hts 2016: after quiz 1 material

what people are likely to demand

a) demand constraints

b) resource constraints

a) demand constraints

______ hamper the ability of ordinary citizens to translate their best interest into policy

a) demand constraints

b) resource constraints

b) resource constraints

which ages have less voter turnout?

18-24 ages

true or false

the U.S. doesn’t vote as much as other western democracies, and with great variance over time

true

while it was federal law that Africans could vote, states created ______ for registration

barriers

what were some barriers made for registration back then?

literacy tests (qualification tests) and poll taxes

layers of bureaucracy (creating challenges) prevented people from voting

social movements increase turnout in two ways/ what are they?

1) increase political efficacy by drawing people into politics

2) mobilize voters and bring them to the polls

one of the big barriers is just being ________ in the United States

just being registered to vote

the United States makes it required to ?

a) opt-out to vote

b) opt-in to vote

b) opt in to vote

is there a big gap between the people eligbile to vote versus the percentage of those registered?

yes

countries like Israel and South Korea show what?

show show voter registration rolls are maintained and in-country versus out-of-country voters

(they are counted in the registered-voters but not the voting-age population)

why don’t we vote?

-individual explanations

-registration/re-registeration

-deadlines

-number of elections and when they are held

-ID requirements

-voting age

-compulsory voting

-economic divisions

how do elections work?

single member districts with pluraity votign (also called?)

first past the post

what is the first past the post voting system in the United States?

this is a majority system in which the winner takes all

-whoever gets the most votes win

true or false

places that put up coalitions tend to have more than just two political partities

true

________ movement drew attention to restrictions with voting

Civil Rights

prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin was which act?

the Civil Rights Act of 1964

which law prohibits racial discrimination in voting?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

by which system does the united states use to elect a president?

electoral college

what is electoral college?

-group from each state selecting a president

-you can still win with more elctoral votes than the popular vote percentage (less than 270 electoral votes loses)

-safe states and swing states

-overall 538 electoral votes

when was the electoral college built?

-built on a system/at a time that assumed only white, male landowners would ever have the vote

-In 2013, sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were struck down through which court case?

shelby county vs holder (5-4 vote)

how did Texas respond when the sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was shut down in 2013?

-In 2013, sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were struck down (Shelby County vs Holder, 5-4 vote) → two hours later, Texas changed voter ID requirements (e.g., no state student ID, but state gun ID okay)

-they said Section 5 was unconstitutional

-in their elimination of Section 5, there would be more limits on voting requirements 

-Texas had preplanned their legislation when the case was overturned

what is one person, one vote like today?

-2016 challenge to the concept of one person, one vote, and % difference between districts → representational equality (example, children and other non-voters) vs. power of only voters

-Supreme Court made a unanimous decision (they rarely do that!)

-Texas stated that it will continue to fight (and it has)

-a major constitutional issue, but also a very political one

what is one person one vote?

you count everybody and divide up (doesn’t matter about their uneligibility)

one person one vote is mainly used by _______ against _____

Republicans against democrats (cause they usually have more minorities and children)

-advantages smaller states

do we have a partisian government?

yes

What specific election-security problem does an in-person photo ID requirement most directly address?

-Physical impersonation

-can solve some issues but most are out of the scope

1. Should photos be required on IDs? What should count as ID?

-Georgia has a pretty comprehensive list of IDs

1. What evidence would help determine whether voter ID policies create barriers for eligible voters?

-there are some states that remove voting rights when somebody doesn’t vote

-”exact match system”

-letting people know it exists and letting people know how to register could help

-barriers: getting there 

-state issued ids are free in Georgia 

true or false:

-Large-scale in-person voter fraud is almost impossible for individuals (and this is what ID laws are meant to stop)

true

true or false about voter fraud:

-The actual prevalence of the harm doesn’t match the prevalence of the claims

true

true or false

-Prosecution for voter fraud (like voter fraud itself) is very rare

true

______ is determining who is eligible to vote (usually sending them a piece of mail to their home)

-how we send this mail can be done in different ways (some with more bad intents)

a) caging

b) purging

a) caging

_____ is cancelling people’s voting registration

-like if someone passes or moves to another state

purging

true or false

-individual citizens in Georgia can challenge others’ individual registration (if they potential are really registration)

true

How do resource constraints primarily affect ordinary citizens' involvement in the political process?

• A) They prevent citizens from voting in local elections.

• B) They hamper citizens' ability to translate their best interests into policy through mechanisms like campaign donations and access to information.

• C) They mandate that all citizens pre-register to vote at age 18.

• D) They prohibit mass mobilization movements from occurring.

• B) They hamper citizens' ability to translate their best interests into policy through mechanisms like campaign donations and access to information.

True or False: Individual actions (like a single vote) have a massive impact on national election outcomes, whereas mass mobilization movements generally have very little effect.

Individual votes rarely decide national outcomes, but mass mobilization movements (like Women's Suffrage or MeToo) have significant political impact.

Explain the concept of "free riders" as it relates to political mobilization and social movements.

Free riders are individuals who benefit from the collective goods or policy changes achieved by a political movement without contributing time, effort, or money to the movement themselves.

In the United States, roughly [ % ] of voting-age citizens voted in the 2020 election, compared to about [ % ] of 18–29 year olds.

62% (voting age) / 50% (18–29 year olds).

Historically, how has voter turnout among 18–24-year-old Black voters changed from 1968 to 2020?

• A) It steadily declined to near zero.

• B) It remained completely flat with no variance.

• C) It maintained high voter turnout trends over time relative to the broader age bracket.

• D) It was higher than all other age demographics combined.

C — Black voters aged 18–24 had consistently high turnout trends relative to their peer group over that timeframe.

What is the primary difference between the Voting Age Population (VAP) and the Voting Eligible Population (VEP)? Give one example of someone who is in the VAP but not the VEP.

VAP includes everyone residing in the country over age 18. VEP excludes those over 18 who are legally ineligible to vote (e.g., non-citizens or disenfranchised felons depending on state law).

Historically, states used literacy tests and poll taxes primarily to:

• A) Increase political efficacy among low-income voters.

• B) Create structural barriers to suppress turnout, particularly among Black voters in the South.

• C) Ensure that all voters understood the US Constitution before entering the booth.

• D) Fund federal election infrastructure.

B — They were disenfranchisement tools designed to suppress turnout, especially in the South.

What was the significance of the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder?

• A) It established the "one person, one vote" standard.

• B) It required all states to adopt automatic voter registration.

• C) It struck down Section 4/5 pre-clearance requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

• D) It made state-issued student IDs mandatory for voting nationwide.

C — It removed the pre-clearance formula, allowing covered jurisdictions to change voting laws without prior federal approval.

What are the two primary ways social movements increase voter turnout?

1) Increasing political efficacy (drawing people into politics), and 2) Directly mobilizing voters to get to the polls.

The United States uses single-member districts with plurality voting (often called "first past the post"). What political outcome does this system strongly reinforce?

• A) A multi-party system with mandatory coalition governments.

• B) A two-party system.

• C) Proportional representation.

• D) Direct democracy without representatives.

B — Plurality/winner-take-all systems systematically favor a two-party system (Duverger's Law).

How many total electoral votes exist in the US Electoral College, and how many are required to win the presidency?

538 total electoral votes; 270 required to win.

True or False: The original design of the Electoral College included the Three-Fifths Compromise, which enlarged Southern representation in Congress and the Electoral College despite enslaved people having no right to vote.

True — Southern states gained extra electoral weight due to counting 3/5 of the enslaved population for apportionment.

Which specific type of voter fraud is an in-person photo ID requirement designed to prevent?

• A) Mail-in ballot interception

• B) Physical impersonation at the polling place

• C) Double-voting across state lines

• D) Voting machine software tampering

B — Physical impersonation at the poll site.

In the context of voter registration maintenance, [ _____________ ] refers to removing individuals from voter rolls who have moved or passed away, while [ _____________ ] refers to sending mailings to addresses to verify voter eligibility (which can sometimes disenfranchise legitimate voters on technicalities).

Purging / Caging.

What did recent investigations (such as those by the Associated Press and the Heritage Foundation) reveal regarding the actual prevalence of voter fraud in recent US presidential elections compared to public claims?

Actual substantiated cases of voter fraud are extremely rare (a fraction of a percentage point of total votes cast), showing a stark mismatch between public claims/perceptions of widespread fraud and actual evidence.