Young People's Participation in the Voting Process Essay

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

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

When I first thought about being able to vote I assumed that I would never participate. Politics and who run my country was never something I was, or thought I would be interested in. I didn’t understand why people were so

Participation is key! There is nothing difficult about voting, so why don't more people take part in it? More importantly, what can be done to correct this issue?

In chapter one, Wattenberg discusses the declining trends of Americans who regularly read newspapers between the 1960’s and present day. This can be attributed the aging patterns among generations who frequently read newspapers as well as with the use of technology rising. Reading the newspaper is a habit that either is or is not developed by the time one reaches voting age. With this, newspapers have become an older generation’s primary source of information, however, are still the best source for political matters. Younger generations tend to be more computer literate and have grown up with television and media more accessible to them than the previous generation. These trends not only reflect in American culture, but in other countries

I remeber being in like 6th and 7th grade wanting to learn more and more about the campaign. Maybe it is because all of my friends can vote now, but we are now constantly talking politics, this includes my friends who are not even that intrested in voting. This upcoming election is going to be so intresting it is hard not to disuss it. I'm going to avoid talking about canidates, due to unpopular opinions. How about some remedies to our voting problems? While doing some research on this I found a lot of soultions that made me laugh, and also solutions that made me think. Listing some off, cash incentives, Election day as a national holiday, same day registration at the polls, and online voting. Cash incentives made me laugh because it's suprisingly a great idea. Who doesn't want some easy money? People would go and vote, they probably wouldnt do any research, they would just pick random people, just for the cash. I thought election day as a national holiday was a good idea, people don't have an excuse for not voting if they are off work. I know it is hard for some people to get to the polls with some of their working hours. Especially my

Another key overlap in these campaigns has to do with trust. According to a 1972 article written by Terry Ryan of The Associated Press, entitled “Garnering the Youth Vote is Critical to McGovern Success,” when interviewed, young people expressed the importance of trust and a desire for change, “The interviews disclosed some pro- McGovern attitudes widely held among young people. A desire for change was mentioned by many supporters…Young people will vote for McGovern because they do not like or trust Nixon and think McGovern is more sincere and honest” (Ryan, 1972). This desire for a change away from the status quo existed during the McGovern campaign and exists today with the Sanders campaign. While Hillary Clinton speaks of patience and

While this sounds good there was plenty of miss information and understanding to the youth vote. In fact the youth vote was still the smallest compared to other ages and relative to everyone that voted. The large push was seen by minorities voting for could have been seen as a different color president. This is not to say that they voted for him purely by his color, but that it worked in his favor. All ages and races where seen on the media supporting the idea for a African American president. Even though the youth did see a relative increase in voting from year to year it did not compare to the usually suspects who do vote. Another aspect to mention is the midterm elections so the same usually numbers of youth voting, which was further evidence that the 2008, election saw more coverage and hype than others.

Youth voters are voters from the ages of 19 to 24; they are important in many ways: their low voting participation could turn around if one appeals to them, they are usually liberal and if something conflagrated their interest it could shift the power in parliament, and finally their views are still malleable and they could be useful later in

Since the 1960’s voting rights have been a problem for minorities. The law for voting has kept minorities from having any say in who is elected into political offices. Therefore, there should not be any restriction and/or new laws that hinder minorities, young voters, newly registered from voting.

I got to watch the legislative branch of our state pass and deny new bills I had no idea what the bills were and all the legal jargon went over my head. What I did understand was that the bills were presented to senators or representative depending on what part of the building I was at , but they were voting saying yes or no on the bills that were presented to them. I was watching governmental policies being accepted or denied, from the balcony over the house or senate floor. I was able to watch governmental processes occur right in front of me and I felt like that I was a part of it even though I really

Ed Miliband thinks that 16-year-olds are old enough to vote in elections while Lord Faulks believes that 16-year-old brains are too immature to vote in elections.

The first benefit of changing the voting age to sixteen is it would further political interest. Once I turned eighteen, I started paying a lot more attention to politics. I wasn’t nearly as interested in the 2012 election as I am now about the 2016 election. If the voting age was changed, then we would find more and more high school students informed in American government and politics. Even though there is a low turnout of young voters as it is, I feel lowering the age would almost force teenagers to at least pay some attention to politics. Johannes Bergh in her study “Does voting right affect the political maturity of 16- and 17-year-olds? Findings from the 2011 Norwegian voting-age trial?” asked 16-17 year olds and 18-year olds how interested

What resource will be most helpful to you as you decide if and how to vote? How can you help prepare others for election day?

Voting is an act that is necessary to elect leaders in a democratic society. It is often said that it is a civic duty to vote, yet there are many people who do not participate in voting. Currently, we are seeing a trend that youth are not voting nearly as much as the older population. This phenomenon is usually attributed to one thing, voter apathy, but this is just one of the factors that can have a major effect on youth voting habits. Youth voting habits are greatly affected by access to voting, socioeconomic factors and status, and voter apathy and cynicism.