Representational Voting Case Study

The United States has a federalist government meaning that it works similarly on two different levels; nationally, and on the state level. This means that not only are elections held on the national level, but every year state-wide elections exist where different issues are voted upon in state-wide referendum. Although these occur every year, mainly they have been seen as only being important, and therefore watched by the people within that state, rather than nationally. Even so, within the past few years, these state elections have become more important nationally. Whether that is through the issues being voted on, or the trends that winning seats may prove for further upcoming elections, these state-wide elections are becoming more important for individuals nationally.

The book “The Persuadable Voter” by Sunshine Hillygus and Todd Shields examines voters decisions and actions with a focus on persuadable voters. Hillygus and Shields define the persuadable voter as a reasoned voter who vote might change, is undetermined or may not agree with their party. Persuadable voters are often used synonymously with independents and those without a strong partisanship towards one party or the other. Persuadable voters have been often simplified without much examination that goes into what causes these voters to be persuadable or influenceable. Hillygus and Shields question modern myths about persuadable voters and offer their own thoughts on the topic. The authors found that the persuadable voters

America was founded on the basic principle of democracy…right? Isn’t that the freedom we were searching for when the voyagers left Europe to form the US in the first place? The irony in this is that we are often taught to believe that the United States uses a true democracy. Over the years the United States has contradicted many of their basic ideologies and principles that we were founded on. For the most part, our Constitution has remained basically intact, other than minor exceptions here and there. However, our founding documents are extremely open ended and leave much room to change and interpret throughout time. Due to the flexibility of the United States founding documents the country practices a representative democracy rather

1) Although a voter is registered as with "no party affiliation" in Florida, they would be ineligible to vote for Bernie Sanders in the Florida Presidential Preference Primary. Due to Florida being a closed primary state, meaning anyone who wants to participate needs to be registered in a political party, would need to either register or switch on February 16 deadline. The Presidential Preference Primary is on March 16th and due to Bernie Sanders having the party affiliation of Democrats, the "no party affiliation" preference would have to be changed to Democrat affiliation on the 16th of February to be eligible to cast his vote for Sanders.

American politics is a fairly important thing to the American people, it seems as if it’s not just important to just us but to the people all over the world since most of these countries rely on us. But, Americans are not voting for some reason. On Election Night in 2016, Nearly half of eligible voters in the United States, 231,556,622 people, did not vote in the 2016 presidential election yet many Americans who did not even vote have decided that they are not even happy with our current president, Donald Trump, when they had the ability to change that outcome on November 2016. An issue that at least politicians have noticed is that eligible voters are not voting and they can

Just a few weeks ago, if you were to turn on the TV, you 'd be bombarded with political advertising campaigns. During the height of a midterm election season, campaign ads are just one demonstration of candidates pouring funds into their race with the hopes of creating name recognition and getting our votes. Not all tactics of gaining votes are as transparent as witnessing a negative ad campaign; some unethical ways of gaining votes are rather questionable, such as Gerrymandering. I wanted explore the basis behind gerrymandering and understand not only how it affects elections here in New York, but nationwide as well; what has come from the races as we announce the winners of these elections and possible reform for a better voting system in our country.

They found that as a precinct has more renters or more non-white voters, the turnout under VBM elections decreases, although at different rates for different election types. Having higher rates of college graduates in a precinct is correlated to higher turnout rates under VBM. This study was one of the first to consider who VBM might benefit, as opposed to the less complex question of increasing general turnout. While this research is indicative of who VBM might benefit, it relies on precinct-level data, and cannot effectively determine if individuals voting behavior changed under VBM. Berinsky, Burns, and Traugott (2001) extended this line of research on demographic effects by looking to the individual voting level to determine who VBM benefitted

Democracy has always been one of America’s most treasured assets. We have the opportunity to vote for whomever we want, regardless of race, gender, or party. We have the right to say what we feel and even take discourse upon that action. However, it is important to realize that the institution of voting is not as perfect as it seems. There are several problems, that when looked at closely, expose the flaws in our system. This is what I observed when I went poll watching at early voting polling places during the 2016 presidential election. As I was watching different people come to vote, I saw how problems which seemed trivial in the moment could actually pose serious threats.

The Single Transferable Vote system is a system that was invented by a mathematician whose processes are lengthy and confusing to the people who actually use it to implement change: voters. The currently used Single Member Plurality system is widely understood and the best system for Manitoban voters. While some may argue that the Single Transferrable Vote system is a superior method of electing members of government in Manitoba, due to the unfamiliarity with candidates, lack of voter involvement, and confusing nature of the system, the current Single Member Plurality system is more effective and reflective of the actual views of the electors.

On a micro level, this issue affects the lives of convicted felons who currently do not have the right to vote. Social acceptance for felons voting would allow the criminal's voice to be heard as they can vote for who they want without relying on others to support their causes. Also, being able to participate in the social norm of voting would help the felon better acclimate into acceptable rather than deviant behaviors. There are also macro-level consequences. With this increase of voters, states have the potential to swing voting results from current trends impacting campaigns and what issues make it on the ballots. Also, voters who have already violated society with their deviant act have the potential to change social norms and alter the

My takeaway from these clear differences in legislators shows a clear problem with partisan voting. I have trouble believing that Klingenschmitt was elected because of what he stands for – regardless of how conservative the Colorado Springs area is, I just can’t imagine most of them think people are gay due to demons. There is a clear trend here showing how people vote with their party regardless of what the person says, and that problem is to blame for such a far out there individual to be put in an extremely important public office. If the people of the Springs believe what he says, fine, but I just can’t imagine this being the case.

Due to technological advances and the internet, popular vote is entirely possible nowadays. However, I believe the electoral college does have a place in our political realm. It is true that a popular vote system would more accurately represent the will of the people, but I believe it would overshadow the will of people in smaller states. Considering that the majority of people live in states with large cities and other urban areas, those who live in rural areas wouldn't be given the same level of candidate attention. If the Electoral College had a split vote system in every state, this would more evenly distribute candidate attention as well as give a more representative perspective of what the people want.

I agree electonical voting is a bad idea, even though paper ballots take alot of time I believe they are safer to use. As stated in (electronic voting is a bad idea) some supporters claim that EVMs are easier to use, but others do not. Using EMVs in some situations are better than paper ballots but if you look at the situation it would be cheaper and safer to train people to help with paper ballots and polls.

Everyone has a problem with the government, whether it is paying too much in taxes, military spending or the political power in office. We all for the most part want to see some sort of change for the better, but rarely does anyone ever exercise a plan to put that change in motion. Our government using a simple but efficient tactic can address these types issues purely through the power of voting. Yet over forty percent of Americans didn’t vote in the 2012 presidential elections, as America ranks twentieth out of twenty-one countries in voter turnout. This is rapidly growing into a serious problem marring our generation and the future of our country. We the people have the power to show our governing body that we are interested in the well being of our nation while educating ourselves in the process. Voting is fast, easy and puts the power into the individual by actively trying to better the United States. By passing a law that requires all eligible U.S. citizens to vote in all voting sessions, we will put a stop to voter apathy by completely integrating the entire nation in American politics.

The variety of electoral systems currently in place has important political implications for matters of representation, accountability, and government effectiveness. A given electoral system determines the extent to which voters have choices in the election process, the way in which parties and candidates are elected as representatives, the extent and form of political competition, and the means by which the electorate vote is translated into legislative representation. Adopted by nations worldwide are two voting systems known as single-member plurality and proportional representation. As a result of the divisions and proportions of representation, two significantly contrasting dynamics of electoral and governing processes emanate from the practice of these two systems. This paper will comprise a systematic explanation of proportional representation and single-member plurality for its style of voter choice and its method of electing candidates, followed by a comparison of the forms of representation offered by and resulting from each system.