Low Voter Turnout in the United States Essay

throughout Ameri drop history, there has been a steady sort out in elector semi. Not entirely has this been humiliating for the fall in States, let loose elector output signalr output has been and al moods leave alone be a threat to American Democracy. The creation of democracy is dependent on citizens actively participating in resources and suffrage to convey congresswomans for public office. The government can non be typical of the batch, unless the wad elect its representatives. Voter kit is a major indicant of how citizens post their electoral system, and whether or non they bank that the system is working. in that location argon legion(predicate) factors that impede selectr articulated lorry, including citizens policy-making attitudes, demographic factors, and the structure of the electoral system.The established accommodation do work is wholeness of the important causes of low-down elector turnout in the unify States. Unlike numerous democrac ies, the United States places the outcome of enrollment on the individual (Vanishing Voter, 7). There be no penalties for citizens that do not register or take in American picks. Some take that requiring citizens to take and imposing penalties on those who fail to do so will increase elector turnout. The dilemma with this proposal is that it is fundamentally un elected. Citizens of democratic societies ar cryd the pay off to vote. In guaranteeing the right to vote, citizens are guaranteed the right not to vote as well. There are bettor ancestors to the occupation of low elector turnout in the United States than enacting compulsory select laws.America has not established a national system of automatic adaptation procedures for voter registration differ from secernate to state. A universal system of voter registration would make it much much simple for people to vote. The paradox with this solving is that automatically registering people to vote does not imply that they will actually go out and vote. Six states realize enacted a good solution, same sidereal twenty-four hours registration, which has been turn up to increase voter turnout anywhere from 10 to 17 percent (Donovan, 182). same(p) day voter registration allows qualified citizens to register to vote on the day that elections are held. Because many states do not allow same day registration, many Americans do not take the prison term and effort to register in the commencement ceremony place same day registration cares to solve thisproblem. The registration process and electoral system also creates a problem of convenience.Not only is the registration process inconvenient, Election twenty-four hours itself is problematic. Election day is held on a Tuesday, impeding the volume of the population from voting due to work-related duties and responsibilities. The solution for this problem is to make Election Day a national holiday. If citizens did not open the responsibility t o be at work, they would be much to a greater extent than in all likeliness to cause magazine and take the effort to go out and vote. Other solutions claim been offered, including extending the voting period, enacting absentee ballot systems, and voting by mail. mend all of these other(a) solutions have make it easier, cheaper and more convenient for citizens to vote, the costs do not fully outweigh the benefits. In any kind of early voting solution, the considerablegest reside is that early voters vote without shrewd all of the significant information mandatory to make a well-informed vote. umpteen occurrences and revelations come at the end of the campaigns and can no longer yield voters that have already voted and cannot interchange their selection.A voters semipolitical attitude is the biggest indicator of whether or not he or she will vote. Interest in the election, concern over outcome, feelings of civic pride, and political competency all affect how people vote (Wayne, 83). Throughout American history, there has been a deny in partisan identification. Party committal is a stimulus for voting. Since citizens are not as loyal to partisanship as they were in the past, they have less inducement to actually go out and vote in elections. As a group, independents are 12 percent less likely to vote than are strong partisans (Wayne, 83). along with the decline in party identification, interestingness in political campaigns has been declining steadily extra time as well.In todays society, politics is forced to compete with so many other things in the media or at home for peoples attention. Media audiences are more interested in human-interest and celebrity stories than they are in politics. Because of this, election coverage in the media has massively declined. The medias coverage of the election is dominated by the use ofnegative publicizing and fire journalism. The frequent use of negative advertising in the media has played a social occa sion in Americas declining voter turnout. These negative advertisements repel potential voters make them to lose interest in the political campaign. Along with negative advertising, the lack of competition between candidates has also decreased political interests and led to low voter turnout. measly political efficacy has greatly minify voter turnout in the United States. Voter efficacy is the belief that ones vote counts and that voters can change the way government works or public officials behave (Wayne, 83). There are many factors affecting voter efficacy, including direction and income. Income plays a major role in voter turnout. With the expansion of poverty in the United States, the gap between the full and the poor is steadily growing. Citizens of lower income typically have lower voter efficacy. They are also less concerned with the outcome of the election than citizens of high income levels, therefore, many of these people simply choose not to vote because they feel that they will not be affected by the outcome of the election. Income, tuition, and likelihood to vote are all positively correlated more educated citizens have higher income levels and are much more likely to vote.Education is the greatest invite on voting appearance. It provides people with the skills for affect and evaluating information for perceiving differences among the parties, candidates, and issues and for relating these differences to personal values and behavior (Wayne, 83). The more educated a citizen is, the more interested they are in the election and the more concerned they are with the outcome. meliorate citizens also have a great sense of civic pride and higher voter efficacy. All of these factors combined expand to a much higher likelihood of a person to actually turnout and vote.To increase political education, whatever propose conducting citizen education campaigns. The goal of these campaigns is to educate the people on the benefits and responsibility in volved with voting. The main problem with this solution is that it is easier said than done. It is really hard to persuadenonvoters to take the time and make the effort to educate themselves on the reasons why they should vote. A better way to increase education and voter turnout is to encourage grassroots campaigns. These get-out-the-vote campaigns help impel interest in elections with nonvoters and can influence them to vote, increasing voter turnout. Neither conducting citizen education campaigns nor encouraging grassroots campaigns can promise an increase in voter turnout, further both(prenominal) can help influencing citizens to vote and possibly lead to higher voter turnout in the United States. disordered voter turnout is a big problem in the United States. gibe to Wayne, Low turnout suggests that people whitethorn be alienated, lack faith in the candidate and parties, think that the government is and will remain unresponsive to their needs and interests, and believe th at they cannot achieve change through the electoral process (Wayne, 85). The voter turnout problem is very hard to solve because low voter turnout itself leads to less voting. The numerous factors that impede voter turnout hold citizens political attitudes, demographic factors, and the structure of the electoral system.Some of the impediments are structural, but the just about influential impediments are caused by other factors, such as the media, political campaigns, and the American citizens. Overall, the benefits of increasing voter turnout greatly outweigh the costs of doing so. While some proposed solutions may work better than others, it is some important to change voters attitudes about politics and make it more convenient for Americans to both register and vote. Higher voter turnout will reverse the relentless make pass of low voter turnout and help lead to a more representative democracy.Bibliography1. The Road to the White House 2008. eighth edition. Stephen J. Wayne. 20082. Reforming the Republic Democratic Institutions for the New America. Todd Donowan and Shaun Bowler. 2004