Voting: Part III

Voting

• Gerrymandering:Practice of drawing electoral district lines in

order to limit the voting strength of a particular group or party

District lines are boundaries of the geographic area from which a candidate is elected to a public office

Originally used to disenfranchise African Americans

Voting

• Gerrymandering:Gerrymandering is a form of redistribution in

which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage. Gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder particular constituents, such as members of a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

Gerrymandering

• Original cartoon of "The Gerry-Mander", this is the political cartoon that led to the coining of the term Gerrymander. The district depicted in the cartoon was created by Massachusetts legislature to favor the incumbent Democratic-Republican party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists in 1812.

Gerrymandering Gerrymandering is used most often in favor of

ruling incumbents[2] or a specific political party. Societies whose legislatures use a single-winner voting system are the most likely to have political parties that gerrymander for advantage

Most notably, gerrymandering is particularly effective in non-proportional systems that tend towards fewer parties, such as first past the post.

non-proportional systems• A vote with multiple winners

• election of a legislature

• different practical effects than a single-winner vote.

• participants in a multiple winner election are more concerned with the overall composition of the legislature than exactly which candidates get elected

non-proportional systems

• many multiple-winner systems aim for proportional representation, which means that if a given party (or any other political grouping) gets X% of the vote, it should also get approximately X% of the seats in the legislature

first past the post

• The term first past the post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) was coined as an analogy to horse racing, where the winner of the race is the first to pass a particular point on the track (in this case a plurality of votes), after which all other runners automatically and completely lose (that is, the payoff is "winner-takes-all"). There is, however, no "post" that the winning candidate must pass in order to win, as they are only required to receive the largest number of votes in their favour.

Voting Systems

• Most democracies have partly proportional electoral systems, where several political parties are proportionally represented in the national parliaments, in proportion to the total numbers of votes of the parties in the regional or national elections. In these more or less proportional representation systems, gerrymandering has little or less significance.

Gerrymandering

• Packing & Cracking:The two aims of gerrymandering are to

maximize the effect of supporters’ votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes

Gerrymandering• Arizona's 2nd congressional district contains the northwestern

corner of the state, and some of the western suburbs of Phoenix as well as a small western portion of Phoenix itself. The odd shape of the district is indicative of the use of gerrymandering in its construction. The unusual division was not, however, drawn to favor politicians. Owing to historic tensions between the Hopi and the Navajo, and since tribal boundary disputes are a Federal matter, it was thought inappropriate that both tribes should be represented by the same U.S. House of Representatives member. Since the Hopi reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo reservation, and in order to comply with current Arizona redistricting laws, some means of connection was required that avoided including large portions of Navajo land, hence the narrow riverine connection.

•

Voting

• Packing & Cracking:One strategy, packing, is to concentrate as

many voters of one type into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts.

In some cases this may be done to obtain representation for a community of common interest, rather than to dilute that interest over several districts to a point of ineffectiveness

Voting

• Packing & Cracking:A second strategy, cracking, involves spreading out

voters of a particular type among many districts in order to deny them a sufficiently large voting block in any particular district.

The strategies are typically combined, creating a few "forfeit" seats for packed voters of one type in order to secure even greater representation for voters of another type

Voting

• Packing & Cracking:Gerrymandering is effective because of the

wasted vote effect. By packing opposition voters into districts they will already win (increasing excess votes for winners) and by cracking the remainder among districts where they are moved into the minority (increasing votes for eventual losers), the number of wasted votes among the opposition can be maximized. Similarly, with supporters holding narrow margins in the unpacked districts, the number of wasted votes among supporters is minimized.

wasted vote effect

• In the study of electoral systems, a wasted vote may be defined in 2 different ways:

1. any vote which is not for an elected candidate. 2. any vote which does not help to elect a candidate. • The first definition includes only those votes

which are for losing candidates (individual or party). The second definition is wider as it also includes surplus votes for winning candidates who would have won anyway without the wasted vote.

wasted vote effect

• An electoral system which reduces the number of wasted votes can be considered desirable on grounds of fairness or on the more pragmatic basis that a voter who feels their vote has made no difference may feel detached from their government or lose confidence in the democratic process

wasted vote effect

• In election campaigns, a leading candidate may appeal to voters who support a less-popular candidate to vote instead for them for tactical reasons, on the basis that a vote for their preferred candidate is likely to be wasted. In some electoral systems, it may be plausible for less-popular candidates may make similar appeals to supporters of more-popular candidates

Wasted Vote effect

• Opponents of the concept of a wasted vote point out that voting one's conscience is fundamental to democracy - an example of this is the adoption of major Socialist legislation by more mainstream parties in the United States in order to halt the Socialist party

Voting

• NonvotersIdiot-Greek word referring to those citizens

who did not vote or otherwise take part in public life.

Millions of Americans who do not vote!!!!

Voting• Figures/Trends:

2004-217.8 million persons of voting age in US120.2 million actually voted = 55.2%Even lower rates of turnout exist in off-year

electionsGeneral Election greater than mid-term

election

Voting

• Ballot Fatigue:Every state, more votes cast in presidential

election, than gubernatorial electionMore votes are cast for governor than for other

state wide officesMore voters vote for state wide offices than

county positions.

Non Voters

• “Cannot-voters”10 million residential aliens, barred from polls

from every state5 to 6 million citizens are ill or physically

disabled2 to 3 million sudden travelThousands of other mentally incapacitated or in

incarcerated, or don’t vote for religious beliefs

Non-Voters

• Actual Nonvoters:80 million people who could have voted but

chose not toPolitical Efficacy-They do not believe that

their vote can have any real impact on what government doesNo matter who wins things will continue to go well

or vice versa

Non-Voters

• Other Factors:Difficult election procedures

Registration requirementsLong ballotsLong lines at the polling placesTime zone fallout!!!Lack of Interest

Voters

• Characteristics- (Higher levels): IncomeEducationOccupational status Integration into

communityParty identificationSelf-efficacy

Non-Voters

• Characteristics:Younger than 35UnmarriedUnskilledRural areasman

Voter Behaviors

• Sociological factors:High income-Republican, Low

income-DemocratCollege Graduates-RepublicanWoman-Democrats(abortion, healthcare, social assistance) Younger Voters-Democrat Protestant-Republicans Catholics,

Jews-Democrats South, Midwest-Republican Northeast,

Great Lakes, West Coast-Democrat

Voter Behaviors

• Psychological Factors:Party Identification, vote for the party

(straight-ticket voting)Increase in split-ticket votingIncrease in number of independents

Non-voters

• Time Zone Fall OutPolls in Eastern &

Central Time Zones fall before Western & Pacific

Outcomes in the election can be projected before polls close in the west