Voting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Voting - Essay Example Therefore, the other option is indirect democracy. In indirect democracy, people vote to choose representatives, and the representatives then take decisions to govern the country. Similarly, the United States of America is an indirect democratic country. In the country, to elect a president people cast their votes. Nonetheless, there are some issues regarding the voter turnout. A low turnout rate has become a dilemma for several past decades. Thus, the claim to become a role model for the rest of the world has become almost shattered. It is evident that the turnout was policy-based, which affected the election of 1988. Thus, in an election we may discern a link between the policy preferences of individuals and their voting ratio. Definition of voter turnout First, we will have to define a voter turnout. Voter turnout refers to the overall number of people who cast their vote in any election. The turnout, generally, exhibits with percentage; however, there are other methods to ascerta in the turnout rate of voters. The most general way to evaluate turnout of voters is counting the overall number of votes. This method is known as Total Vote. Obviously, this is the most direct way to count the vote and measure the turnout. However, this method has some setbacks; for example, it counts all votes whether valid or invalid (Pintor et al., 2002). In addition, the method is unable to supplement comparison aspects. The residency requirement for new citizens after that they would be able to cast a vote is another reason for a lower turnout. In 2003, the issue of new residents arose in 44 states. However, these requirements of residency have been set to 30 days before the federal election, yet there are still chances that several eligible voters would not be able to cast their votes (Patterson, 2009). The Election of 1988 in United States In the 1988 presidential election, the voter turnout was 50.1%. The turnout was lower than the standards of American presidential electio n. They were several reasons for the lower turnout, which will be discussed latter on; however, the present question is who suffered due to the low turnout, George Bush (Republican) or Michael Dukakis (Democrat). The statistical calculations exhibit Dukakis was going to win the election of 1988 if the individuals took part fully in the elections. Most of the individuals who remained unmoved during the elections were the supporters of Democrats. Briefly, one can observe the Republican had the advantage of low turnout of votes; thus, it can be concluded that the election of 1988 – specifically, its result – was not the real picture of the preferences of people. In this regard, in the current paper Radcliff’s aggregate study on the presidential elections from 1928 to 1980 has been examined to evaluate the American National Election of 1988. It has been identified in the current study that the minimum turnout shows harmful results and suggests encouraging voters to take part in voting. Citizens should understand that their votes are a representative of their choice. The lower turnout of the voters has become a significant debatable issue in American society. Moreover, researchers and scholars are being pressurized to find out the real reason of individual voter absentees. In addition, a significant relation is found between Democratic vote division and turnout (DeNardo, 1980). Furthermore, in presidential elec