Posted on 07/20/2015 5:15:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
By passing automatic voter registration, which places the responsibility for registering on governments, rather than individuals, we could easily boost turnout. Other reforms to make voting easier, such as making Election Day a holiday, non-partisan voter registration drives, and early voting periods, should also be implemented.....
GOP politicians like Scott Walker work hard to suppress the vote. New data gives us a good idea why
This week the Census Bureau released their data on voter turnout in the 2014 election, and the numbers are abysmal. In 2014, only 41.9 percent of the voting age citizen population turned out, the lowest number census has recorded since they began collecting data in 1978. But these broad numbers obscure an even more important reality: that the decline in turnout between the 2012 Presidential election and the 2014 midterm was strongest among low-income people (see chart) and people of color.
As it happens this is also the first election since the Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act and conservatives rushed to pass discriminatory laws aimed at suppressing voter turnout. There is a large body of evidence suggesting that when voting is easier, more people vote, and that voter suppression laws disproportionately impact the poor and people of color. The turnout numbers from 2014 are dramatic: At the lowest income bracket, less than 1 in 4 citizens of voting age turned out, and only half were registered to vote, a drop of 48 percent from the presidential election. At the highest bracket the Census records data for ($150,000 and above), 80 percent were registered and 57 percent voted, a drop-off of 29 percent from the presidential election. However, another data source that surveys the wealthiest 1 percent found that in 2008, 99 percent voted, suggesting bias at the very top might be even higher.
In a previous Demos explainer, I argued that lower class bias in voter turnout would lead to more economically progressive policies and benefit the poor. In an upcoming piece, I expand on that argument with new data. One thing I examine is how policies that reduce turnout among people of color effect policy. To do so I used the American National Election Studies 2012 survey to examine differences in public opinion between white voters and non-white nonvoters. I focus on four questions about fundamental disputes about the role of government: whether government should increase service, boost spending on the poor, guarantee jobs and reduce inequality. I examine net support, meaning I subtracted the percentage of people in support of the law from the percent in favor.
As the chart above shows, the preferences of white voters are dramatically different than non-white nonvoters. While on net white voters want government to decrease services (52 percent say cut services and 24 percent say more, with 24 percent saying keep them at the same), nonwhite nonvoters overwhelmingly favor expanding services (16.8 percent, 47.1 percent and 36 percent, respectively). While a modest majority of white voters want more spending on the poor (26 percent to 24 percent with 49 percent saying keep spending the same), support among non-white nonvoters is dramatic (57.2 percent, 7.9 percent and 35 percent respectively). All told, nonvoters of color have vastly different preferences about the size and scope of government than white voters.
The divergent preferences of nonvoters mean that boosting turnout would change government policy to be more beneficial to the poor. The implications of universal voter turnout would be dramatic, as a brief examination of the international, historical and state level data suggest. Examining data from 19 countries over 22 years, Peter Lindert writes, “A stronger voter turnout seems to have raised spending on every kind of social program.” A study of Latin American countries from 1970 and 2008 finds that increasing democracy boosted spending on education, health, social security and welfare. Economists Dennis Mueller and Thomas Stratmann estimate that if voter turnout in increase from 40 percent to 80 percent, it would reduce the Gini Coefficient (which measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1) by .04, which is equal to the entire effect of taxes and transfers in the United States. New studies examining differences in class bias (differences in turnout between the rich and poor) at the state level suggest that boosting turnout would reduce inequality by pushing policy in a more progressive direction.
Obviously, voter turnout can’t remedy all the gaps in participation in the American political system. As the chart below shows, the richest Americans engage with the political system far more across the board. But this only increases the importance for reducing the bias in voting, which is the simplest to remedy. One archaic barrier that political scientists agree reduces turnout is registration. By passing automatic voter registration, which places the responsibility for registering on governments, rather than individuals, we could easily boost turnout. Other reforms to make voting easier, such as making Election Day a holiday, non-partisan voter registration drives, and early voting periods, should also be implemented.
In addition, we must fervently fight voter suppression. As Naila Awan has noted, conservatives in North Carolina used the gutting of the VRA to ram through a bill to eliminate same day registration, early voting and pre-registration while also passing a strict voter ID law. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker has pushed for a voter ID laws that would disenfranchise as many as 300,000 eligible voters. Such bald attempts to suppress voting deserve to be universally condemned.
In addition, we should increase the voices of average Americans through a robust public financing system. The donor class is 90 percent white and 70 percent male. A whopping 42 percent of campaign contributions come from a tiny portion of donors, the 0.01 percent. Rather than 25,000 hyper-wealthy Americans dictating policy, a public financing system could increase the representation of people of color and working class people as well as women, in the donor pool. Research on the New York City public financing program suggests that it boosted diversity in the donor pool. Creating fair districts should also be a priority, because it would make every vote matter, encouraging voter turnout. Voting matters. The best evidence for why it does is how damn hard oligarchs fight to make sure you can’t.
So we have a black “_resident” transforming our country right before our eyes and they write this B.S. Spare me.
LOL That’s a new twist.
“Boost turnout” is NOT the prime objective.
Protecting our freedoms by protecting against fraud IS.
Oh goodie, another article about hating whitey and vote fraud, wrapped in blanket of lies.
Drug test all welfare recipients (including tobacco and alcohol). No money for recreational drugs if they can’t make ends meet.
Also put police at the poling centers to apprehend all persons with outstanding warrants.
Also put social workers at the polling centers to apprehend all deadbeat dads who are behind on their child support.
I have no kids and no ex-wives but I have to prove to the state of Texas that I have no liens on my driver’s license by making it clear that I have no child support owed (social security card is required).
Can’t see how it is okay to vote with debts and crimes but you can’t get licensed or government work without such proof and background checks.
Just consider the next democrat talking point, MANDATORY voting. It’s the cats meow.
.......................................................
Just like MANDATORY Obamacare.
COMMUNISM is when the Government takes over your life and makes all decisions you should be making for yourself. Call it anything you like, but MANDATORY=COMMUNISM.
We are moving rapidly in that direction and the America I was born into and the America I love, is disappearing with every day of this administration.
BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Then how come we have Obamacare, nutty environMENTAL laws, and steaming illegal invaders?
Wow! 1984 is officially here. Newspeak in action.
WE DO NOT NOR HAVE WE EVER HAD A DEMOCRACY! THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ARE A REPUBLIC - WITH GOD’S GRACE LONG MAY SHE REMAIN!
Ugh. How freakin’ easy does it have to be? I drive to a voting location that is *not* in my neighborhood and I wait in a long line. Then I vote. It’s not convenient or fun. There are no donuts and coffee; there’s no TV in line. In my mind it’s a test. Are you sufficiently mature enough to stand in an extra boring line — more boring than even lines at a store, where at least you can browse magazine covers — to exercise your privilege to vote? Or is that “too hard, too boring, too inconvenient.” Separates the adults (and yes, hubby and I have taken turns to vote, with one watching the kids while one votes, then vice versa) from the layabout, can’t-be-bothered crowd.
I don't believe that its race that makes the difference....
It's individual liberty and law and order.... In other words....A Strong Republic, like the one we used to have.....
That Republic built the most richest and most powerful nation the world as ever seen.....and now we are pissing it away just because a few lazy bastards feel "left out"....
MHO :(
Let’s see, every time a state tries to clean up the registered voters in their state, the DOJ gets on the act to prevent it. Trying to remove the names of voters that have died or moved away, there is a hue and cry by the liberals, socialists and communists. And of course, requiring an ID for every one that wants to vote is also a NO NO. So, I will assume that the only reason why these liberals, socialists and communists are fighting this, is because it prevents them from voting illegally.
“Requiring proof of having voted to receive government benefits is also on the table IMHO.”
I would not be surprised to see them do that but they still won’t require proof of citizenship. Can’t you just see an illegal showing proof of having voted to get benefits but no proof of being in the country legally, let alone being a citizen. It really is a Mad, Mad, Mad World.
So this entire article comes from the racist assumption that only colored people are poor and no colored person is wealthy.
Dismissed as BS for Salon’s racism.
That graph is shocking and racist! Who knew that people motivated enough to earn six figures would also have the motivation to take 5 minutes to vote?!
Later
“The whites also created the best place in the world for the other races to live.”
In all fairness that is a matter of opinion, others may consider Cuba or some other place the best. You could probably judge by just looking at which countries have to struggle to keep people out and which ones struggle to keep them in...okay, you win.
Unfortunately, MANDATORY voting will still require SOME physical effort.
So standby for AUTOMATIC voting, where the government “casts” whatever “votes” are needed to get “participation rates” up to government-mandated “standards”...
See! An easy “fix”!
“policies that reduce turnout among people of color effect policy.”
And you too can learn correct English usage before I will listen to your bulls**t.
“GOP politicians like Scott Walker work hard to suppress the vote. New data gives us a good idea why:”
LOL!
“Scott Walker hates minorities! He kills kittens for fun! Scot Walker is Hitler on steroids!” ~ Lunatic Leftists
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