D.+The+ways+in+which+citizens+vote+and+participate+in+political+life




 * Topics on the Page **
 * Voting in the United States **
 * ** Special Topic Page on Voting Rights and Voter Suppression **
 * Who Votes **
 * ** Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? **
 * What Persuades Voters to Vote **
 * Who Can Run for Office **
 * Women and the Vote **
 * Increasing Voter Turnout and Citizen Participation **
 * Alternatives to Winner Take All Voting Systems **
 * **Ranked-Choice Voting**
 * **Preferential Voting Systems**

In the United States, a citizen must be at least 18 to vote.
 * Voting in the United States **
 * The citizen must also meet the requirements specific for his or her state.


 * For more on political parties and elections, go to AP Government Standard III.A
 * United States Government 5.2 for material on the Electoral College and Voter Participation
 * See Grade 5.28 for information about changes to voting between 1787 and 1828

See Special Topic Page on **Voting Rights and Voter Suppression**

= Who Votes =
 * [[image:Screen Shot 2017-02-21 at 10.27.35 AM.png link="@https://goodcountry.org/global-vote"]]Global Vote: The Good Country**
 * **This site lets people anywhere in the world register how they would vote in all national elections**

[|National Voter Turnout Rates, 1787-2012] from the United States Elections Project, University of Florida

What Does Voter Turnout Tell Us About the 2016 Election? PBS Newshour, November 20, 2016

An Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Developed by Stanford Researchers Can Determine a Neighborhood's Political Leanings by Its Cars (November 27, 2017)
 * Computers analyzed visual images of 22 million cars in 50 million Google Street View images.
 * In neighborhoods with more sedan from extended-cab pickups, there was 88% chance of voting for a Democrat in 2008 Presidential election
 * In neighborhoods where pick-ups outnumbered sedans, 92% chance the area went Republican.in 2008

Click here for a "People on the Street" segment asking citizens if they vote

[|Turnout of Voting Eligible Population, 1948-2012]
 * Voter Turnout in 2014 mid-term elections was 36.4%

[|The Party of NonVoters:] Younger, More Racially Diverse, More Financially Strapped from Pew Research Center (October 2014).

===Should 16-year-olds be Allowed to Vote?===


 * Takoma Park, Maryland became the first city in the United States to allow 16-year-olds to vote in 2013
 * Countries where the voting age is 16: Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua

== = What Persuades Voters to Vote =

What Persuades Voters? A Field Experiment on Political Campaigning, George Mason University (November 2011)
 * Face-to-face interactions have more impact than tv and radio ads or direct mail flyers that urge people to vote or outline candidate positions on issues
 * A candidate's presence, more than the message he uses, influences voters
 * Candidates sway voters merely by showing up at their door

2016 Campaigns Will Spend $4.4 billion on TV Ads, but Why? NPR (August, 19, 2015)

= Who Can Run for Office =

Below are the qualifications for office: To Run for President:
 * At least 35 years old
 * A natural born citizen
 * A resident of the US for a least 14 years

To Run for the Senate: To Run for the House of Representatives:
 * At least 30 years old
 * A citizen of the US for at least 9 years
 * A resident of the state where he or she is elected
 * Be at least 25 years old
 * A citizen of the US for at least 7 years
 * A resident of the state where he or she is elected
 * Representative Elise Stefanik is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress

**[[image:Female_Rose.png]]Women and Voting**

 * For a historical view on women gaining the right to vote, see the film //[|Iron Jawed Angels]//**
 * Click here to see a [|trailer from the film]
 * I[|ron Jawed Angels: Hollywood vs. History]
 * [|Learning Guide to Iron Jawed Angels] from Teach with Movies

For more on women gaining the right to vote, see United States History II.9

**Increasing Voter Turnout and Citizen Participation**

 * ====** Early Voting Laws and Voter Registration **====

32 states and the District of Columbia have some form of early voting; one of three Americans vote before election day (The Valley Advocate, November 7, 2013, p. 9)

[|House Bill H.3647] is being considered in Massachusetts to enable online voter registration and early voting during business hours beginning 11 days before an election.


 * ===** Using Technology to Increase Participation **===
 * [|Civinomics] is an open source decision making software program.
 * [|4PIA is a Congressional tweet aggregator] that show trending terms and allows readers to respond
 * [|Voter Information Project]
 * [|Online Transmission of Ballots]from National Conference of State Legislatures


 * ====** More Approaches to Increasing Citizen Participation **====

[|What is the National Popular Vote Plan? Facts and FAQs] from FairVote

[|Early Voting: What Works]from the Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law

[|Democracy Day] to establish a national election day holiday as proposed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders

[|The Swedish Way to Boost Voter Turnout] from //Time//

[|Simple Ways to Increase Voter Turnout] from Pacific Standard (March 2008)

[|Just Say Run: How to Overcome Cynicism and Inspire Young People to Run for Office], Brookings (July 2015)

**Alternatives to Winner Take All** **Voting Systems**

 * Noble Prize-winning economist Kenneth Arrow's Impossibility Theorem** demonstrated that no voting system can produce all the criteria for fair results.

The Impossibility Theorem is also called Arrow's Paradox; it was the basis of his doctoral dissertation and his 1951 book, //Social Choice and Individual Values//.

**For more, go to this podcast interview with Kenneth Arrow**


 * [|Fair Voting in the United States] outlines the history of proportional representation in American elections**


 * Ranked-Choice Voting**
 * Maine Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting.What Is It and How Will It Work, New York Times (December 3, 2016)
 * First State to Adopt Ranked-choice voting
 * In Maine, ranked-choice applies to contests for governor, Congress and the state legislature
 * Ranked voting is used in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Cambridge (Massachusetts) and Portland
 * See the following for answers to questions about ranked-choice voting in Maine

Ranked Choice Voting/Instant Run-Off Voting from FairVote

====**4 Preferential Voting Methods and 1 NonPreferential Voting Method (summarized by Dr. Larry Bowen, University of Alabama)**====


 * Preferential Voting Systems**

The candidate with the most first place votes wins (that candidate does not need a majority of votes).
 * Plurality Method**

This method uses successive rounds to eliminate a candidate with the fewest first place votes.
 * Method of Plurality with Elimination**

This is a form of preference voting where a candidate receives one point for last place, two points for next to last, and so on up to the total number of candidates in an election.
 * Borda Count Method.**

**Borda Count Method **from PBS Mathline offers lesson plan examples of this system in action.

Each candidate is matched one-on-one with each of the other candidates and receives one point for a win and 1/2 a point for a tie; the candidate with the most points wins.
 * Method of Pairwise Comparisons**

Voters can vote for as many candidates as they wish in an election. Each candidate approved of receives one vote and the candidate with the most votes wins.
 * Nonpreferential System (****Approval Voting)**


 * Range Voting or Score Voting**
 * Used in the scoring system in the Olympics

Sources: Infoplease. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0878573.html