Name: Date: Participation in Government Pre-Assessment March 2014 Historical Background

The founders of our country included the right to vote in the US Constitution. While all US citizens have the right to vote, not everyone participates in the voting process. In 2010, 37.8% of Americans eligible to vote actually voted. In the presidential election of 2008 56.8% of American eligible to vote actually voted.

• 
  Part A: Read the two documents carefully and answer the questions that immediately follow.
  
• 
  Part B: Write a well-developed essay that answers the following question:
  

In your writing task, be sure to:

• 
  Introduce your claim (argument) about the issue and why this issue is important.
  
• 
  Support your argument with relevant data and evidence from the documents and your social studies knowledge.
  
• 
  Include and contradict the counterclaim (opposing argument).
  
• 
  Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports your argument.
  
• 
  Use appropriate transition to link the major sections of your argument
  

America has a serious voter problem. The trouble is not just low voter turnout. The people who most often fail to vote are those who are already being left behind – the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, and the less educated. This makes it more likely that policies will be geared unfairly to the interest of well off Americans.

Politicians know who their customers are – the people who make their wishes known at the ballot box. Democracy is undermined when large segments of the population don’t participate.-

The best way to guarantee voter turnout is compulsory voting. In Australia we have a system that charges citizens who fail to vote a small fine. The requirement has raised average participation to 94% - much higher than in the United States. More than 30 countries have successfully implemented mandatory voting.

Critics say that being required to vote is a violation of our rights as citizens. But it is no more a violation than having to pay our taxes or educate our children.

Voting isn’t just a right, it’s a duty. Enjoying the benefits of democracy requires participation. Citizens owe it to each other to vote so that, together they can maintain a properly functioning society in which everyone counts.

Lisa Hill, Professor

University of Adelaide, Australia

What is Professor Hill’s view in Document 1?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cite one specific fact from Document 1 that supports Professor Hill’s point of view.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Document 2

Higher voter turnout won’t solve our problems, because high turnout is itself a problem.

If we force everyone to vote, the electorate will become even more irrational and misinformed.

Imagine Betty wants to help people, but has crazy beliefs about how to help them. Betty steals food from the starving. She kicks the injured. She takes money from the poor. Betty has good intentions, but no one needs her help.

The best scientific studies tell us that citizens act like Betty at the voting booth. Voters have good intentions. Yet they have systematically false beliefs about basic economics, political science and foreign policy. When We the People vote, we make bad choices, and we get what we choose.

The average voter is incompetent at politics. The citizens who don’t vote are, on average, even more incompetent. If we force everyone to vote, the electorate will become even more irrational and misinformed. The result: not only will the worse candidate on the ballot get a better shot at winning, but the candidates who make it on the ballot in the first place will be worse.

Most people believe that more voting causes better government. This is their belief, not fact. Social scientists have shown that higher quality government tends to cause higher turnout. But higher turnout does not cause higher quality government.

Mandatory voting laws would hurt, but they would not be a disaster. With 60 percent of Americans voting — the majority biased and irrational about politics — most of the damage has already been done.

If we really want to help America, we shouldn’t force citizens to vote. We should encourage citizens to vote well or not vote at all. Don’t ask your neighbor to vote. Instead, ask the ignorant and irrational voters, how dare you?

Jason Brennan, Assistant Professor

Georgetown University, Washington, DC

New York Times, November 7, 2011

What is Professor Brennan’s opinion about making voting mandatory in Document 2?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

State one specific reason from Document 2 that Professor Brennan gives to support his point of view.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLANNING PAGE

You may use this page to plan your essay, but be sure to write the final copy on the pages your teacher provides.

Name: __________________________________ Teacher: ______________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________