex and party identification greatly factor into how a person will cast his or her vote.