POLS 220
N BERCH
FALL 2014
Political Participation
I.
Introduction
A.
Voter
participation in the US is quite low—50% or so for presidential elections, 35%
for midterms, down to 10% for school elections.
This compares to about 80% in European countries
B.
Other forms of participation: US is at the top of the list. This includes a lot of local politics. The importance of interest groups versus
parties is a factor.
C.
Even within the US, there is great variation in
voter turnout between states.
II.
Why is
there so much variation between the US states?
A.
political
culture
B.
party competition
C.
ease of registration
1.
used to
be used to exclude
2.
Motor Voter applies to all states, but makes
little difference
D.
ease of
voting: absentee ballots, early voting,
mail-in ballots, Saturday voting
E.
level of education
F.
election cycle
G.
West Coast effect
H.
direct democracy
III.
How could WV improve voter participation?
Legislatures
I.
Introduction:
why would anyone want to be in the legislature?
II. How the legislature has changed: greater professionalism.
A.
more lawyers—1/6 vs. ½ in Congress; WV is about
average.
B.
more pay--$100 in NH, over $100,000 in NY and
CA; $15,000 in WV
C.
longer sessions—WV extended to 60-60 in 1973;
still below average but often goes beyond limits.
D.
more
staff; WV uses lots of in-session staff
E.
better facilities
F.
still great variation from state to state
III.
How legislatures work
A.
Committees
1.
typical
House and Senate members serve on three committees each
2.
WV House members serve on about 3; Senators
about 6.
3.
WV has its experience concentrated on Finance
and Judiciary Committees
B.
Norms
1.
specialization
2.
courtesy
3.
apprenticeship/seniority
4.
reciprocity
C.
cue
voting
1.
why?
2.
party
3.
region
IV.
What do
we expect from our representatives?
A.
policy
representation—hard to evaluate
B.
pork barrel representation—Daniel Flood
C.
casework representation—John Miller
D.
symbolic representation—George Hansen
V.
Electing
legislators
A.
Apportionment
1.
gerrymandering—protecting incumbents, party
2.
the odd effects of race and party
3.
multimember districts—WV uses more than almost
every other state, but less than it once did
B.
Cost
1.
highest
for CA Senate—up to $2 million
2.
WV is about average
C.
turnover
1.
related
to resources, prestige, staffing
2.
WV among highest in nation
D.
Do we
really want citizen legislators?
E.
What if WV raised the salary to $40,000 and made
it a full-time job?
Governors
I.
Increase in formal powers, stature,
professionalism
A.
Goodbye
to Goodtime Charlie
B.
Especially strong in the Northeast—MD, MA, WV,
NY
C.
increase in tenure potential, budget power
D.
Veto power (now in all states)—what about the
line item veto?
1.
variation
in power: regular line item veto in 43
states, reduction item veto in 11, and Wisconsin extreme version—Vanna White
veto
2.
argument for
3.
argument against
4.
findings—only small effect on pork barrel if
reduction item veto is available
5.
implications for national level
a.
more effect—unbalanced budgets
b.
less effect—mandatory spending
c.
constitutional amendment required
II. Increased prominence=increased risk
A.
25% lose
reelection bids—higher than Congress
B.
easy to find 1 opponent
C.
reelection tied to state economy
D.
interaction with feds, other states, business is
key
E.
hard to please an entire state
