Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Why Do Some Individuals Abstain From Voting? The Impact Of Age, Education, And Confidence In The Court System On Voter Participation, Kristina Taylor

XULAneXUS

The purpose of this research is to discover why some individuals abstain from voting in America. Using this information, countries may be able to increase voter turnout amongst their population. Literature provided several theories as to why individuals abstain from voting. This research focused on the impact of: age, education, and confidence in the courts system. A regression was conducted using GSS 1998 survey data to observe the impact of these three variables on voter turnout. It was found in this model that age and education have a statistically significant impact on voter turnout, but confidence in the court system …

Handcuffing The Vote: Diluting Minority Voting Power Through Prison Gerrymandering And Felon Disenfranchisement, Rebecca Harrison Stevens, Meagan Taylor Harding, Joaquin Gonzalez, Emily Eby

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

For the purposes of legislative redistricting, Texas counts prison populations at the address of the prison in which they are incarcerated at the time of the census, rather than their home prior to incarceration—regardless of whether the prisoners themselves maintain a residence in their home communities and intend to return home after incarceration. This deprives those home communities of full representation in the redistricting process. Combined with Texas’s felon disenfranchisement laws, this also results in arbitrarily bolstering the representational power of some Texans on the backs of other Texans who themselves are unable to vote. All of this takes place …

Democracy Unchained: Contractualism, Individualism, And Independence In Buchanan’S Democratic Theory, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Contrary to the claims of some of his critics, James Buchanan was an ardent democrat. I argue that Buchanan’s conception of democratic governance organized by a contractually justified constitution is highly distinctive because of his commitment to a strong conception of individualism. For Buchanan, democracy is neither justified instrumentally—by the goods it generates—nor by reference to some antecedent conception of justice. Instead, democracy is the only political option for a society that takes individualism seriously. One implication of this view is that democracies can only be limited by the rules they collectively give themselves in the form of constitutions. I …

Every Data Point Counts: Political Elections In The Age Of Digital Analytics, Julian Kehle, Samir Naimi

Honors Thesis

Synthesizing the investigative research and cautionary messages from experts in the fields of technology, political science, and behavioral science, this project explores the ways in which digital analytics has begun to influence the American political arena. Historically, political parties have constructed systems to target voters and win elections. However, rapid changes in the field of technology (such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the prevalence of social media) threaten to undermine the integrity of elections themselves. Future political campaigns will utilize profiling to micro-target individuals in order to manipulate and persuade them with hyper-personalized political content. Most dangerously, the average …

They Sold Our Park! How Local Governments Fail At Democracy, Zandria Michaud

Global Honors Theses

In 2016 the city of Kent, Washington sold a public park to a housing developer. While this sale may seem typical, what was disconcerting to Kent residents was not only that they were losing a park, but also that they knew nothing of the sale. The entire process of selling the park to a housing developer had been in the works for more than ten years, and yet, no one thought to ask the residents about it. From this sale, several issues arose regarding city level government democracy and the role of citizens in policy decision-making. By critically examining the …

The Convergence Of Libraries, Voter Education, And Civic Literacy, Natalie Lowengruber

Honors Projects

The aim of this project was to explore how libraries, particularly academic libraries, intersect with voter education in promoting civic engagement. After reviewing research on the library’s role in democracy and civic engagement, I forged this connection through collaborating with librarians to develop an interactive workshop open to the Grand Valley community. The main goal of this workshop was to increase voter education and equip voters with tools to become better informed on candidates, legislation, and policy before the midterm elections of November, 2018. Participation in democracy is a lifelong practice and civic duty that begins with a strong educational …

Reds Among The Cream And Crimson, Kelly Kish

Historic Documents

What happened when three IU law professors were accused of harboring Communist sympathies in 1946.

Originally published in the publication 200 The Bicentennial Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2019.

Records Of The Institute On Religion And Democracy Presidential Papers Of Diane Knippers, Ats Special Collections And Archives

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.