The Importance Of Voter Voting In The United States

A very controversial topic in the United States is whether or not Americans should be required to vote. Voting is a very essential piece to democracy, but many Americans today are not attending their voting location and supporting the candidate they feel is best. In recent elections, just 60% of registered voters casted their vote for a candidate. This is an issue that many people are not happy about, but whether or not there is reason to fix it is the other side to the case. Voter participation is an issue that has been going on for years, and no laws are in place currently to bring it up. Americans have been proud to live in a “free country”, and a law forcing citizens to vote may be against America’s principles. Compulsory voting should

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.

America is facing an all-time low in voter participation. Since 2014 the voting population has decreased by “thirty-six and four-tenths percent” (DelReal). Many theories explain the stigma of voting in America. According to the Wolfgang “the leading theory is: many minority voters are discriminated upon and do not believe their vote will count.” Many laws created infringe on the rights of Americans, however, when citizens do not vote the government seizes control on controversial issues , which in turn creates solutions that are less than satisfactory to the civilians.

States have utilized their discretion over the time, place, and manner to alienate large segments of the voting population in the pass. From the Jim Crow era literacy tests and poll taxes, to modern-day voter ID laws, representatives have attempted to disenfranchise voters at every turn. Thought the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would have ideally rid America of these obstacles by this point, vestiges of the manipulation remain. The passage of years has brought a large degree of uniformity to election laws. For example, all states except Louisiana permit election by plurality in general elections. But several key distinctions prevail, and the desire for federalism here has created issues with suffrage. Voter ID laws are perhaps the most visible

There are a variety of practices that are put in place to limit certain peoples’ ability to be able to have their voice heard during the electoral process, such as Identification requirements to be able to cast your ballot. The court system has ruled that they are not an unconstitutional act, and even though they are believed the have a legitimate purpose by some people, those very laws and restrictions seem to be adversely affecting certain populations at a much higher rate than others.

Living in a nation based on democracy, where a citizen’s voice is the equivalent of casting a vote in political elections, the majority of American citizens eligible to vote do not participate in elections. The rationale behind voter non-participation varies among individuals and demographic groups; however, they all share a connection regarding their feelings towards their treatment by the country's political system. Minority voters such as blacks and hispanics are a demographic group highly faced with disenfranchisement in regards to political elections due to oppression. North Carolina’s Voter ID laws are a prime example of how minority voters are being shut out.

However, logic dictates that a more legitimate vote would lead to a more legitimate outcome regarding politicians who are elected, and therefore better representation for the people of the United States. Not only are states' rights, minorities, politicians, affected, but the entire country is affected by voter identification restrictions. The political environment has a climate that is very tense to say the least. For the first time in decades, a majority of both parties view the other party as very unfavorable (Chokshi, 2016). With partisanship higher than it has been in decades, it is important that the public views elections as fair and just. This climate is not conducive to change and it seems the gridlock seen in the government today may not change any time soon. Hence, the landmark case of Shelby County v. Holder may simply be the only policy in place that can guide things and the actual decisions may be left up to the states unless cases are taken to the Supreme Court to create

As an African-American male in the United States of America, the opportunity to exercise my constitutional right to vote in the 2016 Presidential election was an honor. During this time, I was a first-year college student in another county in Texas; therefore, I decided to use an absentee ballot early on in the voting process. However, voting by an absentee ballot was a concern because I wanted to make sure that my vote counted. Nevertheless, as a new voter, I proceeded with filing in my absentee ballot, but still skeptical about the counting process. On November 8, 2016, imagine my surprise when I learned that Donald J. Trump was the next President of the United States of America. My initial reaction was “what the bleep is going on in

As stated in the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state because race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” As the act of voting itself is the guardian of all other rights, the right to vote is by far the most important. Our nation is arguably facing levels of dissent not seen for generations, and the topic of voter rights and voter suppression is once again at the forefront. Voter suppression occurs in many ways, and takes on many names, but affects the low-income and racial minorities in significant ways. This paper will bring the forms of suppression and the targeted groups to light.

The citizens of the United States of America populate a very privileged nation relative to the majority of developing countries. Americans are able to exercise a multitude of rights. Despite having freedom to the most basic of rights, Americans do not take full advantage of their liberties. One such instance relates to American’s right to vote in elections. Presently, U.S citizens of differing heritage, skin color, gender, and social standing has the liberty to vote for the authoritative figures who will run their government at the local, state, and nationwide scale, yet very few U.S citizens are present at voting polls during off year elections. The cause of the nationwide absence at the polls is reflective of U.S. citizens’ distrust of the political system and their state of ignorance concerning current national issues.

There could be so many reasons why the voter’s turnout is so low. Most of them decline, because they have no public interest for elections. Back before the Constitution was sign African American couldn’t vote, it was called white privileges and women did have the right to vote. So I thing that still plays a part in the African American communities. Then most of them feel that their vote does not matter anyway. American have no motivation to vote like they once did. The voter turnout in the United States is low due to the fact that voters either choose not to vote, they are not a citizenship, or they have been in prison, and or other legal barriers that makes them ineligibility. A large percentage of the individuals are not voting because political

Historically in America, voting has been a relatively discriminatory practice. It has limited and deprived many individuals of many diverse races, ethnicities, and walks of life from casting their votes to select the individual who they feel is most educated, and skilled to represent their interests. Not only has this been proven to be wrong by discriminating minority groups in voting, it also has proved to be a process, which minimizes the largest growing demographics in the country. Furthermore, with millennials growing to become more politically active, minority groups are becoming more politically involved than ever. Taking this into account an important question that is raised by the author William Eskridge in his book “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” is “Would minorities be better off with more representatives who had to pay attention to their interests because they are a powerful and organized constituency, rather than with a few representatives of minority districts who specialize in protecting only their interests?” (Eskridge,Frickley,& Garrett, 2006, pp.55).

Hello, Alexis! I completely agree with your perspectives on this topic. In addition to what should be done to increase the voting turnout rates, considering that only 22 states have provisions allowing elections to be conducted entirely by mail, I think by implementing universal vote via mail by all states may help the turnout decline. It is not the same as no excuse absentee voting but with full vote-by-mail, all ballots are sent out to registered voters in advance. It would really help to have the ballots sent to people's homes ahead of time so they can scrutinize all the candidates and of course the ballot measures. It will also accommodate people who have difficulty getting to the polls which include single parents with kids, people who

The debate over state laws requiring voters to present a photo-ID card at polling places has begun to reemerge in the twenty-first century. Similar to other contemporary divisive topics, competing sides are separated by party lines. The Republicans are supporting the myriad of state created voter ID laws whereas the Democrats are in staunch opposition. Fundamentally, support of ID laws stems from the desire to eliminate cases of voting fraud such as voting by noncitizens, voting under false registration, or casting ballots in more than one state. Democratic opposition is based around the historical claims of disenfranchisement of African-American or Latino voters, who traditionally support Democrats. Common ground has not been found on the floors of state legislatures, so the nation’s court system has entered the fray.