LibGuides: Elections and Voting: Why we vote

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Subjects: Africana and Black Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, Political Science, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, World Languages and Cultures

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Why we vote

Elections and voting are American rights under our U.S. Constitution. The 12th Amendment provides the procedure for the national election of the U.S. President and Vice-President, replacing the process in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 which outlined the original function of the Electoral Colleges. The 2010 decennial census altered the States' weight within the Electoral College through reapportionment which determines how many places or "seats" each state receives based on how their population. As a state's population grows, it gets more "seats' within the Electoral College, thus more votes. If the population declines, the states lose votes.

Here are a some articles to help bring perspective on why Americans vote the way they do. Remember, these are opinion pieces, not necessarily research articles.

Why Do People Vote I? Voting is a supremely irrational act by Satoshi Kanazawa. Posted Nov 08, 2009 on Psychology Today blog.
Why Do People Vote II? Whether you vote depends on who won the previous election by Satoshi Kanazawa. Posted Nov 22, 2009 on Psychology Today blog.
Why Do People Vote III? Maybe we vote because we think like cavemen by Satoshi Kanazawa. Posted Nov 29, 2009 on Psychology Today blog.
What Good Are Elections Anyway? Elections are terrible mechanisms for holding politicians accountable, but voting is important for democracy anyway by Jennifer Victor. Posted on Oct 30, 2018, 9:10am EDT on Vox.

Voter Registration Forum, September 22, 2020

ASCWU and CWU Libraries hosted a virtual forum on National Voter Registration Day to discuss some of the challenges and issues related to voter registration and elections this year due to the pandemic and the online environment. Watch or listen to this forum.