Research and Decribe The Voting Process In The United States (Essay Sample)

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Voting in the United States
Why is voting important?
As the United States 36th president Lyndon Johnson noted, a vote is one of the most powerful instruments created by man to destroy walls that imprison some people because they are different from others. At the same time, a vote is a powerful tool that can be used to break down injustices noted in the society. The United States constitution has been amended numerously to safeguard its citizens’ right to vote. The 15th amendment of the United States constitution in the year 1870 was one of the modest laws to be put in place allowing people to vote irrespective of their race or ethnicity (Gritzalis 12). However, most states through Jim Crows laws prevented a number of African American people from voting by establishing laws that could hinder them directly. For instance, for one to be eligible to vote, he or she had to be literate, their grandfathers had to have a right to vote, and some fee was imposed on the voters. It was until 1971’s 26th amendment that all people were included in the voting process irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status (Gritzalis 12).Due to the fact the elected people are the citizens representatives it is important that each and everybody affected by this leaders is allowed to vote. At the same time, involvement in the voting process helps sharpen once mind. The sharpening of one’s mind happens through a vigorous study of various candidates and what they support. Moreover, through the voting process, individuals get the opportunity to understand various polices propagated by the government and establish o how better the policies can be handled by different people in the same position. Actually, the voting process is as well and educative process for the people engaged.
What groups of people in the United States are more or less likely to vote, explain why?
In the United States, women are less likely to vote while men are more likely to vote. Despite the high number of registered voters in the United States, there is a poor turnout of voters during the voting process. Different groups of people are represented differently among voters. Ethnicity, gender, age, and race have been the major effects on voter turnout. To begin with, women are less likely to vote as compared to men. Similarly, they are less involved in politics. A small percentage of the elected leaders are made up of women both at the national and local levels. The number of female senators is too low as compared to that of men (Weiser, Wendy R., and Lawrence Norden 16). However in the recent past, there has been a steady increase in the number of women participating in the electoral process though not elected as political leaders. Age is another factor with a great effect on the voting behavior of individuals. As Sundquist, James, (18) observes, older people are more involved in the voting process as compared to young people. Statics show that people between the ages of 35 to 65, are the most active politically. Their activity is politics is exacerbated by the fact that most of them have settled with a stable income hence have a strong political command in the community. Unlike the young people who are still struggling to establish themselves financially and politically.
Historically, race and ethnicity had been at the center stage in the voting process. However, through various amendments all people have been allowed to vote. Nevertheless, there is a slight difference in the number of people turning out for voting among African-Americans, whites, and Latinos. In the recent past, African Americans have become the most active politically almost surpassing the whites despite being the minority group. For instance in the recent elections, there has been an average turnout of 65 percent of the registered African American voters as compared to about 66 percent turnouts among the whites within the same socioeconomic status. On the other hand, there is a low turnout of Latinos despite the fact that they form a significant voting bloc. Language barrier had been one of the major factors affecting the voting behavior of Latinos. Consequently, necessitating the use of Spanish by presidential aspirants while campaigning to reach out to the majority Latinos left out due to the language barrier. As Green, Donald and Alan, (15) writes George Bush was among the first people to present both English and Spanish advertisements during the 2000 elections and 2004 elections (Weiser, Wendy R., and Lawrence Norden 16).
What are the consequences of democracy because certain groups do not vote, please give examples?
Various groups of people have different interests that are similar and presented by a particular candidate. Elections help these various groups’ people elect their preferred leaders who can champion their issues. Hence, when one group fails to participate in elections, they fail to get their preferred leaders (Gritzalis 12). As a result, most of their issue may not be addressed as per to their wish. The leaders selected might not be representative of the whole population hence bringing about conflicts in the management of key public organizations and funding. For instance, most of the Latinos and African Americans are of the lower social economic status (Wright, Olin and Rodgers, 2011). Therefore, they could like to have leaders who advocate for their issues and fund projects that are aimed at promoting their qualities of life.
What are the voter registration laws in Kansas? Why are the laws in Kansas this way? Do you believe they help or hinder democracy in Kansas?
Kansas has introduced voter registration laws that require a voter to present their photos when voting in person (Wright, Olin and Rodgers, 2011). Similarly for those, who are not in the list of the permanent advance voting, they have to provide copies of their IDs through the mail for their votes to be admissible. In addition, the voter’s signature has to be verified with a Kansas. For people registered as voters from 2013 have to provide proof of American citizenship before they can be allowed to vote (Weiser, Wendy R., and Lawrence Norden 16). The new laws hinder democracy since a number of people legible to vote can miss out on the activity for the fact that they did not present as American citizens. Unlike the past, many people are likely to be left out as voters in the upcoming presidential elections due to the fact that they might not have presented the American citizenship proof. For instance in Kansas, many people were left out in the 2014 election due to the fact that they did not meet the minimum requirements for them to be registered as voters. Most of them were left out on the grounds that they did not provide proof that they are American citizens with late communication. Kansas and other states with similar provision in the law, believe that the laws will help to have legible voters participating in the electoral process. However, some states have made it easier for their residents to participate in the voter registration and voting ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1177/1065912911430671", "ISBN" : "1065912911430", "ISSN" : "1065-9129, 1938-274X", "PMID" : "1445174652", "abstract" : "Voter registration is thought to have a substantial negative effect on American voter turnout. The authors clarify this understanding in two ways. First, using a natural experiment in Wisconsin, they estimate the pure effect of registration, stripped of aspects such as the closing date. Registration lowers turnout by about 2 percentage points. Second, the authors argue that administrative capacities of local election officials are important moderators of how much registration affects turnout. Municipalities with less capacity are associated with bigger decreases in turnout. Researchers and policy makers should consider administrative capacity as a component in the equal application of voting laws.", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Burden", "given" : "Barry C.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Neiheisel", "given" : "Jacob R.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Political Research Quarterly", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "page" : "77-90", "title" : "Election Administration and the Pure Effect of Voter Registration on Turnout", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "66" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=157c9e1a-4798-4e83-97d0-f378fba7d0dc" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Burden and Neiheisel)", "manualFormatting" : "(Burden and Neiheisel, 80)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Burden and Neiheisel)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Burden and Neiheisel)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Burden and Neiheisel, 80).
Many states have made efforts to make voting easier for their citizens. What have some states done?
Even though most republican controlled states have made voting more difficult, some states have decided to make the voting process much easier. For instance some sates like Oregon have made it easier for its legible voters to register (Fujiwara, Thomas, Kyle Meng, and Vogl 15). The state does not require the person registering to fill and return forms to become voters. Instead, one becomes a voter automatically by meeting the motor vehicle bureau requirements. Other states like West Virginia, Vermont and California, have also enacted the similar automatic registration processes (Fujiwara, Thomas, Kyle Meng, and Vogl 15).. Hence enabling low income earners, students and other minorities participate in the voting process.
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