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Chapter 11: Political Participation and Voting Behavior

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Flash Cards

Practice Quiz

Critical Thinking and Learning Exercises

http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/
  1. Using the Internet, look at the five elections prior to 1964. Research the voting patterns of southern states before 1964 and compare them to the five most recent presidential elections. What is one of the most obvious differences? What attributes to this difference? 
  2. Please explain the notion of red states and blue states. Examine each of the maps located at the following website: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/. Interpret and discuss how each of these maps differs. How do these presentations alter your understanding of red states and blue states?
  3. Election turnout among youth reached record numbers in 2008. Compare 2008 to 2000 and 2004 and describe the differences among voters under the age of 30 during each of these years. Prior to 2008, youth voted in very low numbers. Explain why the youth vote has been suppressed in prior years. What attributed to the huge increase in 2008?

Links to further Resources

Project Vote Smart

http://votesmart.org/

Project Vote Smart is a website dedicated to improving voter access to information in order to promote a better-informed electorate.

Rock the Vote

http://www.rockthevote.org/

Founded in 1992 as a pop-culture movement to encourage greater participation among young voters, Rock the Vote has registered more than five million young voters over the years. To what extent do you think pop-culture outreach to youth—for example, trying to frame voting as “hip”—is a useful strategy for promoting greater participation and engagement among young citizens?

The League of Women Voters

http://www.lwv.org/issues/protecting-and-engaging-voters

Among the many goals of The League of Women Voters, a central focus is on protecting and engaging voters in an effort to increase citizen participation in elections. The LWV website offers a number of articles relating to the importance of voting of protecting voter rights.

American National Election Studies

http://www.electionstudies.org/

The ANES is devoted to the collection of high quality data on voting, public opinion, and political participation. The data collected by ANES helps researchers, policymakers, and journalists “better understand the theoretical and empirical foundations of national election outcomes.”

Registering to Vote

http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Register.shtml

USA.gov provides detailed information on voter eligibility, procedures for voter registration, and registration deadlines for all 50 states.

U.S. Voting and Election Resources

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/links.html

The National Archives Electoral College website provides links to a wide range of voter resources.

Voter ID Laws: A Necessary Protection against Fraud, or an Attempt to Disenfranchise Voters?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/One-Minute-Debate/2012/1002/3-views-on-whether-US-states-should-require-voter-ID/Yes-States-must-preserve-the-integrity-of-each-vote-especially-in-an-era-of-close-elections

This “one minute debate” from the Christian Science Monitor presents a quick overview of the debate over voter ID laws. Many states have argued that voters should be required to show a picture ID in order to vote in an effort to eliminate the possibility of voter fraud. Critics have protested, saying that groups like the poor and the elderly may be unfairly prevented from voting because financial or physical difficulties make it harder for them to obtain the required ID. Do you think the picture ID requirement is a valid restriction that protects the integrity of elections, or is it a thinly disguised barrier to the voting rights of particular groups, along the lines of literacy tests or poll taxes?