Political participation refers to activities citizens engage in to influence government actions or policymaking, either directly or indirectly. It includes voting, contacting officials, campaign volunteering, protesting, and other actions. According to studies, most common forms of participation in the US are watching campaigns on TV, voting, and trying to influence others' votes. Over time, voting rights have expanded from only white, male landowners to include all races, both sexes, and younger adults due to abolitionist, women's suffrage, and civil rights movements challenging exclusions based on attributes like gender, race, and age. Today, states have little power to regulate suffrage.
2. What is political
Participation?
“ [political participation] is an activity that has the
intent of effect of influencing government action –
either directly by affecting the making or
implementation of public policy or indirectly by
influencing the selection of people who make
those policies.”
(In the research, “Voice and equality: Civic
Volunteerism in American Politics,”Verba,
S., Schlozman, K.L, & Brady H.E.(1995) )
3. Political Participation
Political Participation is when a citizen engage in activities, with the ultimate goal to
change the government, such as:
Voting
Contacting Political Officials
Volunteering for a Campaign
Participating in a Riot
Also, non-electoral political activity
lobbying
public relations
litigation
4. Political Participation
Voting in Election
Campaign Activity
Community Activity
Contacting Officials
Protesting
Running for Public Office
5. How do people
participate?
According to a University of Michigan study based on the 2000 election,
Americans reported that
82% watched the campaign on television
73% voted in the election
34% tried to influence others how to vote
10% put a sticker on their car or wore a button
9% gave money to help a campaign
5% attended a political meeting
3% worked for a party or candidate
11. Expansion of Voting Rights
In colonial America, only White men who owned land or
a substantial amount of wealth, over the age of 21, were
allowed to vote.
After the Civil War, the 15th Amendment was to grant
voting rights to Blacks, but Southern states employed
many tactics to disenfranchise African Americans.
Poll taxes
Literacy test
Grandfather Clauses
The 19th Amendment, enacted on August 26, 1920,
voting rights were extended to women, nationally.
In 1971, national voting age was lowered from 21 to 18
years old.
12. Forces that Influenced the
Expansion of Voting Rights
The evolution of voting rights has been
shaped by enormous conflicts involving
questions of race, gender, religious identity,
and age.
Abolitionist movements
Women’s suffrage movements
Civil rights movements
14. Voting Rights: TODAY
Individual states have very little or no power to regulate suffrage.
All U.S. native-born or naturalized citizens have the right to vote.
Convicted felons lose their right to vote, while and sometimes after
being incarcerated.