The Personal Vote
The Personal Vote

Author: Bruce Cain

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780674663183

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Modern legislators are increasingly motivated to serve their constituents in personal ways. Representatives act like ultimate ombudsmen: they keep in close touch with their constituents and try to cultivate a relationship with them based on service and accessibility. The Personal Vote describes the behavior of representatives in the United States and Great Britain and the response of their constituents as well. It shows how congressmen and members of Parliament earn personalized support and how this attenuates their ties to national leaders and parties. The larger significance of this empirical work arises from its implications for the structure of legislative institutions and the nature of legislative action. Personalized electoral support correlates with decentralized governing institutions and special-interest policy making. Such systems tend to inconsistency and stalemate. The United States illustrates a mature case of this development, and Britain is showing the first movements in this direction with the decline of an established two-party system, the rise of a centrist third party, greater volatility in the vote, growing backbench independence and increasing backbench pressure for committees and staff. This book is essential for specialists in American national government, British politics, and comparative legislatures and comparative parties.

Personal Representation
Personal Representation

Author: Josep Maria Colomer

Publisher: ECPR Press

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 190730116X

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Personal representation is an essential element to achieve a high quality of democracy. Many studies of electoral systems, by focusing on the allocation of seats to parties, have neglected the study of this essential dimension. In democratic countries a huge variety of ballot forms and rules exist to vote for individual candidates and to allocate seats. This book studies different voting procedures and formulas for personal representation, their origins and consequences, their compatibility with party representation and the strategies and normative criteria for electoral system choice.

The Virgin Vote
The Virgin Vote

Author: Jon Grinspan

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2016-02-13

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1469627353

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There was a time when young people were the most passionate participants in American democracy. In the second half of the nineteenth century--as voter turnout reached unprecedented peaks--young people led the way, hollering, fighting, and flirting at massive midnight rallies. Parents trained their children to be "violent little partisans," while politicians lobbied twenty-one-year-olds for their "virgin votes"—the first ballot cast upon reaching adulthood. In schoolhouses, saloons, and squares, young men and women proved that democracy is social and politics is personal, earning their adulthood by participating in public life. Drawing on hundreds of diaries and letters of diverse young Americans--from barmaids to belles, sharecroppers to cowboys--this book explores how exuberant young people and scheming party bosses relied on each other from the 1840s to the turn of the twentieth century. It also explains why this era ended so dramatically and asks if aspects of that strange period might be useful today. In a vivid evocation of this formative but forgotten world, Jon Grinspan recalls a time when struggling young citizens found identity and maturity in democracy.

Voting
Voting

Author: Bernard R. Berelson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1986-06-15

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 0226043509

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Voting is an examination of the factors that make people vote the way they do. Based on the famous Elmira Study, carried out by a team of skilled social scientists during the 1948 presidential campaign, it shows how voting is affected by social class, religious background, family loyalties, on-the-job relationships, local pressure groups, mass communication media, and other factors. Still highly relevant, Voting is one of the most frequently cited books in the field of voting behavior.

Electoral Systems, the Personal Vote and MPs' Individual Re-election Ambitions
Electoral Systems, the Personal Vote and MPs' Individual Re-election Ambitions

Author: Raphael Heuwieser

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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Existing theories on the link between electoral systems and personal vote incentives inform us that individualistic behaviour should increase as it becomes electorally more beneficial for a legislator to cater to her personal reputation instead of the party label. Through a novel micro-level approach, I provide evidence of this while demonstrating both theoretically and empirically that the relationship is more nuanced than predicted by customary macro-level perspectives. This becomes evident when looking past the prevalent assumption that all Members of Parliament (MPs) depend on and desire re-election to a similar degree. I argue that in systems where it is more advantageous to defer to the party to secure re-election, MPs who are particularly invested in this goal cater to the party to a greater extent than their colleagues. Conversely, where dependence on the party label is less pronounced and where electoral gains can be made through the cultivation of a personal vote, those MPs who value re-election most strongly also make use of this opportunity structure to a greater degree. I present evidence from the German Bundestag (2005-2013) and the UK House of Commons (2005-2014) by means of large-N multilevel models of original MP-level data and all roll-call votes taken during the indicated periods.

Institutions and the Right to Vote in America
Institutions and the Right to Vote in America

Author: Martha E. Kropf

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-05-18

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1137301716

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This book explores how the United States institutions of democracy have affected a citizen’s ability to participate in politics. The 2000 election and the ensuing decade of research demonstrated that that the institutions of elections vitally affect participation. This book examines turnout and vote choice, as well as elections as an institution, administration of elections and the intermediaries that affect a citizen’s ability to cast a vote as intended. Kropf traces the institutions of franchise from the Constitutional Convention through the 2012 election and the general themes of how institutions have changed increasing, democratization and production federal growth over time in the United States.

Ambition, Competition, and Electoral Reform
Ambition, Competition, and Electoral Reform

Author: Jamie L. Carson

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2013-01-18

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0472028952

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In Ambition, Competition, and Electoral Reform, Jamie L. Carson and Jason M. Roberts present an original study of U.S. congressional elections and electoral institutions for 1872-1944 from a contemporary political science perspective. Using data on late nineteenth and early twentieth century congressional elections, the authors test the applicability in a historical context of modern political science theories, assess the effects of institutional reforms, and identify the factors that shape the competitiveness of elections. They present several key findings: the strategic politicians theory is applicable in an era without candidate-centered campaigns; there was an incumbency advantage prior to the full development of candidate-centered campaigns; institutional reforms have had a significant effect on elections; and the degree of electoral competition frequently correlates with elected officials' responsiveness to citizens.

Let My People Vote
Let My People Vote

Author: Desmond Meade

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2020-10-06

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 0807062324

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Desmond Meade was chosen as a MacArthur Fellow in 2021 The inspiring and eye-opening true story of one man’s undying belief in the power of a fully enfranchised nation. “You may think the right to vote is a small matter, and if you do, I would bet you have never had it taken away from you.” Thus begins the story of Desmond Meade and his inspiring journey to restore voting rights to roughly 1.4 million returning citizens in Florida—resulting in a stunning victory in 2018 that enfranchised the most people at once in any single initiative since women’s suffrage. Let My People Vote is the deeply moving, personal story of Meade’s life, his political activism, and the movement he spearheaded to restore voting rights to returning citizens who had served their terms. Meade survived a tough childhood only to find himself with a felony conviction. Finding the strength to pull his life together, he graduated summa cum laude from college, graduated from law school, and married. But because of his conviction, he was not even allowed to sit for the bar exam in Florida. And when his wife ran for state office, he was filled with pride—but not permitted to vote for her. Meade takes us on a journey from his time in homeless shelters, to the exhilarating, joyful night in November of 2018, when Amendment 4 passed with 65 percent of the vote. Meade’s story, and his commitment to a fully enfranchised nation, will prove to readers that one person really can make a difference.

The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies
The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies

Author: Shane Martin

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 785

ISBN-13: 0199653011

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Legislatures are arguably the most important political institution in modern democracies. The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies, written by some of the most distinguished legislative scholars in political science, provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description and critical assessment of the state of the art in this key area.