Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prosperity Versus Equality At The Polls, Nathan B. Oman

Nathan B. Oman

No abstract provided.

Why Does Voting Get So Complicated? : A Review Of Theories For Analyzing Democratic Participation., Jeff Gill, Jason Gainous

Jason Gainous

The purpose of this article is to present a sample from the panoply of formal theories on voting and elections to Statistical Science readers who have had limited exposure to such work. These abstract ideas provide a framework for understanding the context of the empirical articles that follow in this volume. The primary focus of this theoretical literature is on the use of mathematical formalism to describe electoral systems and outcomes by modeling both voting rules and human behavior. As with empirical models, these constructs are never perfect descriptors of reality, but instead form the basis for understanding fundamental characteristics …

A Quantum Congress, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

Barack Obama, Implicit Bias, And The 2008 Election, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Gregory S. Parks

Jeffrey J Rachlinski

The election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States suggests that the United States has made great strides with regard to race. The blogs and the pundits may laud Obama’s win as evidence that we now live in a “post-racial America.” But is it accurate to suggest that race no longer significantly influences how Americans evaluate each other? Does Obama’s victory suggest that affirmative action and antidiscrimination protections are no longer necessary? We think not. Ironically, rather than marking the dawn of a post-racial America, Obama’s candidacy reveals how deeply race affects judgment.

Anonymous Speech And Section 527 Of The Internal Revenue Code, Donald B. Tobin

Donald B. Tobin

No abstract provided.

Marin Students To Conduct Exit Polling During November Election [Interview], Alison Howard

Alison Dana Howard

Long Lines At Polling Stations? Observations From An Election Day Field Study, Douglas M. Spencer, Zachary S. Markovits

Douglas M. Spencer

This pilot study represents the first systematic attempt to determine how common lines are on Election Day, at what times of day lines are most likely to form, what are the bottlenecks in the voting process, and how long it takes an average citizen to cast his or her ballot. This study highlights the importance of evaluating polling station operations as a three-step process: arrival, check-in, and casting a ballot. We collected data during the 2008 presidential primary election in California, measuring the efficiency of the operational components of 30 polling stations across three counties. We found statistically significant, and …

Immigration, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

Issue Evasion, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

Twenty-Sixth Amendment, José D. Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

Presidential Election Of 1980, José D. Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

No abstract provided.

Are Voters Better Represented?, Brian Newman, John D. Griffin

Brian Newman

Studies of political participation and representation often contend that elected officials respond more to the preferences of voters than those of nonvoters, but seldom test this claim. This is a critical assumption because if true, biases in who participates will lead to biased representation. Office holders might respond disproportionately to voters’ preferences because voters tend to select like-minded representatives, voters tend to communicate their preferences more, and only voters can reelect representatives. We find that voter preferences predict the aggregate roll-call behavior of Senators while nonvoter preferences do not. We also present evidence supporting the three explanations advanced to account …

Explaining Seat Changes In The U.S. House Of Representatives, 1950-1998, Brian Newman, Charles Ostrom

Brian Newman

Recent U.S. House elections have challenged existing models of congressional elections, raising the question of whether or not processes thought to govern previous elections are still at work. Taking Marra and Ostrom's (1989) model of congressional elections as representative of extant theoretical perspectives and testing it against recent elections, we find that the model fails. We augment Marra and Ostrom's model with new insights, constructing a model that explains elections from 1950 to 1998. We find that, although presidential approval ratings and major political events continue to drive congressional elections, the distribution of open seats must also be taken into …

For The Ufw, A Bad Day At The Polls: But Does It Matter?, Derek Shearer

Derek Shearer

Discusses Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union's loss of the Proposition 14 (1976) initiative in California. Considers corporate agriculture's opposition (1975-76) to the measure that would have compelled growers to allow union organizers in their fields.