American Politics Commons^™

Why I'M Not Voting (For President), Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Choosing not to vote is not (necessarily) failing to engage the political system, and, while I hope I don’t feel compelled to do it again in the future, I am confident in my decision not to vote for a candidate for president this coming election."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­reasons for not voting in this year's presidential election from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/why-im-not-voting-for-president/

Vote!, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Elections/Voting

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Drake, Kentucky - Precinct Directory (Sc 3054), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscript Small Collection 3054. Precinct Directory and Voting List for Drake Precinct, Warren County, Kentucky. Contains voters’ names, post office, occupation, party affiliation, race and sex. The list appears to have been compiled for an election to be held on 8 November 1927.

Election Districts - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 3050), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3050. Class action complaint filed by five voters in U.S. District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky, alleging malapportionment of election districts. The complaint seeks declarative and injunctive relief against the current apportionment and against holding a primary election for justices of the peace and constables. Details of the previous and current apportionments are included.

Why Doesn't Worcester Vote?, Molly B. Kazin

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research presents findings from a study of voter turnout and registration in Worcester, Massachusetts and takes steps to examine possible reasons why turnout has been consistently low in municipal elections. Specifically, it assesses educational attainment, income, race and ethnicity, and types and function of municipal government as reasons for the minimal turnout. Drawing on literature, case studies throughout the United States, and census and city clerk data, this paper will discuss reasons for voters’ lack of involvement, a comparison of seven municipalities throughout Massachusetts, and recommendations for creating a more civically engaged community in Worcester.

How The City Of Indianapolis Came To Have African American Policemen And Firemen 80 Years Before The Modern Civil Rights Movement., Leon E. Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a series of events that occurred in the spring of 1876. The relationship between the Indianapolis city government, the Marion County Courts, the Indianapolis Police Department, and the African American community came together to usher in changes never before envisioned. The Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) was formed in 1855, then disbanded 12 months later in a political dispute. From 1857-to-1876, the IPD was all white. These changes took place as the Reconstruction era was coming to a close. The first Ku Klux Klan was at its apex, terrorizing black communities, and Jim Crow was coming into its …

Local Ballot Will Be Different, Thomas J. Shields

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Registered voters in the City of Richmond recently received an envelope from the Registrar’s Office with the words “Notice of Redistricting Changes” printed in red. For the first time since 1992, voters in Richmond and most of eastern Henrico County will not be voting in the 3rd Congressional District.

An Epistemic Justification For Voting, Julia Maskivker

Faculty Publications

Received wisdom in most democracies is that voting should be seen as a political freedom that citizens have a right to exercise or not to exercise. But would liberal democracies be any less liberal if voting were seen as a duty? Contrasting the libertarian argument against the moral duty to vote, this paper proposes that we have a duty to vote well – with knowledge and a sense of impartiality. The obligation is one among many instantiations of a natural duty to promote and support just institutions in society. The paper links justice with democratic epistemic virtues to ground the …

The Republic Of Ignorance, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Ignorance is trending. Despite universal compulsory education; despite new tools for learning and great advances in knowledge; despite breathtaking increases in our ability to store, access, and share a superabundance of information - ignorance flourishes. [excerpt]

Who Wants The Right To Know? An Analysis Of Gmo-Labeling In California, Sylvia M. Xu

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

There are many studies that have been done to examine what types of voting behavior or patterns are present when voting for environmental ballot measures. This paper examines what characteristics of people are likely to cause them to support Proposition 37 in California, an initiative that, if passed, would require GMO-labeling on all genetically modified foods. Using voting data at a zip code level, I use OLS regression to identify specifically what type of political party, education, occupation, household status, and income levels are more likely to support the bill. I also run weighted regressions by population and number of …

Voting, Politics, And Gender: Has America Paved The Way For A Female President?, Hannah Bower

CMC Senior Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of candidate gender on voting behavior in presidential elections in the United States. By delving into the vice presidential nominations of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Sarah Palin in 2008, I provided the baseline for the experiences of Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns in 2016. Ultimately, I present the argument that the United States is ready for a female president, either this year or in the near future.

Culture, Rhetoric, And Voting: The Presidential Election Of 2012, Douglas M. Brattebo, Tom Lansford, Jack Covarrubias, Robert J. Pauly Jr.

University of Akron Press Publications

The presidential election of 2012, one of the most important in American history, was the product of complex and fast-moving changes—demographic, technological, and economic—surfacing in American society. Particularly prominent in the scholarly analyses in this volume (a companion volume to A Transformation in American National Politics: The Presidential Election of 2012) are: the psychology behind Barack Obama’s presidential leadership; the role of religious and cultural divisions in contemporary American politics; the rhetorical approaches of the two nominees; and trends in voting.

Wasting My Vote: Why I Am An "Independent", Jason Lief

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What gives shape to my political views are issues of justice: caring for the poor, the widow, and the orphan."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­issues that influence our voting from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/wasting-my-vote-why-i-am-an-independent/

The Impact Of A Ballot Education Program On Arkansas Voters, Kristin Netterstrom Higgins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The University of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture’s Public Policy Center has educated Arkansas voters about statewide ballot issues for 10 years. The ballot issue education program, was evaluated during the 2014 election cycle to determine the program’s impact on voters. This descriptive study sought to describe program participants, to determine knowledge transfer of county agents, to describe knowledge acquisition of program participants, and to measure whether people who attended Cooperative Extension Service presentations made informed choices on Election Day. Researchers found that program participants were mostly older, educated, White women. There were increases in knowledge among participants who read fact …

We The People: A Simulation For Young Voters, Jessee Hankins

Honors Projects

This project discusses the evolution of my project from its inception through its completion. As a pre-service teacher in student teaching, my experiences directly influenced the development of this project. The project is one that discusses the use of simulations in a social studies classroom, and includes a lesson plan of the lesson that I used within my student teaching experience. The lesson plan also comes with materials that teachers may take advantage of the lesson plan, using it in their classroom to teach their students about the compromises that were created at the Constitutional Convention.

Linking Language To Latino Turnout, Alexander C. Ervin

Honors Projects

After Latino-Americans demonstrated their power in the 2012 presidential election, securing increased minority support at the polls has become a primary goal for both major U.S. political parties. A reliable bloc of Latino voters on one’s side could mean more wins, yet Latinos have a low voter turnout rate. This paper explores how to increase Latino turnout and argues that the use of the Spanish language in electoral advertising will have a positive effect and actually raise the rate of Latino participation. By comparing statewide Latino turnout data during both the 2002 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential election, I …

Asian American Congressional Representation, Christine Kim

Featured Research

While studies have researched substantive representation of other minority groups, this paper is the first to examine Asian American congressional representation. I ask two questions. First do Asian American legislators vote differently on roll call votes than other members of their party? Second, do Asian American constituents get less of what they want from government compared to White American? I use a quantitative analysis to answer both of these questions. First, I examine the interest group scores of Asian American legislators compared to other legislators from the same political party to determine whether Asian American legislators tend to vote differently. …

Student Voting Behavior At The University Of Akron, Turner G. Anderson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores the voting behavior of students at The University of Akron. The paper begins by looking at the body of research surrounding student voting behavior in the United States as a whole. Much of the research challenges traditional notions of how to predict voting behavior, and it is noted that many of the generational behavior research is outdated and may not describe today’s students well. Some of the some of the potential obstacles to student voting both in Akron and the country as a whole are also explored.

For the analysis, the voter turnout rate in 2010 through …

A Digital Dud? New Media, Participation, And Voting In The 2004 And 2008 United States Presidential Elections, Jeremy D. Hickman

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

This dissertation analyzes the linkages between new media and the possible emergence of the youngest members of the voting population (the “digital native” generation, who have grown up concurrently with the rise of the internet as a means of communication). The main question is whether this digital native generation will have more civic and political participation due to their use of online news sources and social media communication on news media websites and elsewhere on the internet. Regression analyses are used to explain civic and political participation, using American National Election Studies (ANES) from the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. …

The Electoral Costs Of Party Agenda Setting: Why The Hastert Rule Leads To Defeat, Jesse Richman

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This study demonstrates that unconditional blocking of bills opposed by a majority of the majority party--as implied by the party cartel model and advocated by former Speaker Dennis Hastert--can produce conditions in which the majority party loses popular support and loses elections. The theoretical analysis and empirical results imply that the use of negative agenda power to block bills is circumscribed by this risk of electoral defeat. As a result, the opportunity for effective negative agenda control is conditional on majority party issue advantage, party polarization, and the distribution of status quo locations. In particular, majority party roll rates should …

Why Vote?, Jeff Taylor

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Does politics have anything to do with faith? Why should a Christian vote? How voting put in the proper perspective, and done with good intent, can be a God-glorifying, community-serving activity."

Posting about voting from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/why-vote/

Governing Controversies: A View From The Ohio Public, John C. Green

Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics

This report updates Ohioans’ views on four controversies concerning state government: legislative redistricting, early voting, term limits, and length of a single legislative term. To one degree or another, these “governing controversies” reflect a tension between the role of popular opinion and professional opinion in the operation of state government, especially the state legislature. These issues may be addressed by the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, currently convened to study and propose possible changes to the state constitution (http://www.ocmc.ohio.gov/ocmc/home).

2014 Ohio Election: Labor Day Akron Buckeye Poll, John C. Green

Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics

This report describes the state of the 2014 Ohio election on Labor Day, the traditional beginning of the general election campaign. It also documents the underlying patterns in these results and provides a baseline for change as the campaign develops. Like all survey findings, this report is a snapshot of public opinion at one point in time.

America’S Newest Citizen - John Q. Corporation, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Ravali Republic, July 19, 2014

Missoulian, July 11, 2014

Independent Record, July 16, 2014

Flathead Beacon, July 17, 2014

Do Non-Citizens Vote In U.S. Elections?, Jesse T. Richman, Guishan A. Chattha, David C. Earnest

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

In spite of substantial public controversy, very little reliable data exists concerning the frequency with which non-citizen immigrants participate in United States elections. Although such participation is a violation of election laws in most parts of the United States, enforcement depends principally on disclosure of citizenship status at the time of voter registration. This study examines participation rates by non-citizens using a nationally representative sample that includes non-citizen immigrants. We find that some non-citizens participate in U.S. elections, and that this participation has been large enough to change meaningful election outcomes including Electoral College votes, and Congressional elections. Non-citizen votes …

Parks, Sherman, B. 1890? (Sc 1006), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1006. Letters, 1933 (2), written by Sherman Parks, Madisonville, Kentucky, to Joseph F. Garnett, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Parks, as an officer in the Hopkins County and Kentucky Colored Independent Voters Leagues, requests assistance, including monetary aid to promote the recruitment of African- Americans to Kentucky’s Democratic Party.

Students Disinterested In Voting Need To Smarten Up, Alexandra Pittman

UCF Forum

My fellow college students have been abuzz with political stands and commentaries on Facebook and other social media – but I’m concerned that many of those same students will not show up to vote on Nov. 6.

A Voter's Guide To Voting, Scott Borling, Sarah Murphy, Thomas S. Mach

Alumni Publications

No abstract provided.

Latino Voters 2012 And Beyond: Will The Fastest Growing And Evolving Electoral Group Shape U.S. Politics?, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

The author reviews two recent books, Marisa A. Abrajano’s Campaigning to the New American Electorate: Advertising to Latino Voters (2010) and Marisa A. Abrajano’s and R. Michael Alvarez’s New Faces New Voices: The Hispanic Electorate in America (2010). These books are part of a growing literature that scientifically studies the evolving Latino electorate, and attempts to answer difficult questions about this ethnic group’s electorate cohesiveness and how candidates might be able to influence the Latino electorate. A careful read of Abrajano’s recent books brings additional understanding to Latino voter behavior, and by implication, how this key group will influence the …

The Impact Of Prolonged Nomination Contests On Presidential Candidate Evaluations And General Election Vote Choice: The Case Of 2008, Jeff Dewitt, Richard N. Engstrom

Faculty Articles

The fact that political parties hold competitive nomination contests that require voters to choose among multiple candidates leaves open the possibility that the contest itself could damage the prospects of an eventual nominee. In this study, we employ the American National Election Study panel survey data from the 2008 U.S. presidential election to assess the impact of the Democratic Party nomination process on candidate evaluations and general election vote preference. We find evidence that Barack Obama had greater difficulty uniting his party than his Republican counterpart due to the fact that Clinton voters were slow to coalesce around Obama. These …