The document discusses the expansion of voting rights in the United States over time. Initially, only white property-owning men could vote, but several amendments granted voting rights to African Americans, women, and 18-year-olds. Voter turnout in the US is lower than in European democracies due to factors like registration requirements and the frequency of elections. The document also examines different forms of political participation beyond voting, such as social movements, protests, and virtual participation, noting that Americans are less likely to protest than citizens in other countries.

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Chapter 7

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Voter Participation
Expansion of the vote
Initially only white property-owning men could vote
By the 1840s most property restrictions were removed
Fifteenth Amendment (1870) gave African Americans the
right to vote
 Suppressed by literacy laws and other methods
 Voting rights not fully available until the 1960s
Women received the vote in 1920 via the Twentieth
Amendment
Eighteen-year-olds received the vote in 1971 via the
Twenty-Sixth Amendment

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Voter Participation
Factors in voter turnout: the United States in comparative
perspective
Significantly lower turnout than in European democracies
Registration requirements
 Historically a means to limit suffrage
 Determined by states
 Motor voter law

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Voter Participation
Factors in voter turnout: the United States in comparative
perspective
Registration requirements
 Voter ID cards serve to depress voter turnout
 Georgia photo ID/voter identification card law
Federal judge struck down monetary requirement
 Supreme Court upheld Indiana voter ID card requirement

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Voter Participation
Factors in voter turnout: the United States in comparative
perspective
Frequency of elections
 Elections at many levels of government, frequent and
staggered
 Primary elections
 Americans asked to vote two or three times as often as
Europeans

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Voter Participation
Why some Americans vote and others do not
Education and income
Age
Civic attitudes
 Apathy
 Alienation
 Civic duty
Political interest and party identification

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Conventional Forms of
Participation Other Than Voting
Campaign and lobbying activities
Virtual participation
Political campaigns and citizen mobilization
Democratizing effects, but also lend themselves to political
polarization
Community activities
Decline in social capital?

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Unconventional Activism: Social
Movements and Protest Politics
Protest more common in the predemocratic era
Social and political movements use conventional forms of
political participation: lobbying, voting, writing letters
They also can use unconventional means: protests
Civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s
Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and 1970s

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Unconventional Activism: Social
Movements and Protest Politics
The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street protest movements
Each social (political) movement started with anger at
established interests
Tea Party:
 Initial target: Republican lawmakers for the 2008 bank
bailout
 Played a key role in Republican takeover of House in
2010
 Resulting House turmoil has weakened popular support

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Unconventional Activism: Social
Movements and Protest Politics
The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street protest movements
Occupy Wall Street:
 Began as protest against bailout of the financial industry
and government’s failure to hold bankers accountable
 Has seen popular support decline because of public’s
unease with protesters confronting police
 OWS’s target was private wealth and it aimed to curb the
political influence of large political donors

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Unconventional Activism: Social
Movements and Protest Politics
The public’s response to protest activity
Political protests have a long history in America
Americans less likely to protest than citizens in other
democracies
Public support for protest activity relatively low

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Participation and
Potential for Influence
Individualism diminishes political participation
Lower-income Americans least likely to vote or
participate politically; lack resources and education levels
Participation reflects socioeconomic level