# Voter Turnout

## Voting-Age Pop
the people who are actually allowed to vote in elections based on age alone
## Voter Turnout
the percent of epopel who actually cast ballots
## Voter Registration
the process of enrolling in the electoral roll - in order ot maintain voter rolls and poll books
## Precincts
Different a group of 500-1000 people who are assigned a polling place..
## Wards
The larger group of precincts such as a county, city or town
## Polling Place
the location where the actual vote is cast (often a school or community center)
## National Voter Registration Act(NVRA)/Motor-voter Law
made it so that people who get a registration would be offered eligible citizens to vote. It also expanded places to register
## Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
imposed requirements on states to have national standards for voting
## Australian Ballot
a type of ballot used by australia in 1872 which made sure elections were fairer. Balots were printed and distributed at public expense, show all canidates names, be only available in polling places, and be completed in private. 
## Provisional Ballot
these ballots are set aside until the polling place can validate the person's registration
## Absentee Ballot
aka mail-in-ballots. Allowed people to vote remotely
## Voting-Eligible Pop
only 59.3% of the US population is actually eligible of entire US poplulation 
## Midterm Elections
the elections where contressional elections occur. often have super low voter turn out because they are between the presidential elections
## Voter Apathy
lack of concern for the election outcome which leads to people not voting
## Political Efficacy
the feeling of their vote not making much of a difference. 
## Big Idea: Using various types of analyses, political scientists measure how U.S. political behavior, attitudes, ideologies, and instructions are shaped by a number of factors over time.

## Gender Gap
people vote differently based on gender. these types of trends also show up in federal elections as well
## Gender Effect on Voter Choice 
women tend to vote more democratic because they oppose harsh punishments and favor government welfare and are less war-prone
## Age Effect on Voter Choice
the voters as they get older tend to become more conservative and the younger thend to be more progressive. However turnout is much lower with younger voters
## Race and Ethnicity Effect on Voter Choice (African Americans)
african americans are more likely to be with democrats since 1932. they tend to vote more strongly feel that money should be spend in the country instead of abroad.
## Race and Ethnicity Effect on Voter Choice (Hispanics)
fastest growing minority in the US. tend to have lower percentage in turnout for voting. tend to side with the democrats on urban, minority and labor issues. However cuban americans go for republicans
## Race and Ethnicity Effect on Voter Choice (Asian Americans)
only 3 percent of the us voting population. Tend to be republican because their belifs tend to align well
## Think as a Political Scientist:
Use the information in the table to answer the questions that follow.
### Which group has seen the largest increase in Voter turnout in the 21st century?
the largest increase was the hispanic voters who almost doubled the nuymber of total cast votes in comparison to other groups
### Which group has seen the largest decrease in voter turnout in the 21st century?
the largest decrease in voters was by far the whites who had a change from the previous election of -2000 votes
### What factors can account for the changes in voter turnout?
the changes for this can be because 2012 was a mid-term election which typically has a lower voter turnout altogether
### What conclusions can be made from the data presented?
it is clear that in total the net change in total cast votes have tapered off in a logistic function where we are reaching diminishing returns using our current system.
## Religous Effect on Voter Choice (Evangelicals)
tend to have conservative belifs and therefore have become the religous right
## Religous Effect on Voter Choice (Catholics)
have historically been democrats but are much more diverse now-a-days
## Religous Effect on Voter Choice (Jews)
tehdnto vote in large numbers and mostly democrats
## Voter Turnout Among Blocs Chart Summary
Citizens have a turnout of 61 percent but of that the people 65 and older have the highest turnout of any group with 73 percent and the lowes tis the hispanics and latino voters with 38 percent of voters
## Essential Question: What roles do individual choice and state laws play in voter turnout?

1. Charecteristics that Influence Voter Choice
basically everything influences a person's vote
2. State laws that Influence Voter turnout
motor-voters law, hava