Voting and Elections

1
Voting and Elections

• Does your Vote Really Matter?

2
Voting Behavior

• Voting is the most common way to participate in
  Politics
• However, most people in America do not venture
  out to vote.
• 40 percent of the eligible adult population votes
  regularly
• 25 Percent are Occasional voters
• 35 Percent rarely or never vote
• This is far below the average for advanced
  industrial democracies

3
Other forms of Political Participation

• Joining a Campaign
• Donating money
• Running for Office
• Protesting

4
Who Votes?

• Education
• More Educated the More likely you are to Vote
• Income
• The higher income you have the more likely you
  are to vote.
• Gender
• Women actually comprise a majority of eligible
  voters
• Race
• In general whites tend to vote more regularly
  than African Americans and Hispanics. But is
  Race the real issue?
• Political Activity
• If you are involved in Political Activities you
  are more likely to vote

5
Why is Voter Turnout So Low?

• Over 90 million eligible voters did not cast a
  vote?
• WHAT UP P DIDDY!?!?!?!?!?
• Why arent there dead people everywhere?

6
Why are we Not Rocking the Vote?

• Too Busy
• 20 percent of Americans said they did not vote
  because they were too busy.
• Another 15 percent claimed to have been ill,
  disabled, or dealing with a family emergency
• Difficulty of Registration
• Motor Voter Act has helped this problem
• Number of Elections
• Burnout

7
More Reasons

• Voter Attitudes
• Apathy
• Do not like Candidates
• Weak Political Parties
• Parties do not mobilize people like they used
  toCampaigns are Candidate driven
• What will happen when you are in College????

8
Fix The Problem

• Partner up with one or two students and talk
  about how we can fix the voting problem in
  America.
• You are in charge of the entire election process,
  what changes or new programs would you implement?
• Try to remember our Democratic Principles as you
  have the discussionHold a gun to their heads
  and make them vote will not be accepted