POLS 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Gerrymandering, Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Statutory Law
21 Feb 2017
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Constitution amendment elections happen in the odd number years. Congress chooses to do this because they want low turnout. These are held on saturdays in college football season. There is a causal relationship between turnout and amendments passed. Alienation: feeling you"re not a member of the group, other group members don"t care about you therefore you don"t participate. Cost-benefit: if benefits exceed the costs, you do it and if the costs outweigh the benefits then you don"t do it. Costs: going out of your way to vote and make sure you"re registered, also the cost of information. Especially with organized labor, now is unimportant. Gerrymandering prevail in congressional district and state district. There are so many elections that it is overwhelming. 1960 was the peak of voter turnout. States said who was eligible to vote. You had to be a resident in the area for a long time. You had to own property whether it was land or livestock.
