The Pros And Cons Of Voting In America

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

One example of registration laws that effect voter participation includes the House Bill 1355. In 2011 Florida voted on House Bill 1355 placing new regulations on community organization that have helped eligible voters to register (Herron, Smith 2013). Seeing as Florida is a swing state and every four years during presidential elections the state and its residents can determine who will be the next president of the United States, it’s important for communities and organizations to mobilize the people to go out and vote. Although a federal judge in 2012 later blocked the legislation that was making it difficult for third party registration organizations the damage was already done. For a prominent voting organization opted out of doing registration drives when the House Bill 1355 was initially passed (Herron, Smith). The implementation of the Bill influenced the upcoming presidential election in 2012 by slowing the voter registration of thousands of Floridians. Bills like the 2011 House Bill 1355 only raises the cost in the rational choice model making it only more probable that people will just opt out of voting because they don’t want to deal with the time-consuming process. When registering to vote one must adhere to the states laws and comply with the process of registration. Because each state has their own legislation and laws that their residents must follow, it crucial for people to get some information on the state registration process in order to vote.

Traditionally people aged 30 to 65 years old are considered to be politically active and more likely to vote during the presidential and/or local elections. People of this age group, are most likely to own their homes, have established careers, and are apart of stable communities. As America’s stable age group, “the voters’ turnout rate is around 70 percent” (). Compared to the 30 to 60 something, the younger people are substantially less likely to vote in either the presidential and/or local elections. However, in recent years, due to the influence of social

As politics roar between foreign policy, presidential campaigning and for a while now the vacant seat from the late Anthony Scalia, we can see opinions from both parties for and against the filling of the seat for many reasons. As the US nation, wide spreads the presidential campaign, we see many viewpoints, drawing in from all over for the nominee pickings in November, with not a large choice in the presidential race we see much of the fighting rebelling against the vacant seat too. With politician's voice suggesting that the people have a choice of who fills the seat, while the president and congress have other thoughts, has created a large split between the houses, while the Supreme Court is equally split to figure out how to unequally figure

As a citizens in the US, as soon as we turn eighteen we have the right to vote, this means we have a say in who represents us in government and whether certain issues are passed or not. We can vote in both local and national elections ranging from who’s on our school board to whom the president will be. Since this is America, we are free to complain about how the USA is today, but do we do anything to change it? Most of the USA does not actually do anything, in our generation the USA has seen the lowest voter turnout since World War 2. Some people will complain that their vote does not count but in reality it does, the local elections are based solely on the majority of the people, and in national elections the elected representatives of

As politics and government becomes more complex and involved, more effort is required to keep up with and understand it. As a result, many Americans have lost touch with current events and happenings. Therefore, when election time rolls around, many people lack enough information to develop an educated opinion and support a candidate with their vote, so they just do not vote at all. This lack of information is also related to the belief that one vote will not matter. People believe that their vote will not count, and are therefore following the news less and becoming out of touch with public affairs and politics (Is the System Broken?”). This lack of information is also more strongly apparent among the younger voting population. When interviewed

According to the American National Election Study in 1990, older people are more likely to follow the news daily. More elderly than any other age groups are reported reading a daily newspaper and watching the news on television every day during the previous week. Not only do older people pay close attention to politics, they also vote more than younger adults. According to the American Association of Retired Persons, people over 65 exhibit the highest rate of voter turnout of any age group. Since the mid- to late-1980s, voter turnout in national elections has been even higher among those 65 and over. Combined with the growing proportion of older people in the U.S. population, this high turnout rate makes the elderly an increasingly important group of voters.

Growing up where half of my siblings aren’t born in America and what 's more, one sibling is still not even a citizen reminding me how voting can change everything. Even some of my friends who’s not born here and not a citizen grew up here there whole life with me. It’s terrifying that a vote can send people out of this country to another country where they have no knowledge of, other than being born in their country to get sent back. At first I didn’t care I didn’t think it was much of an issue at all. I was born in America so I didn’t think too much of wouldn’t concern me at all. On top of that, I just assume people are being paranoid that nothing wasn’t going to happen to anyone it is the United States. In my mind the only way they kick you out of America is breaking the law. However, I was mistaken. A few people I knew had been sent away. Voting plays the major part in political history. With reason, voting is subsequently important since it allows us to practice our rights as a Democratic nation. If we don’t vote, then we are allowing others to decide to tell us how to live our life and what’s right for us. Because history and politics in the voting, always had an effect in changing and molding the United States.

There have been many advantages and disadvantages to the change in the age requirement to vote. Currently the biggest disadvantage has been the voter participation percentage, followed by the demographic of the voters. With the age requirement being lowered to 16 the negatives may out weigh the postive.

lowering the age to vote could have a positive outcome , other countries have already done so. voter turnout would probrably increase, because a bigger percent of the population would be able to vote. Sixteen year olds are more mature by

In 1971 the twenty-sixth amendment brought down the voting age to eighteen for all states. Voting has gained some astonishing ground. From the picked few to everybody that meets the present voting essentials. Initially, the United States constitution had been controlled so that only white citizen men were qualified to vote. Equity has critically affected this law and today both genders have the right to vote. The principles of voting have changed consistently through many of the years. The fight for decency is still present today and has been exemplified already. With different dubiously discussions, it is always critical for any country to be made of values and rights. In spite of the way that it is seen that the US has accomplished full equity;

Giving suffrage to people 16 and older would have a net negative effect; the age of suffrage should stay at 18. Not only would it lower voter percentages, given that, as stated in paragraph 3 of "Keep the Voting Age at 18," "only 38% of voters in the 18 - 24 age group voted in 2012," and the younger the person, the less interest they have in politics, but it also would skew the results unfairly. The news media and even some teachers have a tendency to project their personal views, whether implicitly or not, left or right, onto their viewers and students, instead of reporting the facts and both sides of the argument and letting their viewers and students decide for themselves. I've seen examples of this in my schools, where teachers will give a student a failing grade for

International studies shows us how the world is webbed together. It combines economics and government as well as other important issues. I learned about voting in other countries. How Native Americans on reservations lives are dramatically different then the rest of South Dakota, and how refugees have to suffer without a end in sight.

The main argument people have against lowering the voting age is that people under the age of eighteen "show a lack of civil responsibility"(passage 1 paragraph 4) and that young people "show disinterest in the political process by not voting" (passage 1 p.4). However, this just simply isn't the case if it ever even was. Now more than ever through this chaotic political climate, young people are more invested than ever because we are all directly affected

When it comes to the idea of lowering the voter age, I cant say much on experiance. Being I have only had about one chance to vote myself. Though id have to say lowering the voting age to 16 is a huge mistake.