Interest Group Consultant SimulationIn this activity you will be pretending to be a consultant for an interest group. You will be charged with helping that interest group better achieve its goals. Hav

GP210 — American Government Week 6 Study Guide Week 6 Objectives: During Week Six, you will learn about the history of voting rights in our country as well as voting trends today. You will also study the electoral process, looking at how elections work with a focus on the specifics of the Electoral College. Upon suc cessful completion of this Lesson, the student will be able to: •Explain the electoral process Please be sure to utilize the "My Notes" section to organize your thoughts with regard to what is the most important information within the lecture tha t is being imparted. Focus on factual information relevant to each discussion topic. Reading Assignment and Lecture Key Points: Voting The History of Voting Perhaps the greatest right that the American citizens have is the right to vote . But voting for all has not always been a part of the American political landscape. Only in the twentieth -century has suffrage (the right to vote) been extended to all. Once the Constitution was ratified (approved), the states were allo wed to decide who could and could not vote. Not even all white males were allowed to vote! The Constitution is focused on property and the protection of property rights. Many in leadership throughout the thirteen states felt that only those who had a stake in the community and nation should be voters. Therefore, in most states there were property restrictions on the right to vote . One had to either own or pay taxes on a certain amount of property in order to vote. The political elite were terrified of wh at we know today as American democracy. They feared that if the vote was universal (at that time, all white males), government and society would come to be dominated by the lower classes and chaos would ensue. At the federal level, the Federalists , who c ontrolled national government for the first twelve years of its existence, were also elitists . They felt that only those men who were educated and/or owned property should participate in politics and government because only they were qualified to govern an d vote. Early Voting Rights Voting restrictions lasted for about 100 years until the 15th Amendment went into effect in 1870 . Until then, in Massachusetts, property restrictions still governed who could vote. Throughout the nation, even in northern states, African Americans were not allowed to vote. After the Civil War, the Freedmen (former slaves) in the South were an automa tic source of Republican votes as long as Reconstruction government was effective. Once the North lost its political will to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments, Reconstruction ended, and African Americans in the South went into the deep night of Jim Crow . In addition to the disenfranchisement of African Americans, women, Mexican immigrants, native Americans, and Chinese immigrants were not allowed to vote. Suffrage and Voting Beginning with the Seneca Falls meeting in 1848, women began to campaign for the right to vote. This was a very difficult idea at the time. Women were confined socially to taking care of the home and raising the children. Women were not welcome in political discussions. The only avenue outside the home in which women could act with the blessing of society was in reform movements. The two biggest reform movements of the nineteenth -century were the Temperance and Abolition Movements . An incident in the Abolition movement sparked the Feminists movement . In 1840, an international abolition conference was held in London. Many of the delegates from the United States were women, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott . The male organizers of the London event refused to allow the American women to attend the meetings simply because they were women. Stanton came to realize after this experience that the first duty of women was to liberate them. This incident led to the Seneca Falls meeting and the Women’s Suffrage Movement was born. Changes in Voting So the vote had always been seen as something very precious, something worth fighting to have. Changes in citizenship standards over the years impacted who was eligible to vote as well. Naturalization laws mainly focused on granting citizenship and voting rights to white male s. In 1870, the 15th Amendment gave the right to vote to all men, including former male slaves. Because voting laws varied from state to state, some states enacted strict policies for voters such as literacy tests and voting taxes that often discouraged African Americans from voting. This is why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (95 years after the 15th amendment!) became so important. Due to the Voting Rights Act, states were no longer allowed to practice racial discrimination in voter registration effort s and voting practices. The federal government is also able to monitor these voting practices to ensure these rights are upheld. The next major step in voting rights came fifty years after African American men were granted the right to vote through the 1 5th Amendment. In 1920, women gained the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment . In 1924, Native Americans were granted citizenship and the right to vote. Finally, one of the most significant (and most recent) voting changes came with the passage of the 26th amendment in 1971. This amendment lowered the minimum age for voting from 21 to 18, which was largely a result of the Vietnam War. Protests over young men being drafted to the war but ineligible to vote pushed Congress to act in passing this amendment. Despite these changes and expansion in who is allowed to vote in the United States, voter turnout has dropped. Throughout the 1800s, voter turnout was very high. The 1840 and 1860 elections saw over 80% of the registered voters v oting. Voter participation averaged around 78% between 1840 and 1896. The trend of voter participation then began a steady drop until only just under half of the registered voters voted in 1920 . Modern Voting The average rate of participation in voting in the United States is 48 %. It seems that only a hot -button issue can draw large numbers to the polls. These larger numbers are usually only reflected in local or single state returns. When one looks back on the fact that hundreds of thousands of men d ied in a Civil War that gave the vote to African American men and the struggles of the Feminist movement to gain the vote, it is disheartening that so many choose not to vote. The Electoral Process Introduction Elections allow citizens to determine w ho they want to run their government whether at the local, the state or federal level. Government officials are chosen for a specific time called a term of office. Representatives serve two -year terms, Senators serve sixyear terms, and the President serves a four -year term . This allows for continuity the entire Congress is not up for re -election at the same. The American system of government is not a " direct democracy " - it is a "representative democracy ." Citizens do not directly participate in the legislative process. They elect officials to represent them. Our elections are based on the concept of " plurality " - winner takes all. The candidate with the most votes wins. A candidate does not have to h ave a majority to win in a multicandidate race. This is different from " proportional representation ." In that kind of system, parties are given seats in the legislature in proportion to the total number of votes received. In the United States, it is ver y difficult for a third party candidate to gain office. In a multicandidate race (e.g., Democratic, Republican, and Green Party), if a Democrat gets 38% of the vote, the Republican gets 37% of the vote, and the Green Party candidate gets 25% of the vote, t he Democrat wins. Senators and Representatives are elected by direct vote . The candidate who receives the most votes wins. But it has not always been that way. Until 1913, most state legislatures selected their Senators. The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1 913, changed this to direct election by the voters. Every seat in the House of Representatives and a third of Senate seats are up for reelection every two years. Senators and Representatives do not have term limits. They may stand for re -election as ofte n as they want. Incumbents usually enjoy hefty campaign war chests and are usually popular enough in their districts that they face no serious opposition. The Electoral College Unlike Senators and Representatives, Presidents can only serve two four -year terms. The President is elected by the Electoral College, not the voters. The Framers did this because they did not trust the choice of President to direct vote. Citizens vote for electors who cast their ballots in the Electoral College. There are 538 electors - one for each Senator (100), one for each Representative (435) and three for the District of Columbia. The number of electors a state has is the number of Senators (2) plu s its number of representatives. During a general election, citizens actually vote for the electors pledged to a Presidential candidate. The names of the electors may or may not appear on the ballot below the names of the Presidential candidates. Individua ls that are selected to be electors are citizens who are dedicated to their political party - State -elected officials, party leaders, or even people who have a personal affiliation with the Presidential candidate. (Under the Constitution, members of Congre ss or national government officials may not be appointed as an elector.) All the states (except Maine and Nebraska) use the winner -take -all system . This means that if a state has 50 electors, the candidate that wins a plurality of the vote wins all 50 el ectoral votes. Maine and Nebraska proportionally allocate their votes to presidential candidates based on a formula. Electors chosen by citizens of a state are expected to vote according to the preferences of their party. If a state votes for the Democra tic candidate, then the Democratic slate of electors votes when the Electoral College meets. It must be noted that the Constitution does not require electors to vote according to party lines. Occasionally, an elector will "break ranks " and vote for someone else! The ballots cast by the electors are counted and certified before a joint session of Congress in January. The candidates who receive a majority of the electoral votes (at least 270) are certified as president -elect and vice president -elect. If no candidate receives 270 electoral votes, the House gets to decide (from among the top three presidential candidates) who becomes president and Senate decides who becomes vice president. W6 Discussion "Voting" Please review the following history of voti ng: http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/vote/home_nodetect.html Note: There are two ways to navigate - one at the top of the presentation, one at the bottom. Be sure to use both navigation techniques to see the entire presentation. Which change in voti ng procedures did you find most significant? Why? Consider the following: When you click on the link provided for this discussion question, the first thing that you might see is this: The Interactive Exhibition requires the Macromedia Flash Player version 6 or higher. • Get the Flash Player • Launch the Interactive Exhibition (I have Flash 6+) If you don’t have the flash player, then simply click on the “Get the Flash Player” button — it’s free! If you do have the flash player, then simply click on “Launch the Interactive Exhibition (I have Flash 6+)” option. Once you can see the site, called Vote: The Machinery of Democracy , it is easy to navigate through the pages by clicking on the “Continue” button once you’ve finished each slide. You can also click on the “1,” “2,” 3,” etc. buttons at the top of the page to jump to different major voting ti meframes. Within the slideshow presentation, several major changes in voting procedure are addressed. There are also little extra items in there, such as paintings depicting what the slideshow is talking about and pictures of the various voting boxes. Just focus on the parts of the presentation that talk about big voting changes, pick the one that you personally think is most important, share your choice, and explain why you feel like this change is most significant. W6 Assignment " Electoral College " (assignment formerly called “Term Limits ”) As your reading s for this week point out, the President is not elected by a direct vote of the people but rather by the Electoral College. Some argue that this discourages voters from voting if they live in a state that goes for Democrats or Republicans in every electio n. Voter turnout in “battleground” or “swing” states such as Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania does tend to be higher but there are also reasons for this system. For this assignment answer the following questions in 3 paragraphs : 1) Ho w are the number of electoral votes decided for each state? How many electoral votes are in your home state? Which Presidential candidate (Obama or Romney) won your state’s electoral votes in the 2012 election? 2) Briefly explain the “pros and cons” of the electoral system. Why do we have the electoral system? What are some arguments against it? 3) In a few sentences, explain what you think. Should the U.S. maintain the current Electoral College system, move toward a national popular vote system, or use the “proportional voting” system for the Electoral College used by Maine and Nebraska? You may not use websites such as “ask.com” or “wiki answers” in your writing assignment. There are lots of great resources, such as these listed below that provide you with information to answer these questions. http://www.archives.gov/federal -register/electoral -college/map/historic.html http://www.archives.gov/federal -register/electoral -college/faq.html#whyec http://www.archives.gov/federal -register/electoral -college/about.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/11/defending _the_electoral_college.html http://www.usato day.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/23/voter -turnout -swing - states/1787693/ Be sure to list any of the websites you used for your research by copying and pasting the link at the bottom of your assignment. APA Formatting: https://content.grantham.edu/at/SALC/APA_Guide_with_gloss ary_(Gr antham_University_2012).pdf Sites on the History of Voting: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/history -right -vote http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history -by - era/governmentandcivics/essays/winning -vote -history -voting -rights Sites on the Voting and Election Process: http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Learn.shtml http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandacti vities/presentations/elections/elecprocess.html http://library.thinkquest.org/11492/convention/election.html Sites on the Electoral College: http://www.archives.gov/federal -register/electoral -college/about.html http://www.howstuffworks.com/electoral -college.htm http://www.fairvote.or g/the -electoral -college/#.UaH0sRoo7Z4