POG 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Muammar Gaddafi, Proportional Representation, Additional Member System
20 Jun 2018
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Lecture 7: Political Participation: Political Participation: Elections and Parties
Who votes, who doesn’t
- A little history
- Right to vote is not always full “democratic”
- Suffrage (granting of the right to vote) historically has been evolutionary, where some
groups were not necessarily given the same rights
E.g., women, minorities, Aboriginals
See Box 7.4 for suffragette movement
- Age of voting in Canada is 18
See Box 7.1 for more on who votes in Canada
- Have to be 18 to vote only requirement
- Emily Stowe, first female doctor of Toronto would campaign for women to vote
- Canada in bottom four of who votes the most
There are lots of hypotheses as to why turnout is declining
- Hypothesis 1: Simple apathy, particularly among young
Apathy defined as a lack of interest in politics, an indifference (‘not bothered’).
Lack of interest, no knowledge
Apathy is described in attitudinal/social physiological terms
- Hypothesis 2: forma; politics alienates young people, is not meaningful. ‘Apathy’ could
actually be positive abstention’.
Do not think it is meaningful, they are not interested
- Hypothesis 3: Politicians NOT reaching out, unlike predecessors. (i.e. Youth not ‘turning
out’ of politics, but being ‘left out’ of politics)
Political fault, they are not doing enough to get young people to vote
- Hypothesis 4: Youth interested in “politics”, but not electoral contests. (Participation has
shifted to other forms)
Young people are interested in politics, but not interested in electoral contests.
More participant in community
- Hypothesis 5: The decline of the public sphere, less room for meaningful exchange
- Hypothesis 6: Issue with young people is they do not see importance of political debate,
but see importance of services, more marketing/client relationship
- Hypothesis 7: youth is on the move, not on the voting list, youth are in school
- Hypothesis 8: System is rigged so that’s why I don’t vote
Why are people apathetic
- Hypothesis 5: The decline of the public sphere (as an area for rational-critical debate) in
general has diminished the wall to vote. Public sphere has become commercialised- a
platform for advertising, entertainment, little room for genuine moral and political
debate/engagement- Jurgen Habermas
- Hypothesis 6: Contact with the state has been reduced to a ‘client’ of state services. (i.e.
if you don’t receive services from the state, you are not interested in voting)
- Hypothesis 7: Youth is “on the move” and not on voting lists
Political culture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- PEI had the highest voter turnout and NJ has the lowest
- More Quebecers voted than Ontario
Who votes Canada
- People who are older
- Youth vote the least
- 18-30 year olds voted mostly for conservative and liberal in 1997
- in 2011 mostly conservative and NDP
- Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa vote liberal (cities)
- Conservative stronger in west
- Toronto voter turnout increased
- More money, more educated more likely to vote
Who votes USA
- More educated you are more likely to vote
- Higher income more likely to vote
- Hispanic and Asians vote less than black and white
Who votes Europe
- Belgium votes the most
- European parliament voter turnout is not a lot
Why are people apathetic?
Hypothesis 8: Is it rigged?
The politics of setting electoral boundaries
Canada
- 338 seats in HofC
- 10 independent electoral boundaries commissions
- Three members
- Consultations with the public and MPs.
- Key consideration: population equality
- Triggered by census
United States
- 435 seats in HofR
- Triggered by census
- Led by States
- 18 have independent processes
- Very political; geared to protect incumbents by ensuring that favourable neighbourhoods
are present
Why the low turnout? Reasons for not voting in the 2011 Federal Election
- 27.7% Not interested
- 22.9% Too busy
- 11.4% Other
- 10.1% Out of Town or Away
- 8.5% Illness or disability
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Voting methods
Simple plurality (“first past the post”)
- Simple plurality: Electoral system where the winner receives the most (but not
necessarily a majority of) votes
- One member elected per district
- Voters select one candidate on the ballot
- Horse race, candidate with most votes wins
- Tends to marginalize smaller parties
- May lead to minority government
- In Canada, party has to convince 40% of electoral ad win
- Canada has one simple ballot
Uniqueness of US Politics
- Fist past the post
- Use of plebiscites at state and local level
- Judges, sheriffs, treasurers directly elected in many jurisdictions
- Senate chosen by states until 1913 (17th amendment ratified)
- Representative, federal, presidential democracy
- President chosen by electoral college
Electoral college: Officials chosen from each state who directly elect the president
and vice-president; the number of officials in each state is based on population
Electoral college: group of people not elected by voters, meet and express a vote
Rational is to make sure every region is respected, that the vote is not divided by
places of popularity
Based on population, winner takes all, 270 voters to win the presidency
- Presidency not directly elected by citizens
- Senate is voted by people
- American ballot: gives whole range of options, elections held every 2 months, long
ballot, need a lot of knowledge because there’s so many people you vote for- adds
complexity
Run-off system
- In some simple plurality systems (e.g., France) (a.k.a. “two round” system):
Typically, the two (rarely, three) candidates receiving the most votes pass to a
second round of voting to determine an outright winner
- Ensures that winning candidate will get majority
- Some people think it lends credibility to results
- Does it?
- Not very popular
- Play off, vote twice- vote Sunday, or declare holiday
- Take top 2 then 2 weeks later vote again
- Rational is person who won, won 50% of all votes, gives legitimacy
- Does not bring more social peace
Single Transferable Vote (STV)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 7: political participation: political participation: elections and parties. Right to vote is not always full democratic . Suffrage (granting of the right to vote) historically has been evolutionary, where some groups were not necessarily given the same rights. Age of voting in canada is 18. See box 7. 1 for more on who votes in canada. Have to be 18 to vote only requirement. Emily stowe, first female doctor of toronto would campaign for women to vote. Canada in bottom four of who votes the most. There are lots of hypotheses as to why turnout is declining. Hypothesis 1: simple apathy, particularly among young. Apathy defined as a lack of interest in politics, an indifference ( not bothered"). Hypothesis 2: forma; politics alienates young people, is not meaningful. Do not think it is meaningful, they are not interested. Hypothesis 3: politicians not reaching out, unlike predecessors. (i. e. youth not turning out" of politics, but being left out" of politics)
