TOPICS #38-41 — SUFFRAGE, VOTING, ELECTIONS, AND PARTY SYSTEMS

Q1.     How has the right to vote been expanded over the 215 years of U.S. electoral politics?

Q2.     How has voting turnout changed over time? Why is voting turnout lower in the U.S. than in most other countries with free elections?

Q3.     Why did political parties quickly develop in the U.S., even though the framers of the Constitution were generally opposed to parties and designed a Presidential selection system (see Topic #28) that was intended to be non-partisan?

Q4.     Why has the United States always had a two-party system, while many other countries with free elections have three or more parties?

Q5.     Why do American parties usually offer voters rather similar and moderate alternatives to chose between

Suffrage under the early Constitution (review)

          “Jacksonian Revolution”

15^th Amendment (1870 — no abridgment of the right to vote on account of race)

          Southern “Jim Crow” system (1890-1950)

          voter registration systems

          19^th Amendment (1920 — no abridgment on account of sex)

24^th Amendment (1964 — no abridgment by reason of failure to pay any poll tax)

          Voting Rights Act (1965)

          26^th Amendment (1971 — no abridgment “on account of age [18 or older])”

                                “actual vote” recorded Presidential vote

Voting turnout = =

                              “potential vote” voting age population

          VAP vs. eligible voters vs. registered voters (“Motor Voter” Law)

elite vs. mass view of parties: lessons of Presidential selection; nominating function

party competition: Joseph Schumpeter's revised definition of democracy

          market model of democracy (Anthony Downs)

          jury model of democracy

          party competition as a check on “special interests” and unrepresentative activists

two vs. multi-party systems: electoral systems

          majoritarian: SMD-plurality and Pres. election => two-party convergence

                     factional/splinter ("flash") third parties

          proportional: MMD-PR and parliamentary system) => multi-party divergence

weakness of American political parties

          absence of party discipline

          decentralized constitutional structure

          the direct primary

American historical party systems

          sectional / urban vs. rural / class / business vs non-business, etc. alignments

          party systems separated by realignments