The Importance Of Barriers To Voting

As Texans and the through the many years of voting, voting barriers have occurred both in contemporary and in historical ways. Some of the ways that barriers have occurred in a contemporary way are by council members being elected at-large. This means that there are no individual districts for the city in which voting is occurring. Another contemporary barriers could include information that was inadequate or misleading for the voters, voters being intimidated by his/her surrounding or of that of an individual candidate policy, procedures and qualifications required to place their vote, or even just the overall presence of difficulty to cast a vote due to broken ballot machines or unavailable polling spots. Historically Texas, along with other states, have a known history of disenfranchising groups such as blacks, Latinos, and poor whites.

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

Throughout the years many Americans have faced what is known as voter suppression. When researching voter suppression you will find that it is defined as a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing those with voting rights from voting. I interpret that the causes of voter suppression derives from that of equality issues or a misconception of government. However, history recorded the effects of voter suppression which leads to major violence, rebellion, strikes, or in some cases fear. The jarring act of voter suppression began early as 1776 when white men owning property were allowed to vote denying Jews, Catholics, and others their voting rights.

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

The issue of restrictions on voter rights, via registration restrains, or restrains is not a new issue when looking back at the history of the United States of America. There have been a number of Supreme Court cases that have dealt with laws that have attempted to hamper the ability of minority groups to have their voices be heard at an equal volume. One example is the case, Baker V. Carr (1962). This was about how the county lines, and therefor Congressional representation, was greatly skewed and had not been update for many years, giving the rural voter greater representation over that of the urban voter, who could be shown more likely to be a minority. While there is very little new about the issue itself, there seems to have been what appears to progress, but the case could be made that the issue is still very much alive and well, just masquerading around the ball in a different mask. What originally brought my gaze to this topic, was actually a segment on the topic during an episode of “Last Week Tonight, With John Oliver.” The thing that stuck out the most to during this particular segment was the legislation that Oliver brought up, and a quote that went along with it, calling the North Carolina laws being struck down “the most restrictive voting law North Carolina has seen since the era of Jim Crowe,” and that the laws provisions, “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.” While this example specifically speaks towards regulations that are aimed

Staci L. Rhine describes the history of voting registration procedures in her article “An Analysis of the Impact of Registration Factors on Turnout in 1992” (1996). She reports that until the 1960s, states had the full responsibility of establishing requirements for registration and administering elections (Rhine, 1996, p.173). Federal reforms have been effective at giving states guidelines to follow to make voting easier for citizens (Rhine, 1996, p.173). However, due to voter fraud issues in major elections, states have had to implement the new aforementioned measures (Ash & Lamperti, 2013, p. 15). In 2011, states which had previously allowed for same day registration, or Election-Day Registration, began legislation to remove this outlet (Weiser & Norden, 2011, p. 2-3). Many voting rights advocates wholeheartedly support EDR, and states, which had this form of registration in place generally, had higher turnout rates than those who did not (Weiser & Norden, 2011, p. 25). So, without Election Day Registration, many young individuals, and those who move around often are denied their right to vote, simply because circumstances prevented them from registering earlier. Furthermore, the advent of the photo identification requirement in numerous states makes the voting process more difficult. Studies have shown that 11% of the population, approximately 21 million individuals, do not own photo IDs, and these

The first thing that keeps people from voting is the amount of time and effort that it takes to vote. The United States is one of the only democratic governments that requires its citizens to register to vote. In many other democratic governments the registering of citizens happens automatically. Also, the election in the United States is held on a Tuesday. That wouldn’t be a problem if people were guaranteed time off from work, or if the voting took place for more than one day. Of course, that would make it too easy for people who work, students, and minorities to vote. Instead, some states cut their early voting time in half and are attempting to do away with same day registering. All things that would make it harder for ‘unsavory’ people to vote for the people who would help them.

Voting and having a sufficient number of eligible voters actually cast a vote to elect government officials is critical for the proper functioning of government in representative democracies like the United States.

According to a writer named Drew DeSilver from the Pew Research Center, the last election had been won through the electoral college instead of the popular vote. Due to this, many citizens question whether their vote really counts or not. However, there are others that believe the constitution says that because people over the age of eighteen can vote that everyone must participate. While it is a wonderful idea to have more voices be heard, our founding fathers didn’t have it be a requirement for the country. Individuals should have a right to pick if they wish to participate or not.

The video clip talked about the voting rights of all citizens of the United States. Yet, it also showed how senators have imposed laws in certain states which have prohibit many voters from casting their vote. These laws mandate that the individual present a photo id before being allowed to vote. It also described the hard process that people face when trying to obtain their photo id. For example, government offices within the states that require and id to vote are only open during certain times through the year. Yet, when senators have been told regarding the dilemma the strict laws have created they have responded that by imposing these laws they will prevent fraud from occurring. The senators believe that these laws will prohibit all individual

Voting is privilege given to Americans. Many people don’t know how lucky they are to have the privilege to give their opinion on who leads our country. It took many years for the U.S to get voting rights equalized for all citizens; so everyone should take advantage of this. Participating in voting should be happening by every eligible person in the U.S. A person’s characteristics will effect whether or not they are going to participate in voting. It can either positively affect the person or negatively. Also registering and knowing where and how to register and where too actually vote can effect whether or not a person will participate in voting. A major aspect effecting voting is a person’s family history; if growing up in a family where

Many people may have an opinion on what the age limit for voting should be. I believe that lowering the voting age would only benefit our country. First, voting is something people may look forward to doing after their eighteenth birthday. Second, decreasing the legal voting age from eighteen to sixteen could not only increase the number of voters but this could also balance out the percentages of elderly and younger votes.

As a US Citizens we must vote not only for our voices to be heard, but to make sure we choose the right candidate and lastly to get credibility for voting.

The 15th amendment states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Bashara). These words are not complicated, and we should be able to follow and understand them, yet over the course of time, we have put these legal words aside. While we may have made significant leaps in giving everyone the right to vote, there are still many factors that affect minorities during election periods- and that may end up eliminating their votes. It is clear that some counties and cities give the majority of people an unfair advantage when it comes to voting and that minorities, or people living in poverty,

According to the Fourteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution, voting rights are entitled to anyone over the age of eighteen, but voting rights for convicted felons are basically nonexistent. When one makes a bad decision, many consequences come into play, and their voting rights is one of those consequences. The Election Code for the State of Texas states that, “once a felon has successfully completed his or her punishment, including any term of incarceration, parole, supervision, period of probation, or has been pardoned, then that person is immediately eligible to register to vote.”, meaning that as long as all requirements have been met, one has regained his or her right to vote. A felony is defined as “a serious criminal offense, punishment by a prison sentence or a fine. A capital felony is punishable by death or a life sentence” (Governing Texas, 447). There are degrees of felonies, some have stricter sentences than others. Even though they are felons, they are still apart of society, and if they are a part of society, they should be treated like everyone else around them, meaning that they should never lose their voting rights.