Voter participant

Voter participant

In the United States of America, elections are run by the individual states. That means the rules for who can register, when you can register, where you can vote, what documentation you need to vote, how you can vote, what type of elections are held, and how votes are counted are all decided at the state-level. That is the reason some states, such as Iowa and Nevada have caucuses, while New Hampshire and most other states have ballot primaries. Or why in Oregon you receive your ballots for every election by mail, so you never have to take time off of work to participate in an election.

Central Ideas in Government, our Soomo textbook, in Chapter 15 defines public policy as, “action taken by government to address societal problems or needs.” For this assignment you will choose four voting and election public policies to research. Two of the policies you select must be from the list of public policies that have been outlawed and the other two should be under the current public policy list.

Paragraph One: In your thesis paragraph you should outline your paper and present the argument you will be making.

Paragraph Two: Choose two past public policies that have been outlawed from those below

• white primaries

• poll taxes

• property ownership requirement for voting

• tax paying requirement for voting

• allowing only men to vote

• literacy tests

You will present the two topics you have chosen for policies that were outlawed. Make sure you answer all of the following questions:

What was the intent of those laws and who benefited by having those laws in place?

What types of people or groups were hurt by the voting laws and policies that have been outlawed?

When were these policies enacted and when were they outlawed?

Were these practices intended to increase or decrease voter participation?

Paragraph Three: Choose two current public policies

Writing Assignment – Impact of Voting Policies on Voter Participation
Due: Friday 28th Feb at 11:59 pm

• restrictive voter ID laws

• lowering voting age to 18

• early voting

• vote by mail

• automatic voter registration at age 18

• motor voter laws

• election day registration

• provisional voting

• felon voting rights

• voter purges

• absentee voting

• photo ID required for voting

• same-day voter registration

You will present the two topics you have chosen for policies that are current. Make sure you answer all of the following questions:

What is the intent of those laws and who benefits by having those laws in place?

What types of people or groups were helped or hurt by the voting laws and policies that you selected?

Have there been any legal challenges to these policies? What has the result been of the legal challenges?

Were these practices intended to increase or decrease voter participation?

Paragraph Four: Concern regarding voter fraud is often given as the reason for having more restrictive voter participation practices. In this paragraph you will provide at least three facts regarding the incidence or prevalence of voter fraud. In your opinion is the current incidence of voter fraud of significant concern to enact or justify restrictive voter ID laws? Why or why not?

Paragraph Five: Voter participation in the 2018 Mid-Term Elections in Texas was at 45.6% according to the United States Elections Project (United States Election Project, http://www.electproject.org/ ). That means that less than half of all eligible voters actually participated in the election. Given the current participation rates in Texas what types of election policies would you want to see passed and why? Explain why voter participation is essential for a healthy democracy.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS:

1. Standard 5-paragraph essay to be structured as outlined above. Each paragraph must have a minimum of four sentences
2. 500 words of text, minimum, not including title, citations, and references
3. Double-spaced, 12 point non-cursive font
4. Reviewed available Assignment Resources and Writing Tips
5. Draft, compose, proofread, and edit before you submit your work
6. Checked that your submission follows all assignment instructions
7. Minimum of four sources that pass the CRAAP test.
8. APA style using in-text citations and references
9. Use relevant and appropriate vocabulary from the textbook and course
10. Use Standard Written English
11. Submit as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file