Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 7 Participation and Voting
Chapter 7 Participation and Voting
Participation 7
and Voting
ter: www.cen
for this chap /j an da
lscience
.com/politica
I n this chapter, we try to answer these and other important questions about
popular participation in government. We begin by studying participation in
democratic government, distinguishing between conventional forms of politi-
cal participation and unconventional forms that still comply with democratic
government. Then we evaluate the nature and extent of both types of partici-
pation in American politics. Next, we study the expansion of voting rights and
voting as the major mechanism for mass participation in politics. Finally, we
192
examine the extent to which the various forms of political participation serve
the values of freedom, equality, and order and the majoritarian and pluralist In Our Own Words
models of democracy. Listen to Kenneth Janda discuss
the main points and themes of
this chapter.
What Motivates a
Suicide Bomber?
In her farewell video, a twenty-
two-year-old Palestinian woman
and mother of two pledged to
use her body as shrapnel to kill
Israelis. In mid-January 2004
Reem al-Riyashi carried out a
suicide bombing, killing three
Israeli soldiers and a security
guard and wounding nine
others. Her husband and other
family members said they were
unaware of her plans. In her
video, she professed love for her
daughter, age one, and son, age
three, and said, “I am convinced
that God will help and take care
of my children.” Reem al-Riyashi
is only one of many worldwide
who have sacrificed themselves
for political causes in recent
years. (Handout/Reuters
Newmedia Inc./Corbis)
are often used by powerless groups to gain political benefits while working
within the system.6
Terrorism is an extreme case of unconventional political behavior. Indeed,
the U.S. legal code defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated vio-
lence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clan-
destine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.”7 Timothy McVeigh,
a decorated veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, bombed the federal building in
Interactive 7.1 Oklahoma City in 1995. Executed in 2001 for taking 168 lives, McVeigh said
Oklahoma City: Over Ten he bombed the building because the federal government had become a police
Years Later state hostile to gun owners, religious sects, and patriotic militia groups.8
Unconventional methods of participation figure in popular politics as dis-
advantaged groups resort to them in lieu of more conventional forms of partic-
ipation used by most citizens. Let us look at both kinds of political participation
in the United States.
Unconventional Participation
On Sunday, March 7, 1965, a group of about six hundred people attempted to
march fifty miles from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol at Montgomery to
show their support for voting rights for blacks. (At the time, Selma had fewer
than five hundred registered black voters, out of fifteen thousand eligible.)9 Al-
terrorism Premeditated, politically abama governor George Wallace declared the march illegal and sent state
motivated violence perpetrated troopers to stop it. The two groups met at the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the
against noncombatant targets by Alabama River at the edge of Selma. The peaceful marchers were disrupted
subnational groups or clandestine and beaten by state troopers and deputy sheriffs—some on horseback—using
agents. clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. The day became known as Bloody Sunday.
Conventional Participation
A practical test of the democratic nature of any government is whether citizens
can affect its policies by acting through its institutions—meeting with public
officials, supporting candidates, and voting in elections. (See “Compared with
What?: Popular Participation in Politics.”) If people must operate outside gov-
ernment institutions to influence policymaking, as civil rights workers had to
do in the South, the system is not democratic. Citizens should not have to risk
their life and property to participate in politics, and they should not have to
take direct action to force the government to hear their views. The objective of
democratic institutions is to make political participation conventional—to al-
low ordinary citizens to engage in relatively routine, nonthreatening behavior
to get the government to heed their opinions, interests, and needs.
In a democracy, for a group to gather at a statehouse or city hall to drama-
tize its position on an issue—say, a tax increase—is not unusual. Such a dem-
onstration is a form of conventional participation. The group is not powerless,
DISCUSS POLITICS
Norway 68.8
France 65.1
Germany 62.7
Canada 60.9
Australia 58.0
United States 52.3
Japan 49.4
Great Britain 45.6
Spain 43.6
SIGNED A PETITION
Australia 83.7
Canada 79.0
France 76.3
Great Britain 73.7
Norway 66.6
United States 66.5
Japan 55.2
Germany 53.1
Spain 46.1
INTERESTED IN POLITICS
Germany 70.1
United States 69.7
Japan 66.2
Norway 64.7
France 58.8
Australia 58.7
Canada 55.4
Great Britain 51.3
Spain 31.7
0 20 40 60 80 100
products. Survey researchers have only discussed politics on the Internet, which
recently begun to ask whether respon- makes it a relatively infrequent act of
dents have ever joined an Internet political political participation compared to these
forum. In the United States, a little over other activities.
7 percent of respondents claim to have
DEMONSTRATED
France 55.4
Spain 55.0
Canada 26.2
Gemany 25.7
Norway 25.6
Australia 20.7
United States 18.8
Great Britain 16.4
Japan 8.4
JOINED IN BOYCOTTS
Australia 55.3
Canada 54.0
France 49.3
Germany 42.1
Great Britain 40.1
United States 38.9
Norway 38.5
Spain 22.3
Japan 19.9
DONATED MONEY
Germany 68.7
Norway 56.2
United States 50.2
Canada 49.8
France 47.8
Australia 43.1
Japan 42.9
Great Britain 31.4
Spain 25.4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Source: International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2004: Citizenship Survey, http://www.zacat.gesis.org.
and its members are not risking their personal safety by demonstrating. But vi-
olence can erupt between opposing groups demonstrating in a political setting,
such as between pro-life and pro-choice groups. Circumstances, then, often de-
termine whether organized protest is or is not conventional. In general, the less
that the participants anticipate a threat, the more likely it is that the protest
will be conventional.
Conventional political behaviors fall into two major categories: actions
that show support for government policies and those that try to change or in-
fluence policies.
Supportive Behavior
Supportive behavior is action that expresses allegiance to country and govern-
ment. Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and flying the American flag on holi-
days show support for both the country and, by implication, its political
system. Such ceremonial activities usually require little effort, knowledge, or
personal courage; that is, they demand little initiative on the part of the citizen.
The simple act of turning out to vote is in itself a show of support for the politi-
cal system. Other supportive behaviors, such as serving as an election judge in a
nonpartisan election or organizing a holiday parade, demand greater initiative.
At times, people’s perception of patriotism moves them to cross the line
between conventional and unconventional behavior. In their eagerness to sup-
port the American system, they break up a meeting or disrupt a rally of a group
they believe is radical or somehow “un-American.” Radical groups may threaten
the political system with wrenching change, but superpatriots pose their own
threat by denying to others the nonviolent means of dissent.20
Influencing Behavior
Citizens use influencing behavior to modify or even reverse government policy to
serve political interests. Some forms of influencing behavior seek particular
benefits from government; other forms have broad policy objectives.
Citizens often ask for special services from local government. Such requests
may range from contacting the city forestry department to remove a dead tree
in front of a house to calling the county animal control center to deal with a vi-
cious dog in the neighborhood. Studies of such “contacting behavior” find that
it tends not to be empirically related to other forms of political activity. In
other words, people who complain to city hall do not necessarily vote. Con-
tacting behavior is related to socioeconomic status: people of higher socioeco-
nomic status are more likely to contact public officials.21
Americans demand much more of their local government than of the na-
tional government. Although many people value self-reliance and individual-
ism in national politics, most people expect local government to solve a wide
range of social problems. A study of residents of Kansas City, Missouri, found
that more than 90 percent thought the city had a responsibility to provide ser-
vices in thirteen areas, including maintaining parks, setting standards for new
home construction, demolishing vacant and unsafe buildings, ensuring that
property owners clean up trash and weeds, and providing bus service. The re-
searcher noted that “it is difficult to imagine a set of federal government activi-
ties about which there would [be] more consensus.”22 Citizens can also mobilize
against a project. Dubbed the “not in my back yard,” or NIMBY, phenome-
non, such a mobilization occurs when citizens pressure local officials to stop
undesired projects from being located near their homes.
Finally, contributing money to a candidate’s campaign is another form of
influencing behavior. Here, too, the objective can be particular or broad bene-
fits, although determining which is which can sometimes be difficult. For ex-
ample, as discussed in Chapter 9, national law limits the amount of money that
an individual or organization can contribute directly to a candidate’s campaign
for president.
Several points emerge from this review of “particularized” forms of politi-
cal participation. First, approaching government to serve one’s particular inter-
ests is consistent with democratic theory because it encourages participation
from an active citizenry. Second, particularized contact may be a unique form
of participation, not necessarily related to other forms of participation such as
voting. Third, such participation tends to be used more by citizens who are ad-
vantaged in terms of knowledge and resources. Fourth, particularized partici-
pation may serve private interests to the detriment of the majority.
Eco Tarzan
It takes a lot of initiative to
live in a tree. Environmental
activists in Dresden, East
Germany, took up residence
in a three-hundred-year-old
beech tree in an effort to
prevent authorities from
chopping it down to make
way for a new bridge. The
tree was eventually removed,
but officials promised to
consult with environmental
groups on future
development projects.
Environmentalists around the
world protest government
policies by putting themselves
physically in between nature
and urban growth. The
German Green Party is a
political party devoted to
environmentalism and
grassroots democracy.
(© Sebastian Willnow/AFP/Getty
Images)
actually requires more initiative to register to vote in the United States than to
cast a vote on election day. With a computer, it is even easier to e-mail members
Look for grassroots action in your
of Congress than to vote.
area at http://grassroots
Other types of participation designed to affect broad policies require high
.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page.
initiative. Running for office requires the most (see Chapter 9). Some high-
initiative activities, such as attending party meetings and working on cam-
paigns, are associated with the electoral process; others, such as attending
legislative hearings and writing letters to Congress, are not. Although many
nonelectoral activities involve making personal contact, their objective is often
to obtain government benefits for some group of people—farmers, the unem-
ployed, children, oil producers. In fact, studies of citizen contacts in the United
States show that about two-thirds deal with broad social issues and only one-
third are for private gain.23 Few people realize that using the court system is a
form of political participation, a way for citizens to press for their rights in a
democratic society. Although most people use the courts to serve their particu-
lar interests, some also use them, as we discuss shortly, to meet broad objec-
tives. Going to court demands high personal initiative.24 It also requires
knowledge of the law or the financial resources to afford a lawyer.
People use the courts for both personal benefit and broad policy objectives.
A person or group can bring a class action suit on behalf of other people in simi-
lar circumstances. Lawyers for the National Association for the Advancement
class action suit A legal action of Colored People pioneered this form of litigation in the famous school deseg-
brought by a person or group on regation case Brown v. Board of Education (1954).25 They succeeded in getting
behalf of a number of people in the Supreme Court to outlaw segregation in public schools, not just for Linda
similar circumstances. Brown, who brought the suit in Topeka, Kansas, but for all others “similarly
Voting in Malawi
This photo shows voters casting their ballots
at a voting station in Malawi during elections
in 2004. Every five years, Malawi elects
a president and members of a national
assembly. Seats in the assembly are split
among several political parties. In 2004,
only 54 percent of all eligible voters turned
out to vote. (© Berendien Bos/Netherlands
Institute for Multiparty Democracy)
situated”—that is, for all other black students who wanted to attend desegre-
gated schools. Participation through the courts is usually beyond the means of
individual citizens, but it has proved effective for organized groups, especially
those that have been unable to gain their objectives through Congress or the
executive branch.
Individual citizens can also try to influence policies at the national level by
participating directly in the legislative process. One way is to attend congres-
sional hearings, which are open to the public and are occasionally held outside
Washington, D.C. Especially since the end of World War II, the national gov-
ernment has sought to increase citizen involvement in creating regulations and
laws by making information on government activities available to interested
parties. For example, government agencies are required to publish all proposed
and approved regulations in the daily Federal Register and to make govern-
ment documents available to citizens on request.
Expansion of Suffrage
The United States was the first country to provide for general elections of rep-
resentatives through “mass” suffrage, but the franchise was far from universal.
When the Constitution was framed, the idea of full adult suffrage was too radi-
cal to consider seriously. Instead, the framers left the issue of enfranchisement
to the states, stipulating only that individuals who could vote for “the most
numerous Branch of the State Legislature” could also vote for their representa-
tives to the U.S. Congress (Article I, Section 2).
Initially, most states established taxpaying or property-holding requirements
for voting. Virginia, for example, required ownership of twenty-five acres of
suffrage The right to vote. Also settled land or five hundred acres of unsettled land. The original thirteen states
called the franchise. began to lift such requirements after 1800. Expansion of the franchise acceler-
franchise The right to vote. Also ated after 1815, with the admission of new “western” states (Indiana, Illinois,
called suffrage. Alabama), where land was more plentiful and widely owned. By the 1850s, the
FIGURE 7.2 Voter Registration in the South, 1960, 1980, and 2000
As a result of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 and other national 80
actions, black voter registration 72
69
in the eleven states of the old 64
Black White
Voting on Policies
Disenfranchised groups have struggled to gain voting rights because of the po-
litical power that comes with suffrage. Belief in the ability of ordinary citizens
to make political decisions and to control government through the power of
the ballot box was strongest in the United States during the Progressive era,
which began around 1900 and lasted until about 1925. Progressivism was a phi-
losophy of political reform that trusted the goodness and wisdom of individual
citizens and distrusted “special interests” (railroads, corporations) and politi-
cal institutions (traditional political parties, legislatures). Such attitudes have
resurfaced among the followers of the Reform Party and others who find this
populist outlook appealing.
The leaders of the Progressive movement were prominent politicians (for-
mer president Theodore Roosevelt, Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin)
progressivism A philosophy of
and eminent scholars (historian Frederick Jackson Turner, philosopher John
political reform based on the
Dewey). Not content to vote for candidates chosen by party leaders, the Pro- goodness and wisdom of the
gressives championed the direct primary—a preliminary election, run by the state individual citizen as opposed to
governments, in which the voters choose the party’s candidates for the general special interests and political
election. Wanting a mechanism to remove elected candidates from office, the institutions.
Progressives backed the recall, a special election initiated by a petition signed by direct primary A preliminary
a specified number of voters. Although about twenty states provide for recall election, run by the state government,
elections, this device is rarely used. Only a few statewide elected officials have in which the voters choose each
actually been unseated through recall.34 Indeed, only one state governor had party’s candidates for the general
ever been unseated until 2003, when California voters threw out Governor election.
Gray Davis in a bizarre recall election that placed movie actor Arnold Schwarz- recall The process for removing an
enegger in the governor’s mansion. elected official from office.
The Progressives also championed the power of the masses to propose and
pass laws, approximating citizen participation in policymaking that is the hall-
mark of direct democracy.35 They developed two voting mechanisms for poli-
cymaking that are still in use:
Figure 7.3 shows the West’s affinity for these democratic mechanisms.
Over three hundred propositions have appeared on state ballots in general
elections since 2000. In 2007, six states decided the outcome of thirty-four
propositions. Of these, citizens placed four on the ballot; the others were placed
on the ballot by state legislatures.36 Voters in Texas approved billions of dollars
in spending for cancer research and highway improvement projects. Voters in
New Jersey rejected spending for stem cell research. While most propositions
concern taxes and spending, others have addressed social issues. In 2004, the
definition of marriage was on the ballot in eleven states, and each state voted
to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
At times, many politicians oppose the initiatives that citizens propose
and approve. This was true, for example, of term limits. A referendum can
also work to the advantage of politicians, freeing them from taking sides on a
hot issue. In 1998, for example, voters in Maine repealed a state law that
barred discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment, housing, and
public accommodations. In so doing, it became the first state to repeal a gay
rights law.37
What conclusion can we draw about the Progressives’ legacy of mecha-
nisms for direct participation in government? One seasoned journalist paints
an unimpressive picture. He notes that an expensive “industry” developed in
the 1980s that makes money circulating petitions and then managing the large
sums of money needed to run a campaign to approve (or defeat) a referendum.
In 1998, opponents of a measure to allow casino gambling on Native Ameri-
can land in California spent $25.8 million. This huge sum, however, pales in
comparison to the $66.2 million spent during the campaign by the tribes that
referendum An election on a
policy issue. supported the measure. The initiative passed.38
Clearly, citizens can exercise great power over government policy through
initiative A procedure by which
the mechanisms of the initiative and the referendum. What is not clear is
voters can propose an issue to be
decided by the legislature or by the whether these forms of direct democracy improve on the policies made by rep-
people in a referendum. It requires resentatives elected for that purpose. However, recent research has shown that—
gathering a specified number of especially in midterm elections, which are characterized by low turnout—ballot
signatures and submitting a petition measures tend to increase voting turnout, knowledge of issues, and campaign
to a designated agency. contributions to interest groups.39
WA NH
VT ME
MT ND
0R MN MA
WI NY
ID SD RI
WY MI
CT
IA PA
NJ
NV NE
IL OH
UT IN DE
CA CO WV VA MD
KS MO KY DC
NC
TN
AZ OK
NM AR SC
MS AL GA
TX LA
FL
AK
Initiative, referendum, and recall
HI Initiative and referendum
Initiative
Recall
Referendum
None of the above
This map shows quite clearly the western basis of the initiative, referendum, and recall mechanisms intended to place
government power directly in the hands of the people. Advocates of “direct legislation” sought to bypass entrenched
powers in state legislatures. Established groups and parties in the East dismissed them as radicals and cranks, but they
gained the support of farmers and miners in the Midwest and West. The Progressive forces usually aligned with Demo-
crats in western state legislatures to enact their proposals, often against Republican opposition.
Source: National Conference on State Legislatures, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/irstates.htm.
If the Internet had been around during their era, Progressives certainly
would have endorsed it as a mechanism of direct democracy. At an elementary
level, the Internet allows ordinary citizens who seek to initiate legislation to
collect on petitions the thousands of signatures needed to place the proposal on
the ballot.40 At a more advanced level, the Internet encourages much closer
connections between citizens and their elected and appointed government offi-
cials, as more government agencies go online. A 2007 survey of government
websites found 1,487 at the state level, 48 at the national level, and 13 for fed-
eral courts.41
No country can approach the United States in the frequency and variety
of elections, and thus in the amount of electoral participation to which its
citizens have a right. No other country elects its lower house as often as
every two years, or its president as frequently as every four years. No
other country popularly elects its state governors and town mayors; no
other has as wide a variety of nonrepresentative offices (judges, sheriffs,
attorneys general, city treasurers, and so on) subject to election. . . . The
200
70
Number of countries
160 60
50
Percentage of countries
120
Percentage
that are electoral
Number
democracies 40
80 30
20
40 Number of electoral
democracies 10
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Source: See Larry Diamond, The Spirit of Democracy (New York: Times Books, 2008), p. 22 and Appendix, Table 2.
He kindly supplied data for 2007.
C ompared with turnout rates in all fifteen established members of the European
Union, voter turnout for American presidential elections ranks at the bottom, and
turnout for American congressional elections ranks even lower. The European data
show the mean percentages of the registered electorate voting in all parliamentary elec-
tions from 1945 through 2003. The American data for all presidential and congressional
elections from 1950 to 2004 show voters as percentages of the eligible voting-age popu-
lation (those eighteen and older, excluding noncitizens and ineligible felons). Turnout in
U.S. elections tends to average about fifteen points higher in presidential years than in
congressional years. As discussed in the text, low turnout in the United States is partly
due to requiring voters to register on their own initiative. The governments in virtually
all the other nations automatically register eligible citizens as voters.
Belgium 92.5
Austria 90.9
Italy 89.8
Luxembourg 89.7
Netherlands 86.6
Denmark 86.0
Sweden 85.7
Germany 85.0
Greece 79.9
Spain 75.7
Finland 75.6
United Kingdom 75.2
France 74.8
Portugal 73.6
Ireland 72.6
United States
Presidential years 57.8
Congressional years 42.2
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of voter turnout in democratic nations
too. One scholar notes: “Protest in advanced industrial democracies is not sim-
ply an outlet for the alienated and deprived; just the opposite often occurs.”45
In one major way, however, those who engage in unconventional political be-
havior differ from those who participate more conventionally: protesters tend
to be younger.
Obviously, socioeconomic status does not account for all the differences in
the ways people choose to participate in politics, even for conventional partici-
pation. Another important variable is age. Younger people are more likely to
take part in demonstrations or boycotts and less likely to participate in conven-
tional politics.46 Younger people engage in more voluntary and charitable ac-
tivities, but older Americans are more likely to vote, identify with the major
political parties, and contact public officials.47 Voting rates tend to increase as
people grow older, until about age sixty-five, when physical infirmities begin to
lower rates again.48
Two other variables—race and gender—have been related to participation
in the past, but as times have changed, so have those relationships. Blacks, who
had very low participation rates in the 1950s, now participate at rates compa-
rable to whites when differences in socioeconomic status are taken into ac-
count.49 Women also exhibited low participation rates in the past, but gender
differences in political participation have virtually disappeared.50 (The one ex-
ception is in attempting to persuade others how to vote, which women are less
likely to do than men.)51 Recent research on the social context of voting behav-
ior has shown that married men and women are more likely to vote than those
of either sex living without a spouse.52
Of all the social and economic variables, education is the strongest single
factor in explaining most types of conventional political participation. A major
study on civic participation details the impact of education:
It affects the acquisition of skills; it channels opportunities for high levels
of income and occupation; it places individuals in institutional settings
where they can be recruited to political activity; and it fosters psychologi-
cal and cognitive engagement with politics.53
Figure 7.5 shows the striking relationship between level of formal educa-
tion and various types of conventional political behavior. The strong link be-
tween education and electoral participation raises questions about low voter
turnout in the United States, both over time and relative to other democracies.
The fact is that the proportion of individuals with college degrees is greater in
the United States than in other countries. Moreover, that proportion has been
increasing steadily. Why, then, is voter turnout in elections so low? And why
has it been dropping over time?
0 20 40 60 80 100
The Decline in Voting over Time. The graph of voter turnout in Figure
7.6 shows a large drop between the 1968 and 1972 elections. During this pe-
riod (in 1971, actually) Congress proposed and the states ratified the Twenty-
sixth Amendment, which expanded the electorate by lowering the voting age
from twenty-one to eighteen. Because people younger than twenty-one are
much less likely to vote, their eligibility actually reduced the overall national
turnout rate (the percentage of those eligible to vote who actually vote). Al-
though young nonvoters inevitably vote more often as they grow up, observers
estimate that the enfranchisement of eighteen-year-olds accounts for about one
or two percentage points in the total decline in turnout since 1952. Neverthe-
less, that still leaves more than ten percentage points to be explained.55
Voter turnout has declined in most established democracies since the
1980s, but not as much as in the United States. Given that educational levels
are increasing virtually everywhere, the puzzle is why turnout has decreased
instead of increased. Many researchers have tried to solve this puzzle.56 Some
attribute most of the decline to changes in voters’ attitudes toward politics: be-
liefs that government is no longer responsive to citizens, that politicians are too
packaged, that campaigns are too long.57 Another is a change in attitude
toward political parties, along with a decline in the extent to which citizens
identify with a political party (a topic we discuss in Chapter 8).58 According to
these psychological explanations, voter turnout in the United States is not
likely to increase until the government does something to restore people’s faith
in the effectiveness of voting—with or without political parties.
According to the age explanation, turnout in the United States is destined
to remain a percentage point or two below its highs of the 1960s because of the
lower voting rate of citizens younger than twenty-one. Turnout rates do in-
crease as young people age, which suggests that voting is habit forming.59 To
increase turnout of young people, an organization called Rock the Vote was
formed in 1990 within the recording industry (later incorporating the enter-
tainment and sports communities) to mobilize young people “to create positive
social and political change in their lives and communities” and “to increase
Register to vote at
youth voter turnout.”60 In 2004, almost 49 percent of those eighteen to twenty-
rockthevote.com.
nine years old turned out to vote.61 In 2008, the Obama campaign made a spe-
cial appeal to young voters, and youth voter turnout increased. In fact, over
62 percent of eligible voters of all ages turned out to vote, matching the high
turnout rates of presidential elections in the 1960s.
is extremely high. But other methods can encourage voting: declaring election
days to be public holidays or providing a two-day voting period. In 1845, Con-
gress set election day for the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November,
but a reform group—called “Why Tuesday?”—is asking Congress to change
election day to a weekend.62
Furthermore, nearly every other democratic country places the burden of
registration on the government rather than on the individual voter. This is im-
portant. Voting in the United States is a two-stage process, and the first stage
(going to the proper officials to register) has required more initiative than the
second stage (going to the polling booth to cast a ballot). In most American
states, the registration process has been separate from the voting process in
terms of both time (usually voters had to register weeks in advance of an elec-
tion) and geography (often voters had to register at the county courthouse, not
their polling place).63 The seven states that do allow citizens to register and
vote on the same day have consistently higher voter participation rates.64 Turn-
out is higher in Oregon, where everyone votes by mail.65 Moreover, registra-
tion procedures often have been obscure, requiring potential voters to call
around to find out what to do. People who move (and younger people move
more frequently) have to reregister. In short, although voting requires little ini-
tiative, registration usually has required high initiative. If we compute voter
turnout on the basis of those who are registered to vote, about 80 percent of
Americans vote, a figure that moves the United States to the middle (but not
the top) of all democratic nations.66
To increase turnout, Congress in 1993 passed the so-called motor-voter
law, which aimed to increase voter registration by requiring states to permit
To these explanations for low voter turnout in the United States—the tra-
ditional burden of registration and the lack of strong party–group links—we
add another. Although the act of voting requires low initiative, the process of
learning about the scores of candidates on the ballot in American elections re-
quires a great deal of initiative. Some people undoubtedly fail to vote simply
because they feel inadequate to the task of deciding among candidates for the
many offices on the ballot in U.S. elections.
Teachers, newspaper columnists, and public affairs groups tend to worry a
great deal about low voter turnout in the United States, suggesting that it signi-
fies some sort of political sickness—or at least that it gives us a bad mark for
democracy. Some others who study elections closely seem less concerned.74
One scholar argues:
Turnout rates do not indicate the amount of electing—the frequency . . . ,
the range of offices and decisions, the “value” of the vote—to which a
country’s citizens are entitled. . . . Thus, although the turnout rate in the
United States is below that of most other democracies, American citizens
do not necessarily do less voting than other citizens; most probably, they
do more.75
Despite such words of assurance, the nagging thought remains that turn-
out ought to be higher, so various organizations mount get-out-the-vote cam-
paigns before elections. Civic leaders often back the campaigns because they
value voting for its contribution to political order.
Summary
T o have “government by the peo-
ple,” the people must participate
in politics. Conventional forms of
ments. We also lack institutions (especially strong
political parties) that increase voter registration and
help bring those of lower socioeconomic status to
participation—contacting officials and the polls.
voting in elections—come most quickly People’s tendency to participate in politics is
to mind. However, citizens can also participate in strongly related to their socioeconomic status. Edu-
politics in unconventional ways—staging sit-down cation, one component of socioeconomic status, is
strikes in public buildings, blocking traffic, and so the single strongest predictor of conventional polit-
on. Most citizens disapprove of most forms of un- ical participation in the United States. Because of
conventional political behavior. Yet blacks and women the strong effect of socioeconomic status, the politi-
used unconventional tactics to win important politi- cal system is potentially biased toward the interests
cal and legal rights, including the right to vote. of higher-status people. Pluralist democracy, which
People are motivated to participate in politics provides many avenues for resourceful citizens to
for various reasons: to show support for their coun- influence government decisions, tends to increase
try, to obtain particularized benefits for themselves this bias. Majoritarian democracy, which relies heav-
or their friends, or to influence broad public policy. ily on elections and the concept of one person, one
Their political actions may demand either little po- vote, offers citizens without great personal re-
litical knowledge or personal initiative, or a great sources the opportunity to influence government
deal of both. decisions through elections.
The press often paints an unflattering picture Elections also serve to legitimize government
of political participation in America. Clearly, the simply by involving the masses in government
proportion of the electorate that votes in general through voting. Whether voting means anything
elections in the United States has dropped and is far depends on the nature of voters’ choices in elec-
below that in other nations. The United States tends tions. The range of choices available is a function of
to show as much citizen participation in politics as the nation’s political parties, the topic of the next
other nations, however, when a broad range of con- chapter.
ventional and unconventional political behavior is
considered. Voter turnout in the United States
suffers by comparison with that of other nations
CL Student Website Resources: Videos,
because of differences in voter registration require- Simulations, News, Timelines, Primary Sources