Voting https://www.morningsidecenter.org/ en Should We Lower the Voting Age To 16—Or Raise It To 25? https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/should-we-lower-voting-age-16-or-raise-it-25 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Should We Lower the Voting Age To 16—Or Raise It To 25?</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p><strong>To the Teacher</strong></p><p>New York Congresswoman Grace Meng <a href="https://meng.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/meng-reintroduces-legislation-to-lower-the-voting-age-in-america-to-16-0#:~:text=%22As%20countries%20around%20the%20world,to%2018%2Dyear%2Dolds">reintroduced</a> legislation to lower the federal voting age to 16. But tech entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/">argues</a> that the voting age should be raised to 25 so young people assign “greater value to the act” of voting.&nbsp;</p><p>In this lesson, students explore the history of political debates around the minimum age for voter eligibility and discuss contemporary arguments for raising or lowering the voting age.&nbsp;</p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/element5-digital-2i7Dn2uMEQE-unsplash.jpg" data-entity-uuid="30f77e4c-2398-4330-a89d-237c252ce7b9" data-entity-type="file" alt="I voted stickers" width="4016" height="2608" loading="lazy"></p><p><em>Photo by </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/@element5digital?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Element5 Digital</em></a><em> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/2i7Dn2uMEQE?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a></p><hr><h2>Reading One:&nbsp;<br>How Did the Voting Age Become What It Is Today?</h2><p><br>The question of whether to lower the federal voting age in the United States <a href="https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/news/26th-amendment">became</a> a heated topic of debate during World War II. At the time, the voting age and draft age were both 21. When President Roosevelt decided to lower the draft age to 18 to increase the size of the army, advocates of lowering the voting age pushed for a corresponding change. If 18-year-olds were old enough to die for their country, the argument went, they were old enough to have a formal voice in America’s political system.</p><p>However, it was not until protests against the Vietnam War emerged in the late 1960s that the movement to lower the voting age gained greater political traction. Writing for Smithsonian Magazine in 2020, journalist Manisha Claire <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-young-activists-got-18-year-olds-right-vote-record-time-180976261/">described</a> the obstacles faced by the youth vote movement from the 1940s on, and how advocates eventually overcame them:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>One obstacle [was].... how American culture viewed teens and those in their early 20s, says Rebecca de Schweinitz, a history professor at Brigham Young University working on a book about youth suffrage. Most youth advocates, she says, were adult social reformers focused on creating greater access to secondary education, regulating child labor and providing services like welfare to young people. These reformers did not “talk about young people as independent agents,” who could handle the demands of adulthood, says de Schweinitz. “They talked and thought about them as people who needed to be cared for.”</p><p>Youth themselves were also not enthusiastic about gaining the right to vote. Polls, such as one covered in the Atlanta Constitution, showed 53 percent of American high school students opposed the proposal in 1943....</p><p>The idea simmered on the political backburner throughout the next two decades. In his 1954 State of the Union Address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke in favor of lowering the voting age….In 1963, President John F. Kennedy created the President’s Commission on Registration and Voting Participation to help counter the U.S.’s low voter turnout in comparison to other Western countries like Denmark (at 85.5 percent) and Italy (at 92 percent). The commission recommended solutions such as expanding voter registration dates, abolishing poll taxes, making mail-in absentee voting easier and that “voting by persons 18 years of age should be considered by the states….”</p><p>At the same time, teenagers, who represented the earliest members of the large Baby Boomer generation, heavily involved themselves in political movements like the push for civil rights, campus free speech and women’s liberation. These flashpoints stood front and center in the public consciousness, showcasing the growing power of youth in directing the nation’s cultural conversations….</p><p>[By] 1968, according to a Gallup poll, two-thirds of Americans agreed that “persons 18, 19, and 20 years old should be permitted to vote.”.... Youth suffrage became a unifying cause for diverse political interests, including the NAACP, Young Democrats and Young Republicans. Some groups had lobbied for the cause on their own, but in 1969, the activists seized on the rising tide of youth power in all areas of civil rights and brought their cause to Congress.<br>&nbsp;</p><p>[<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-young-activists-got-18-year-olds-right-vote-record-time-180976261/">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-young-activists-got-18-year-olds-right-vote-record-time-180976261/</a>]</p></blockquote><p>After several states including Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska and Hawaii lowered the voting age in response to public pressure, the Supreme Court decided in Oregon v. Mitchell that changes in the voting age could only be made at the federal level. The House and Senate responded by introducing the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in March of 1971. The amendment reached a two-thirds majority on July 1, 1971, officially lowering the federal voting age to 18 and giving the franchise to more than 10 million young people.</p><p>In the decades that have passed since, the lowering of the voting age has had significant impacts on our society. Youth voter organization Rock the Vote <a href="https://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/the-26th-amendment-and-the-youth-vote/">describes</a> a variety of these impacts on their website:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>[F]ive decades after the ratification of the 26th Amendment, the United States has experienced unprecedented levels of youth voter turnout in recent elections. In the 2018 midterm elections, young people turned out to vote at the highest midterm levels since the ratification of the 26th Amendment. And, youth voter turnout in 2020 reached “one of the highest youth participation rates in decades.”</p><p>Similarly, just as the passage of the 26th Amendment was led by a movement of youth activists, the recent youth vote is often pointed to as a result of increasing youth activism around a host of issues that disproportionately impact young people. In the leadup to the 2020 federal election, racism and police brutality dominated youth-led activism, and young people have also built powerful advocacy movements around issues including climate change and gun violence.</p><p>In a recent post-election survey, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found that “more than three-quarters of young people believe that they have the power and responsibility to change the country and that this work goes beyond elections.” Such a high level of youth political participation — which only begins with electoral politics — would not be possible without the important baseline of voting rights granted by the 26th Amendment.<br>&nbsp;</p><p>[<a href="https://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/the-26th-amendment-and-the-youth-vote/">https://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/the-26th-amendment-and-the-youth-vote/</a>]</p></blockquote><p>Despite the advances made to enfranchise young people in the 26th Amendment, America’s youth continue to face significant hurdles to participation in our electoral system. Inaccessible polling locations and hours, lack of access to transportation, restrictive identification policies, and the impact of mass incarceration are all barriers that can make voting inaccessible for young people. Therefore, work to enable full participation of voters of all ages continues.</p><p><br><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p><ol><li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read? What personal connections, thoughts, or feelings did you have about what you read?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>According to the reading, what were some of the barriers activists faced to lowering the voting age to 18? What were some of the reasons the movement was successful? Do you think 18-year-olds should have a voice in the political system? What about 16-year-olds?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>The reading mentions that adult youth advocates in the 1940s often saw young people as people to care for and not independent people that could handle the demands of adulthood. Based on your own experiences, do you think this attitude toward young people has changed?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Apart from voting, what are other ways you think young people’s voices are heard by adults making decisions? Are there any ways you think the voices of young people are silenced or not heard by the adults governing this country?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>What lessons do you think activists pushing to lower the voting age today could take from the fight to win the 26th Amendment?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>The reading lists several obstacles that may continue hindering youth from participating in our democracy today. Which of these barriers do you think is most significant? What might be done to address them?</li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><h2>Reading Two:&nbsp;<br>Should We Lower the Voting Age To 16—Or Raise It To 25?</h2><p>Should 16-year-olds be allowed to vote? Many advocates and some elected officials think so. In January of this year, New York Congresswoman Grace Meng <a href="https://meng.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/meng-reintroduces-legislation-to-lower-the-voting-age-in-america-to-16-0#:~:text=%22As%20countries%20around%20the%20world,to%2018%2Dyear%2Dolds">reintroduced</a> legislation to lower the federal voting age to 16. Representative Meng argues that 16- and 17-year-olds, who have the right to drive and work, and who are required to pay federal taxes on their wages, should have the right to formally participate in our democracy as well.</p><p>In an April 2023 article for Texas Public Radio, journalist David Martin Davies <a href="https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2023-04-13/the-youth-vote-in-america-its-history-and-future">described</a> the current debate over this issue:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>One of the arguments for lowering the voting age to 16 is that it would increase the political engagement and participation of young people. Supporters argue that young people are often passionate and have a stake in many of the issues that affect their lives, such as education, healthcare, and the environment. By giving them the right to vote, it would give them a voice and a way to influence policy decisions.</p><p>On the other hand, opponents of lowering the voting age argue that 16-year-olds may not have the necessary life experience or maturity to make informed decisions. They also argue that many 16-year-olds are still in high school and may be influenced by their parents or teachers, which could lead to uninformed or coerced voting.</p><p>The proposal to lower the voting age is not being embraced by the conservative establishment because generally, younger voters in the United States tend to vote more liberal than older voters. This is reflected in the voting patterns of various age groups in recent elections.</p><p>For example, in the 2020 presidential election, data from exit polls showed that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 supported the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, over the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump, by a margin of 61% to 36%. In contrast, voters aged 65 and older supported Trump over Biden by a margin of 52% to 47%.</p><p>Similarly, in the 2018 midterm elections, voters under the age of 30 favored Democratic candidates by a margin of 67% to 32%, while voters aged 65 and older favored Republican candidates by a margin of 51% to 47%.&nbsp;</p><p>[<a href="https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2023-04-13/the-youth-vote-in-america-its-history-and-future">https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2023-04-13/the-youth-vote-in-america-its-history-and-future</a>]</p></blockquote><p>While advocates for lowering the voting age enjoy some support in Congress, other politicians are trying to push the voting age higher. Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a millennial running in the Republican presidential primary, would be the youngest president ever elected. Ramaswamy has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/">argued</a> on the campaign trail that the voting age should be raised to 25. He contends that those in the 18-to-25-year age range who want to vote should first be required to pass a civics test, similar to the tests currently taken during the naturalization process for new citizens. Under his plan, only members of the military and first responders such as police or firefighters would be allowed to vote at 18 without first passing a test.</p><p>Ramaswamy believes that such requirements would cause 18-to-25-year-olds to assign “greater value to the act” of voting. In contrast, critics <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/">have compared</a> his proposal to the discriminatory testing requirements under Jim Crow laws. In a May 2023 article for the Washington Post, reporter Dylan Wells <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/">outlined</a> these critiques, including from members of Ramaswamy’s own party:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>“If Republicans take action to disqualify 18-to-24-year-olds from voting, they’ll push Gen Z further away from the GOP and risk losing an entire generation of voters who won’t soon forget the party that disenfranchised them,” said Courtney Hope Britt, the national chairman of the College Republican National Committee.</p><p>“If the concern is that 18-year-olds don’t have adequate civics knowledge, then we need to address that issue and provide better civics education,” she added.</p><p>A Washington Post analysis of the census turnout survey found 26 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds voted in the 2022 midterm election, though in 2020 a record high 53 percent of eligible voters under age 30 cast ballots….</p><p>Andrea Hailey, the CEO of nonpartisan Vote.org, called [Ramaswamy’s] proposal “nothing more than demographic gerrymandering” and “a sad attempt to shape the electorate rather than letting the American people shape our government…”</p><p>“It is absolutely outrageous that it’s even being proposed to disenfranchise literally millions of young Americans, and it is not lost, I think on a lot of young people that this also happens to be the most diverse generation in American history,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, the executive director of NextGen America, a liberal group focused on young voters. “This is an explicit attempt to hold on to power by any means and block young people who reject the Republican Party almost wholesale from voting.”&nbsp;</p><p>[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/05/12/vivek-ramaswamy-voting-age-25/</a>]</p></blockquote><p>The discussion of whether to raise or lower the voting age could have significant consequences, impacting not only the total voter turnout but the results of elections as well. Although casting ballots in elections is not the only way to make your voice heard in our society, a lot is at stake when it comes to decisions about who is allowed to vote.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p><ol><li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read? What personal connections, thoughts, or feelings did you have about what you read?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>According to the reading, what are some of the arguments in favor of lowering the voting age today? What did you think of these arguments?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>What do you think about Vivek Ramaswamy’s position that young people need more civics education to be able to vote responsibly? Is this a real problem? If so, how should it be addressed?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>If voters under 25 were required to pass a civics test in order to participate in our democracy, what do you think the impacts would be on our political system? Conversely, what do you think the impact would be if the voting age were lowered to 16?<br>&nbsp;</li><li>After considering different viewpoints on this issue, do you think the federal voting age should be raised, that it should be lowered, or that it should stay the same? Explain your position.</li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p><em>—Research assistance provided by Sophia Zaia</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>Sara Carrero</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2023-09-16T09:57:37-04:00" title="Saturday, September 16, 2023 - 09:57">September 16, 2023</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sat, 16 Sep 2023 13:57:37 +0000 Sara Carrero 1773 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Supreme Court's Momentous Ruling on Gerrymandering https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/supreme-courts-momentous-ruling-gerrymandering <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Supreme Court&#039;s Momentous Ruling on Gerrymandering</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>On June 27, 2019 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Rucho v. Common Cause, announced a momentous decision: Federal courts have no power to police partisan gerrymandering. The high court overturned district court decisions in North Carolina and Maryland which held that state legislatures had engaged in extreme gerrymandering that had deprived citizens of their Constitutional rights.</p> <p>In this lesson, students examine the abuse of the redistricting powers and consider why it has gotten worse, why it matters and the prospects for change without the intervention of federal courts.</p> <p><img alt="Gerrymandering graphic" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cc9e815a-0aee-4dcb-9b2f-f28aae2a1439" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/gerrymandering%20image.png" width="702" height="543" loading="lazy"></p> <h5 class="text-align-right"><em>Image: <a data-link-type="web" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:How_to_Steal_an_Election_-_Gerrymandering.svg" target="_blank">Steve Nass, Wikimedia Commons</a></em></h5> <hr> <h3><br> <strong>Opening</strong></h3> <p>Begin the activity by asking students if they know what gerrymandering. Give students the following multiple choice options.</p> <p><strong>Question:</strong> What is gerrymandering?</p> <p>a. A procedure used in the Senate to end a filibuster<br> b.&nbsp;Negative, often personal, frequently inaccurate or exaggerated attacks on the opposition<br> c.&nbsp;Drawing the lines of political districts to help your own political party<br> d.&nbsp;Using the presidency (or other high office) to promote your ideas<br> e.&nbsp;The practice of smearing people with baseless accusations and investigations<br> f.&nbsp;Blocking a vote in the Senate by endless speech-making<br> g.&nbsp;It’s when a politician suggests an idea in public, and waits for the reaction before actually proposing it</p> <p><strong><em>Answer: </em></strong>c<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Optional Question:&nbsp;</strong>All the multiple choices answers to the question above (including the wrong ones) are political terms. What are the terms described by items a through g above?&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>Answers:</strong></em></p> <p>a. cloture<br> b. mudslinging<br> c. gerrymandering<br> d. using the bully pulpit<br> e. McCarthyism<br> f. filibuster<br> g. a trial balloon</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3><br> <strong>Student Reading 1:<br> How Gerrymandering Works</strong></h3> <p><strong><em><a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/sites/default/files/documents-pdfs/Gerrymandering%20Handout.pdf">pdf version</a>&nbsp;</em></strong><br> &nbsp;</p> <p>Every ten years, the federal government counts the population with the U.S. Census. State legislatures then use the census to redraw lines to get political districts that are (approximately) equal in population. &nbsp;It’s awfully tempting to take the opportunity of redistricting to advance one party or the other. When one party controls the legislature and the governorship, no compromise is necessary, and varying degrees of gerrymandering result.</p> <p>Gerrymandering has enabled political parties to claim seats in Congress even when they represent a minority of voters. In 2016, Republicans took control of approximately 17 seats in Congress that they would not have won without gerrymandering, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU Law School.</p> <p>Both Democrats and Republicans engage in gerrymandering, but the Republicans have seen much larger gains due to gerrymandering following the 2010 census.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Several factors led to more extreme gerrymandering after the 2010 Census:</p> <ul> <li>In a large number of states, one party controlled both houses of the legislature and the executive branch as well. Twenty of these “trifectas” were Republican and only eight were Democratic.</li> <li>Partisanship was on the rise in state and federal governments, and in the population as a whole</li> <li>Sophisticated computer calculations vastly improved the capability of political parties to locate and measure voting preferences by location.</li> </ul> <p>The ability to store and manipulate enormous quantities of information (aka “big data”) has facilitated the two main techniques of gerrymandering: “packing” and “cracking.”</p> <p><strong><em>Packing</em></strong> involves pushing large numbers of opposition voters into a single district. By gerrymandering in this way, you are giving your rival party one district where they are sure to win. But you are preventing them from having any significant impact in surrounding districts.</p> <p><strong><em>Cracking</em></strong> is the opposite. You spread the opposition’s voters over several districts, but not in sufficient numbers to challenge your own candidates.</p> <p>Which tactic (or combination of tactics) a party will employ depends on the actual locations and concentrations of the districts being re-drawn. Technology has provided new levels of accuracy that allow gerrymanderers to maximize their party’s voting strength.</p> <p><strong>History</strong></p> <p>Gerrymandering is not new. Efforts to manipulate political lines date back to 1788. The word “gerrymander” itself was born in 1812, when Governor Gerry of Massachusetts who signed a law creating a district shaped like a salamander. Gerrymander is a portmanteau (the combining of two words to make a new one): gerry + mander. In 1812, the major parties were the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists, but the practice has continued to the current day with the Democratic and Republican Parties.</p> <p>Sometimes district lines are redrawn to help (or hurt) a particular candidate, but the most controversial gerrymanders today are those whose purpose is to minimize representation of a party or racial group. Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Court has outlawed redistricting based primarily on race. However, charges of racial gerrymandering continue.</p> <p>The Supreme Court has decided many cases involving gerrymandering. In its June 2019 decision, the Supreme Court majority argued that while “excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust,” it is up to Congress and state legislative bodies (not the Supreme Court) to find ways to restrict it.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3><br> <strong>Student&nbsp;Quiz</strong></h3> <p><br> Ask students:</p> <p><strong>1.</strong>&nbsp; Which of the following weird facts is in fact true?</p> <p>a)&nbsp; Author Jerry Mander wrote a book titled “Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television” which ended being translated into eight languages.</p> <p>b)&nbsp; The lines for the 2nd Congressional District in Michigan were drawn by the seven-year-old daughter of Sen. William Benner and submitted by accident.</p> <p>c)&nbsp; According to Abraham Lincoln, “Had not the honorable&nbsp; Commonwealth of Virginia betrayed its long-held principles of democracy and yielded to the temptation of the gerrymander, the War Between the States could have been settled in the stateroom of a schooner.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>2. </strong>In drawing political districts to include just the right voters, legislators have come up with some very imaginatively shaped districts. Which of the following descriptions has been used to portray gerrymandered political districts?</p> <p>a) &nbsp;Praying mantis</p> <p>b)&nbsp; Goofy kicking Donald Duck</p> <p>c)&nbsp; Upside-down elephant</p> <p>d) &nbsp;Latin earmuffs</p> <p>e)&nbsp; Bart Simpson fishing</p> <p>f)&nbsp; Hanging claw</p> <p>g)&nbsp; Pinwheel of death</p> <p>h)&nbsp; All of the above</p> <p>i)&nbsp;&nbsp; None of the above</p> <p>(You might consider showing students images of gerrymandered districts: LINK</p> <p><br> <strong>3.&nbsp;&nbsp; </strong>True or False&nbsp;</p> <p>In the 5-4 Supreme Court decision that denied federal intervention in state gerrymandering, the five conservative justices formed the majority.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>4.&nbsp; </strong>True or False</p> <p>Prior to the 2018 election, a court in Pennsylvania declared the Republican gerrymandered redistricting illegal, and installed a nonpartisan redistricting plan. The state’s Congressional delegation went from 5 Democrats out of 18 seats to 9 out of 18 seats after the 2018 election.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><em>Answers:&nbsp; </em></strong></p> <p>1) a<br> 2) h<br> 3) True<br> 4) True</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3><strong>Student Reading 2:<br> Gerrymandering Impact &amp; Solutions</strong></h3> <p><strong><em><a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/sites/default/files/documents-pdfs/Gerrymandering%20Handout.pdf">pdf version</a>&nbsp;</em></strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Gerrymandering has led to to some major electoral “successes” by political parties that have won seats despite getting fewer votes overall.</p> <p><strong>North Carolina:</strong> In 2016&nbsp; and 2018, Republicans won just over 50% of the statewide vote for legislative seats. Despite the close margin of victory, they were able—with districts they drew—to win 10 of the 13 races in both elections. Democrats won only 3 congressional seats despite getting 48% of the popular vote.</p> <blockquote> <p>“I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats, because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”<br> —Rep. David Lewis (R-NC, overseeing the redistricting process)</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Wisconsin:</strong> In 2011, Republican state legislators redrew the district lines for the state assembly. In 2012, despite winning only 49% of the statewide vote, Republicans won 60 of the 99 seats available. In 2014, with 52% of the statewide vote, they won 63 assembly seats. In the 2018 elections, Republicans received only 46% of the votes for State Assembly, but won 64% of the races.</p> <blockquote> <p>"[State legislators] will naturally choose the one that will give them an advantage at the ballot box. A little bit. Marginally."<br> —Robin Vos (co-chairman of the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee)</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Maryland:</strong> After the 2010 Census, Democratic lawmakers redrew a district that had elected a Republican to Congress for 18 years. The new district added just enough Democratic-leaning communities to flip the district to Democratic in the following election.</p> <blockquote> <p>“As a Maryland Democratic fundraiser told me: ‘Sure, gerrymandering stacks the deck (in elections). But it stacks in our favor.’”<br> —Baltimore Sun reporter Thomas Ferraro</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>“Indeed, it's not a stretch to say that most voters no longer choose their representatives; instead, representatives choose their voters.”<br> —Barack Obama<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Possible Solutions</strong><br> <br> Americans oppose abusive redistricting by solid majorities. Polls show 70% favoring some controls over gerrymandering. Even among people with partisan affiliations, a majority disapprove of gerrymandering.</p> <p>In Wisconsin—a state burdened with extreme gerrymandering—49 of the state’s 72 counties have passed resolutions opposing partisan redistricting. Democratic and Republican leaders (from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama) have spoken out against the practice. Many good government organizations, such as the League of Women Voters and Common Cause, as well as the mainstream media, have called for reform.</p> <p>Some 20 states have adopted measures to limit the power of legislatures to gerrymander. Most have created bipartisan or non-partisan commissions to conduct the redistricting or serve as advisory boards. Iowa uses a mathematical model that relies solely on demographics and &nbsp;excludes partisan information.</p> <p>Other possible solutions include:</p> <ul> <li>Proportional representation. The number of legislators from each party is determined by the number of voters in the state identified with each party.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Algorithm. Some propose developing mathematical formulas that will automatically determine district lines based not only on population, but on the compactness of an area and the shared interests in an area.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Ranked choice voting. Instead of choosing only one candidate, voters in a large district would elect multiple representatives through ranked voting. &nbsp;(In ranked voting, voters indicate their first, second, and third preferences, for example, and candidates with the highest rankings win.)<br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>What’s Next?</strong></p> <p>The Supreme Court decided that federal courts cannot fix partisan gerrymandering. Where does that leave the fight against unjust and unfair redistricting? The Court has left it up to either Congress or the individual states to fix the problem. Within states, that would mean state courts, state legislatures, or citizen initiatives (which are allowed in about half of the states).</p> <p>There are reasons to be doubtful. Congress, in its current state of extreme partisanship, is unlikely to agree on a path to neutral redistricting. Meanwhile, within states, state legislators who have created districts that are hugely beneficial to their own party have celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision. States with party trifectas (with one party leading both houses of the legislature and the governorship) tend to have sympathetic courts as well.</p> <p>That leaves the voter referendum.&nbsp; In the 2018 elections, voters in four states passed referenda calling for redistricting reforms. There are efforts in at least three more states to pass similar initiatives in the 2020 elections.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>&nbsp;</h3> <h3><strong>Questions for Discussion</strong><br> &nbsp;</h3> <ol> <li>If most people in the country don’t like gerrymandering and would like changes to the redistricting process, why hasn’t the system been changed?</li> </ol> <ol start="2"> <li>Most of the world does not allow legislators to define their own political districts. Why do you think that is?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Who should draw the lines, in your opinion – and why?<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li>What do you think of the alternate systems of voting described in the reading? Would they be preferable to our current system? Which system would you argue for, and why?</li> </ol> <ol start="5"> <li>If you were telling a younger sibling about the Supreme Court decision, how would you explain its importance?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> <strong>Sources</strong></h4> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/us/supreme-court-gerrymandering-north-carolina.html?searchResultPosition=1">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/us/supreme-court-gerrymandering-north-carolina.html?searchResultPosition=1</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/electoral-map-bias-may-worsen-as-us-gerrymandering-battle-shifts-to-states-idUSKCN1TU0G0">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/electoral-map-bias-may-worsen-as-us-gerrymandering-battle-shifts-to-states-idUSKCN1TU0G0</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-the-supreme-courts-gerrymandering-decision-means-for-2020">https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-the-supreme-courts-gerrymandering-decision-means-for-2020</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/partisan-gerrymandering-supreme-court-north-carolina/592741/">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/partisan-gerrymandering-supreme-court-north-carolina/592741/</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/5-things-know-about-maryland-partisan-gerrymandering-case">https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/5-things-know-about-maryland-partisan-gerrymandering-case</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-gerrymandering-maryland-20150429-story.html">https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-gerrymandering-maryland-20150429-story.html</a></p> <p><a href="https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/documents-cast-new-light-on-redistricting-process-reveal-partisan-motivations/article_26cf1284-db41-11e1-abc4-0019bb2963f4.html">https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/documents-cast-new-light-on-redistricting-process-reveal-partisan-motivations/article_26cf1284-db41-11e1-abc4-0019bb2963f4.html</a></p> <p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting_commission">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting_commission</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/who-draws-maps-states-redrawing-congressional-and-state-district-lines">https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/who-draws-maps-states-redrawing-congressional-and-state-district-lines</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/15/americas-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts/?utm_term=.01460fc0af90">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/15/americas-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts/?utm_term=.01460fc0af90</a></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>Laura McClure</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2019-07-08T11:23:30-04:00" title="Monday, July 8, 2019 - 11:23">July 8, 2019</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Mon, 08 Jul 2019 15:23:30 +0000 Laura McClure 1338 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Should Election Day Be a Holiday? https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/should-election-day-be-holiday <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Should Election Day Be a Holiday?</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p><strong>To The Teacher:</strong><br> &nbsp;</p> <p>Should all Americans get off from work on Election Day? In March 2018, the House of Representatives passed a piece of legislation that, if it became law, would make Election Day a federal holiday. In a country where less than half of eligible voters typically cast ballots in national elections, the idea of the new bill is to encourage more people to get to the polls by removing one major obstacle that prevents people from voting on election day: work. The legislation has met with opposition from Republicans in Congress, who have called the new bill a "power grab."&nbsp;</p> <p>This lesson features two readings that take a closer look at the idea of making Election Day a federal holiday, as well as other proposals for encouraging participation in elections. The first reading looks at the debate around the recent proposal for the holiday. The second reading considers other measures that might increase voter participation in our democracy—including&nbsp;automatic voter registration, provisions for early voting, or mandatory voting. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'filter_caption' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/filter/templates/filter-caption.html.twig' --> <figure role="group"> <img alt="Vote here" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c63645dc-929a-4d76-840e-ab6071fccc00" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Vote%20Here.jpg" width="1024" height="681" loading="lazy"> <figcaption><em>By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/3004595893">Erik Hersman&nbsp;</a></em></figcaption> </figure> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/filter/templates/filter-caption.html.twig' --> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Reading 1:<br> Should Election Day be a Holiday?<br> &nbsp;</h3> <p>Should Americans all get off from work on Election Day? In March 2018, the House of Representatives passed a piece of legislation that, if it became law, would make Election Day a federal holiday. As reporter Matthew Haag wrote in a January 31, 2019, article for the New York Times, the proposal for making Election Day a national holiday is a part of a larger bill designed by lawmakers to improve the way our elections function. Haag explained:</p> <blockquote> <p>[A] <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr1%22%5D%7D&amp;r=1&amp;s=1#toc-HFCF939CAA6204AF6B40DEAFAC99FBBFA">House of Representatives bill titled For the People Act of 2019</a> is the first major legislation by the new Democratic-controlled House and puts forward seven major changes to elections nationwide. The proposals are wide ranging, including changes to how people register to vote and new requirements for states to secure voting systems….</p> <p>The bill also seeks to remove a major hurdle that prevents people from voting: work. <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/voting-and-registration/p20-580.html">A census survey</a> of roughly 19 million registered voters who did not participate in the 2016 election found that 14.3 percent, or about 2.7 million people, said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/us/politics/election-day-holiday.html?module=inline">they were too busy to vote</a>. The legislation proposes making Election Day, the first Tuesday in November, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/6103">a public holiday just like</a> Washington’s Birthday, Independence Day and Christmas.</p> <p>It would grant the federal government’s two million full-time employees a paid day off, and would make companies, many of which shut down on federal holidays, more likely to grant their workers a day off.</p> <p>[<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/election-day-holiday-mcconnell.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/election-day-holiday-mcconnell.html</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>While the legislation aims to increase participation in our democracy, it has met with opposition in Congress, which makes it unlikely that the bill will pass the Senate, at least for now. In a January 17, 2019 opinion article for the Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Tennessee) denounced the bill as a “power grab” and derided Democrats for trying to give federal workers more time off than they already have:</p> <blockquote> <p>[House Democrats have] been hard at work angling for more control over what you can say about them and how they get reelected. They’re trying to clothe this power grab with clichés about “restoring democracy” and doing it “For the People,” but <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18118158/house-democrats-anti-corruption-bill-hr-1-pelosi">their proposal</a> is simply a naked attempt to change the rules of American politics to benefit one party. It should be called the Democrat Politician Protection Act….</p> <p>Democrats would also like you to pay for generous new benefits for federal bureaucrats. Their bill proposes <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/22/its-time-make-election-day-holiday-law-spirit/?utm_term=.f68531af68c0">making Election Day</a> a new paid holiday for government workers and six additional days’ paid vacation for federal bureaucrats to work the polls during any election. This is the Democrats’ plan to “restore democracy”: extra taxpayer-funded vacation for bureaucrats to hover around while Americans cast their ballots.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/call-hr-1-what-it-is-the-democrat-politician-protection-act/2019/01/17/dcc957be-19cb-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.386e7c94296b">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/call-hr-1-what-it-is-the-democrat-politician-protection-act/2019/01/17/dcc957be-19cb-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html</a>]</p> </blockquote> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Progressive lawmakers fired back at McConnell. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) tweeted:&nbsp;"Voting isn’t a 'power grab.' It’s democracy, and it’s literally the entire point of our representative government."</p> <p>According to the Pew Research Center, there is actually bipartisan support for making&nbsp;Election Day a holiday: <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/06/weekday-elections-set-the-u-s-apart-from-many-other-advanced-democracies/">71% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans</a>&nbsp;favor it.</p> <p>The main effect of the bill would likely&nbsp;be to bring&nbsp;more people out to the polls. In a story for USA Today on February 1, 2019, reporter Alia Dastagir quoted Kristen Clarke of of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights on this point:&nbsp;"Making election day a holiday would transform the culture around voting in our country and most inevitably improve turnout and participation rates across the board.&nbsp; Enduring long lines, obtaining access to child care, finding the money to take public transportation to the polls are all real barriers that make it harder for people to exercise their voice on Election Day. By clearing away some of those hurdles, we would inevitably make it easier for people to participate."&nbsp; Writes Dastagir:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/voting-and-registration/p20-580.html">According to a United States Census Bureau survey</a> of about 19 million registered voters who did not vote in the 2016 general election, 14.3 percent said busy schedules was the main reason they didn't cast a ballot. A little more than 60% of U.S. citizens cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, according to Pew, and whites made up 73.3% of them. Those who did not vote<a href="http://www.people-press.org/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/"> "were more likely to be younger, less educated, less affluent, and nonwhite.”</a></p> <p>[Kristen Clarke of of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights] said it's difficult to speculate whether Democrats or Republicans would benefit more from an election holiday, but she would expect to see some specific groups with higher participation rates. "I think you would need real data over a few elections to make an assessment about partisan impact, if any," she said. "But what I can say is that more working mothers, more young people, more low-income workers with long hours, more of our emergency personnel are all constituencies who we would see participating in higher rates if Election Day were a holiday."</p> <p>In the 2016 presidential election, 53% of Americans making under $30,000 a year voted Democratic and 49% voted Republican. Among voters aged 18-29, 55% voted Democratic and 37% Republican.</p> <p>[<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/02/01/election-day-federal-holiday-mcconnell-democracy-voter-turnout-democrats-republicans-voting-rights/2736634002/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/02/01/election-day-federal-holiday-mcconnell-democracy-voter-turnout-democrats-republicans-voting-rights/2736634002/</a>]<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>Would providing federal employees with an extra paid holiday be worthwhile if it means that more people vote? Our elected officials will continue debating the costs and benefits.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> </ol> <ol start="2"> <li>What are some of the arguments for and against making Election Day a federal holiday? Which ones did you find most convincing?&nbsp;&nbsp;<br> <br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Why could making Election Day a holiday be seen as favoring one party over another? Do you think this is a legitimate concern? Why or why not?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>If Election Day were a federal holiday, do you think you and your family would be more likely to vote? Or would the day become like any other day off?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Reading 2:&nbsp;&nbsp;Should Voting Be Required?<br> &nbsp;</h3> <p>The proposal to make Election Day a federal holiday is just one of a number of steps that could be taken to improve low turnout for U.S. elections. Some countries that have significantly higher levels of voter participation than the United States have automatic voter registration. Others actually require people to vote.&nbsp;</p> <p>The aim of automatic voter registration is to increase turnout by simply removing the sometimes cumbersome step of registering to vote from the process. GQ staff writer Jay Willis explained the idea in a November 14, 2018 article:</p> <blockquote> <p>What is automatic voter registration?</p> <p>A pretty <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/automatic-voter-registration">simple concept</a>, actually: A federal law in place since the Clinton administration requires state agencies—so, departments of motor vehicles, primarily—to provide residents with the "opt-in" opportunity to register to vote when filling out paperwork. Usually, this takes the form of a little box on your application to renew a driver license. By checking it, you authorize the agency to update your voter registration information, or, if you're new to the state, to enter your name into the rolls. If you don't check it, you remain registered at your old address, or, if you're new to the state, not at all.</p> <p>"Automatic voter registration" means switching to an opt-out structure; by default, everyone who interacts with a state agency is automatically registered to vote, unless you check the little box, which directs state employees not to update your information. Most AVR schemes also do away with paperwork, and instead instruct agencies to electronically submit information to the relevant election officials….</p> <p>(<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/automatic-voter-registration-house-democrats">https://www.gq.com/story/automatic-voter-registration-house-democrats</a>)</p> </blockquote> <p><br> Willis notes that&nbsp;the state of Georgia has placed registration holds on tens of thousands of applications over minor discrepancies, and has <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/georgia-governors-race-voter-fraud-debacle">purged</a> some 1.4 million voters from the rolls since 2012. Texas has <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/texas-voting-machines-cruz-orourke">archaic rules</a> &nbsp;that make large-scale registration drives almost impossible. Other states require prospective voters to register a month in advance. Automatic voter registration would limit such obstacles and make it easier for people who want to vote to cast their ballots.</p> <p>Other countries take even more drastic measures to improve voter turnout. Can you imagine if voting was mandatory? Currently, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/22-countries-voting-mandatory">22 countries</a> around the world have mandatory voting, and ten of those countries enforce the policy, including Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Peru, and Switzerland. According to Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, Australia adopted <a href="http://www.idea.int/vt/compulsory_voting.cfm">compulsory voting</a> in 1924 after turnout there dropped to less than 60 percent in 1922. (By contrast, turnout in U.S. presidential election years barely exceeds 60 percent, and in midterm elections, it’s in the low 40s.) Australians who fail to vote can be fined. And yet the mandate to vote has the support of about three-fourths of the population.</p> <p>Marcus argues that beyond simply expanding turnout, mandatory voting could have other beneficial effects on our democracy:<br> &nbsp;</p> <blockquote> <p>Compulsory voting would reduce the cost of elections. Candidates, parties, and outside groups would no longer have to devote resources to turning out voters — the requirement would do it for them. You might think that this would simply have the perverse effect of freeing up money to spend on ever more television advertising. Maybe, but there is only so much airtime, and only so much marginal return on advertising investment.</p> <p>Some critics of compulsory voting argue that it would result in dumbed-down campaigns to appeal to an even more uninformed electorate. To which the only possible response is: Have you been watching politics recently? Indeed, since suppressing the vote by turning off voters in disgust won’t work, there is a countervailing argument that negative advertising would be reduced.</p> <p>Even more important, compulsory voting would have the salutary effect of forcing parties to appeal to all voters, not just the committed base they can motivate to get to the polls.</p> <p>(<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-a-case-for-compulsory-voting/2014/11/04/9b486afe-6463-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html?utm_term=.becacf0ccd3f">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-a-case-for-compulsory-voting/2014/11/04/9b486afe-6463-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html?utm_term=.becacf0ccd3f</a>)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>In a democracy, voting is one of the most basic requirements of an active citizenry. Should following through on that act be a responsibility left up to the individual, or should it be&nbsp;mandated by law?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong><br> &nbsp;</p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> </ol> <ol start="2"> <li>According to the reading, what is automatic voter registration? How does it work? What might be some of the arguments for or against it?</li> </ol> <ol start="3"> <li>Do you think mandatory voting is a good idea? Why or why not?</li> </ol> <ol start="4"> <li>Some people might argue that they do not vote because they do not like any of the options presented, or because they believe their vote will not make a difference. What do you think of this position? How might you respond?</li> </ol> <ol start="5"> <li>Can you think of other ways that we might increase participation in elections? What seem to you to be the most promising options?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>Laura McClure</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2019-03-31T13:24:19-04:00" title="Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 13:24">March 31, 2019</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 31 Mar 2019 17:24:19 +0000 Laura McClure 1299 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org The Electoral College, the Senate & the Quest for Fair Representation https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/electoral-college-senate-quest-fair-representation <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>The Electoral College, the Senate &amp; the Quest for Fair Representation</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>To the Teacher<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>We are often told that American democracy is founded on the principle of equal representation: one person, one vote. In a democratic process, the majority is supposed to prevail. However, we have recently seen that some important American political institutions may be falling short of those ideals.</p> <p>In two of the last five presidential elections, the victorious candidates received a smaller number of the votes than their leading opponent. By taking advantage of the Electoral College, a candidate can ascend into office without securing the popular vote. The Senate is another institution that raises questions of fair representation. Because each state gets two senators, regardless of the state's population, states with fewer people have their interests disproportionately represented in the Senate: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed with the votes of 51 senators, yet these senators, many of whom who hailed from less populated states, represented just 44 percent of the American public. Moreover, residents of Washington, DC (population 693,000) and U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico (some 3.3 million people) are not represented in the Senate.</p> <p>This lesson looks into arguments about whether these two institutions might hinder the quest for fair, democratic representation. Reading one takes on the Electoral College. Reading two examines the Senate. Questions for discussion follow each reading.</p> <p><a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/sites/default/files/documents-pdfs/The%20Electoral%20College%2C%20the%20Senate%20%26%20the%20Quest%20or%20Fair%20Representation.pdf">Click here for a pdf version of the readings and questions.</a>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="Electoral College protest" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a83dddb8-87a1-4e81-be68-4c7f95fa9e07" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Electoral%20College%20protest.jpg" width="640" height="427" loading="lazy"></p> <hr> <h4><br> Reading One:<br> Does the Electoral College Uphold Democracy?</h4> <p><br> We are often told that American democracy is founded on the principle of equal representation: one person, one vote. In a democratic process, the majority is supposed to prevail. However, we have recently seen that some important American political institutions may be falling short of those ideals.</p> <p>In two of the last five presidential elections, the victorious candidate was able to win even though they received a smaller number of the votes than their leading opponent. By taking advantage of the Electoral College, a candidate can ascend into office without securing the popular vote.</p> <p>So what is the Electoral College and why does it exist in the first place? In a February 11, 2008 article for FactCheck.org Joe Miller, a writer at the Annenberg Center for Public Policy, <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/">explained</a> some of the background behind the institution. He wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p>When U.S. citizens go to the polls to “elect” a president, they are in fact voting for a particular slate of electors. In every state but <a href="https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html#restrictions">Maine and Nebraska</a>, the candidate who wins the most votes (that is, a plurality) in the state receives all of the state’s electoral votes. The number of electors in each state is the sum of its U.S. senators and its U.S. representatives. (The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, which is the number of senators and representatives it would have if it were permitted representation in Congress.) The electors meet in their respective states 41 days after the popular election. There, they cast a ballot for president and a second for vice president. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president.</p> <p>The reason that the Constitution calls for this extra layer, rather than just providing for the direct election of the president, is that most of the nation’s founders were actually rather afraid of democracy. James Madison worried about what he called “factions,” which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later <a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/detoc/1_ch15.htm">dubbed</a> “the tyranny of the majority” – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it <a href="https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers#TheFederalistPapers-10">could</a> “sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” Madison has a solution for tyranny of the majority: “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”….</p> <p>The Electoral College was not the only Constitutional limitation on direct democracy, though we have discarded most of those limitations. Senators were initially to be appointed by state legislatures, and states were permitted to ban women from voting entirely. Slaves got an even worse deal, as a slave officially was counted as just three-fifths of a person. The 14th Amendment abolished the three-fifths rule and granted (male) former slaves the right to vote. The 17th Amendment made senators subject to direct election, and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>But there is another, more troubling, story about the origins of the Electoral College. Akhil Reed Amar, who teaches constitutional law at Yale University, <a href="http://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/">explained</a> this more disturbing history in an article for Time magazine right after the 2016 election.</p> <blockquote> <p>Standard civics-class accounts of the Electoral College rarely mention the real demon dooming direct national election in 1787 and 1803: slavery.</p> <p>At the Philadelphia [Constitutional] convention [of 1787], the visionary Pennsylvanian James Wilson proposed direct national election of the president. But the savvy Virginian James Madison responded that such a system would prove unacceptable to the South: “The right of suffrage was much more diffusive [i.e., extensive] in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes.” In other words, in a direct election system, the North would outnumber the South, whose many slaves (more than half a million in all) of course could not vote. But the Electoral College—a prototype of which Madison proposed in this same speech—instead let each southern state count its slaves, albeit with a two-fifths discount, in computing its share of the overall count….</p> <p>If the system’s pro-slavery tilt was not overwhelmingly obvious when the Constitution was ratified, it quickly became so. For 32 of the Constitution’s first 36 years, a white slaveholding Virginian occupied the presidency.</p> <p>Southerner Thomas Jefferson, for example, won the election of 1800-01 against Northerner John Adams in a race where the slavery-skew of the electoral college was the decisive margin of victory: without the extra electoral college votes generated by slavery, the mostly southern states that supported Jefferson would not have sufficed to give him a majority. As pointed observers remarked at the time, Thomas Jefferson metaphorically rode into the executive mansion on the backs of slaves.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>The Electoral College not only has a problematic history, it continues to create troubling outcomes. In the 2016 presidential election, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received nearly 3 million more popular votes than Republican Donald Trump, yet Trump won the Electoral College and thus the presidency.</p> <p>What can be done to change the Electoral College? Advocates for directly electing the president would need a Constitutional amendment, which requires three-quarters of states to sign on. One alternative proposal is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement through which states would commit to give their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of the outcome in their particular state. The compact would take effect when states whose total electoral college votes surpass 270 pass legislation in favor of it.</p> <p>However, this effort has encountered opposition in Congress. In a January 21, 2018, article for PBS, reporter Kamala Kelkar <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/the-racial-history-of-the-electoral-college-and-why-efforts-to-change-it-have-stalled">described</a> the effort to pass one such piece of legislation in Ohio:</p> <blockquote> <p>Within months of Trump winning the presidential election in 2016, despite failing to capture the majority of votes, lawmakers such as [Ohio State Representative Emilia] Sykes in Ohio as well as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and at least a dozen other states supported bills to transform the process. If enacted by enough states to influence the majority, they would agree to give all their electoral votes to the most popular presidential candidate, regardless of who wins their state.</p> <p>Ten states and Washington, D.C., have already agreed to join the compact.</p> <p>But in Ohio’s two-thirds Republican legislature, the effort languished and the impetus started to fade. Lawmakers in other states, too, abandoned their fights. Attempts to change the Electoral College system that were once seen as bipartisan fell victim to the same kind of divide that fueled this weekend’s federal government shutdown.</p> <p>“The idea was to pitch this as something that was of interest to Democrats and Republicans alike,” said Joshua Tucker, a professor of politics at New York University. “Now it’s seen as a way of undermining the Republican party.”</p> <p>A <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/198917/americans-support-electoral-college-rises-sharply.aspx">Gallup poll</a> after the election showed that Republicans who favored a national popular vote dipped from 54 percent in 2011 to 19 percent in December 2016.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>While the popularity of abolishing the Electoral College may depend on the temperature of the political moment, eliminating the institution would allow for a more direct exercise of democratic will than the process currently in place.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong></p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> </ol> <ol start="2"> <li>According to the reading, what are some reasons that the Electoral College was created?</li> </ol> <ol start="3"> <li>What might be some arguments for keeping the Electoral College? What are some arguments for eliminating it?</li> </ol> <ol start="4"> <li>Do you think an effort like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact be successful in changing the Electoral College? Why or why not?</li> </ol> <ol start="5"> <li>One problem with the Electoral College is that most states appoint their electors entirely to one candidate. One alternative to eliminating the Electoral College would be for states to appoint their electors proportionally, as Maine and Nebraska already do. For example, under this system instead of California giving all of its 55 electors to the candidate who wins the majority in the state, it would divide its electoral votes proportionally in order to reflect the number of votes cast in favor of each candidate. What do you think of this possibility? What might be some arguments for or against states continuing to devote all of their electoral votes to one candidate?</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Reading Two:<br> Does the Senate Provide Fair Representation?<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>The Senate is another institution that raises questions of fair representation. Under the &nbsp;Constitution, each state gets two senators, regardless of the state's population.</p> <p>This means that states with fewer people have their interests disproportionately represented in the Senate. For example, the 39 million residents of California have the same representation (two senators) as the 579,000 residents of Wyoming.</p> <p>Recently, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed with the votes of 51 senators, yet these senators, many of whom who hailed from less populated states, represented just 44 percent of the American public. Moreover, residents of Washington, DC (population 693,000) and U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico (some 3.3 million people) are not represented in the Senate.</p> <p>Why was the Senate designed in such a manner? The website for the U.S. Senate <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Constitution_Senate.htm">describes</a> its own history like this:</p> <blockquote> <p>During the summer of 1787, the delegates to the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/constit.html">Constitutional Convention</a> in Philadelphia established equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives. Called the “Great Compromise” or the “Connecticut Compromise,” the unique plan for congressional representation resolved the most controversial aspect of the drafting of the Constitution.&nbsp;</p> <p>In the weeks before the Constitution’s framers agreed to the compromise, the delegates from the states with large populations argued that each state’s representation in the Senate should correspond to the size of the state….</p> <p>Small-state delegates hoped to protect states’ rights within a confederate system of government. Fearing the effects of majority rule, they demanded equal representation in Congress, as was practiced under the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/civics/one_item_and_teasers/Articles_Confederation_text_full.htm">Articles of Confederation</a> and assumed in William Paterson’s <a href="https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/civics/one_item_and_teasers/NewJerseyPlan.htm">New Jersey Plan</a>. In fact, some framers threatened to withdraw from the convention if a proportional representation measure passed.&nbsp;</p> <p>Other delegates sought a compromise between large-state and small-state interests.&nbsp; As early as 1776, Connecticut’s Roger Sherman had suggested that Congress represent the people as well as the states. During the 1787 convention, Sherman proposed that House representation be based on the population, while in the Senate, the states would be equally represented.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>This compromise also sought to create a body that would move slowly and with more careful deliberation than the House of Representatives. Yet critics of the Senate have noted that, in creating a structure that would slow the process of change and thus preserve the social and political order, the Founders expressed a skepticism of unfettered democracy. In an article on April 6, 2017, entitled “The United States Senate is a failed institution,” ThinkProgress justice editor Ian Millhiser <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/antidemocratic-history-of-senate-d05688f441b8/">argued</a> that, prior to the Civil War, the structure of the Senate ended up serving the interests slave-holding states. He wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p>Not long after the Constitution was ratified, slaveholders discovered that they had a problem — most of the nation lived in free states. By the early 1820s, free states controlled 105 of the 187 seats in the House of Representatives — and that’s after you account for the fact that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Fifths_Compromise">Three-Fifths Compromise</a> permitted slave states to count 60 percent of their enslaved and disenfranchised population when it came time to allocate seats in the House.</p> <p>If the House were the only game in town, in other words, it could conceivably have banned the slave trade — or at least taken fairly aggressive steps to hobble the South’s “peculiar institution.”...</p> <p>The reason why no new civil rights bill emerged from Congress until 1957 was the Senate. Though five such bills cleared the House in the 12 years following World War II alone, Senate malapportionment gave the southern senators far more influence over the legislative process than their states’ population could justify.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>The disproportionate power of Senators from less populated states continues to draw criticism today. In an October 16, 2018 piece for GQ Magazine, staff writer Jay Willis <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/the-case-for-abolishing-the-senate">argues</a> that the structure of the Senate creates a body that does not reflect the current demographics of the country:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Senate's transformation into a funhouse-mirror version of the House is a quiet emergency for democracy, because its members are still allocated equally among states. And since there now are a greater number of sparsely-populated, mostly-white, right-leaning states than there are heavily-populated, racially-diverse, left-leaning states, the Senate acts to preserve power for people and groups who would otherwise have failed to earn it. A voter in Wyoming (population 579,000) enjoys roughly 70 times more influence in the Senate than a voter in California (population 39.5 million), which sounds like the most unfair statistic in American politics, until you remember that taxpaying U.S. citizens in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico still have no influence in the Senate at all….</p> <p>In practice, the upper chamber now functions less often as a modest, ideologically-agnostic restraint on majority rule than it does as affirmative action for a particular party's agenda. As these demographic shifts continue and population disparities widen, on scales the Founders never could have imagined, the Senate's legitimacy will continue to evaporate.<br> &nbsp;</p> </blockquote> <p>Because the Senate, like the Electoral College, is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, changing the institution would be a politically difficult task. Nevertheless, if enough citizens become dissatisfied with the undemocratic aspects of the body, it may face a serious challenge.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For Discussion:</strong><br> &nbsp;</p> <ol> <li>How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?</li> </ol> <ol start="2"> <li>According to the article, what are some of the reasons the Senate created in the form that it was?</li> </ol> <ol start="3"> <li>What are some potentially positive or potentially negative effects that the Senate as it currently exists has on law-making and the democratic process?</li> </ol> <ol start="4"> <li>Part of the reason for the creation of the Senate was to increase the power and protect the well-being of smaller, less-popular states. Look up the population of your state and compare it to other states. Does your state gain power in the Senate relative to its population, or does it lose power? Does this affect how you think about Congress and your representatives in it?</li> </ol> <ol start="5"> <li>In the article from GQ Magazine quoted above, Jay Willis discusses the idea of abolishing the Senate and having a unicameral legislature—in other words, a Congress with just a House of Representatives. In order to maintain the idea that this single branch of Congress would act with caution and restraint, he suggests requiring that passing a bill through this House might require a supermajority of votes--for example, 60%. What do you think of these proposals? What might be some of the pros and cons?<br> &nbsp;</li> </ol> <p><em>--Research assistance provided by John Bergen.</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>Laura McClure</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2018-11-30T13:38:58-05:00" title="Friday, November 30, 2018 - 13:38">November 30, 2018</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:38:58 +0000 Laura McClure 1258 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Electoral College? Or Popular Vote? https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/electoral-college-or-popular-vote <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Electoral College? Or Popular Vote?</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><h4>Quiz</h4> <p><strong>1. </strong>What is the Electoral College?<br> <br> a) a school of higher learning, specializing in electronics<br> b) a school of higher learning where students are taught primarily by lectures<br> c) a voting system invented in 1968 to prevent Joe McCarthy from becoming president<br> d) an indirect voting system that sometimes allows candidates for president to win without getting the most popular votes<br> e) none of the above</p> <p><em>Answer: d</em></p> <p><strong>2. </strong>True or False: The official presidential election took place on December 19, 2016, when presidential electors (who make up the "Electoral College") met in the 50 state capitols and in Washington, D.C.</p> <p><em>Answer: True</em></p> <p><strong>3. &nbsp;</strong>Members of the Electoral College are supposed to vote for the candidate who:</p> <p>a) won the popular vote in their state<br> b) polled the highest in the last three national surveys<br> c) is the best person for the job<br> d) has the best television ads</p> <p><em>Answer: a</em>. In every state but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html#restrictions">Maine and Nebraska</a>, the candidate who wins the most votes in the state is supposed to receive all of the state’s electoral votes</p> <p><strong>4. &nbsp;</strong>True or False: No president has ever come to office without getting the most popular votes.</p> <p><em>Answer: False</em></p> <ul> <li>In&nbsp;1824, John Quincy Adams was elected president despite not winning the popular vote. Neither he nor his opponent Andrew Jackson got the 131 votes needed in the Electoral College to be declared president, so the decision went to the House of Representatives, which voted Adams into the White House.</li> <li>In&nbsp;1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won the election, but he lost the popular vote by more than 250,000 ballots to Samuel J. Tilden.</li> <li>In&nbsp;1888, Benjamin Harrison won the election, but lost the popular vote by more than 90,000 votes to Grover Cleveland.</li> <li>In&nbsp;2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of the general election even though he got 540,000 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent, Al Gore.</li> <li>In 2016, Donald Trump was declared president, even though he received about 2.8 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, at latest count.<br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <hr> <h4><br> Student Reading:<br> Electoral College Debate<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p><em>Have students read the material below, either out loud or silently.</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Hillary Clinton got more votes than Donald Trump - about 2.8 million more, by the most recent count. And yet, on December 19, 2016, Donald Trump became the official winner of the 2016 presidential election. How did this happen?</p> <p>Our Electoral College system, established in the U.S. Constitution, provides an indirect means of electing the president. Voters in each state, according to each state’s rules, elect "electors" who will then go on to elect a president. In almost every state, the electors&nbsp; are pledged to elect the candidate who got the most votes in their state&nbsp; -- and 29 states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws to punish electors who don’t vote this way. The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which distribute their electoral votes by district. (For a full description of the process, see the lesson "<a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/should-us-junk-its-electoral-system">Should the U.S. Junk Its Electoral System?</a>")</p> <p>The Electoral College system was adopted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention for a variety of reasons --&nbsp; including an interest in protecting the system of slavery. Political scholar George C. Edwards III writes that at the Constitutional Convention: &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin-left:.5in;">A direct election for president did not sit well with most delegates from the slave states, which had large populations but far fewer eligible voters [because slaves could not vote]. They gravitated toward the electoral college as a compromise because it was based on population [not voters]. The convention had agreed to count each slave as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of calculating each state’s allotment of seats in Congress.</p> <p>After the 2016 election, a number of citizen groups have revived longstanding calls to create an alternative to the Electoral College system. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Opponents</strong> of the system argue that:</p> <ul> <li>Every citizen's vote should carry the same importance<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Millions of votes are essentially "wasted" because most states award all of their electors to the winner of that state (a "winner-take-all" system).<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>The number of electors per state is itself unfair. All states, regardless of population, are awarded the same number of&nbsp; electors: two for their two senators, plus one for each of the state’s representatives in the House (which roughly corresponds to the population). So, for example, Wyoming has three electoral votes (for its two senators and one representative) - which is more representation than the state would have if electors were allotted by population. According to <a href="http://www.fairvote.org/population_vs_electoral_votes">FairVote</a>, Wyoming voters have about three times more clout in the Electoral College than the average American. Each voter in the populous state of New York, by contrast, has 12% less clout than the average American.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Campaigns can essentially ignore states where the outcome is predictable, because the loser's votes will count for nothing.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Advocates </strong>for retaining the Electoral College insist that:</p> <ul> <li>Without the Electoral College, a few high-population states would decide the elections. Less populous states would have diminished power as a result.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Rural areas, without much population, would lose power as well.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Eliminating the Electoral College would encourage third parties, and this could lead to the election of candidates (from the current major parties or not) who win even smaller fractions of the popular vote than under our existing system.</li> </ul> <p>The 2016 election was the second time in the last 16 years that the candidate with the most votes did not win the presidential election. (In 2000, Democrat Al Gore got over a half million more votes than Republican George Bush, who was elected President.) In the current election, Clinton won the popular vote by a&nbsp;wider margin than that of 10 winning candidates in history. This, coupled with strong opposition to a Trump presidency among many people, has spawned a variety of efforts to amend, eliminate or circumvent the Electoral College.</p> <p>Some of these efforts aimed specifically at overturning the results of the 2016 presidential election. Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig founded an organization called Electors Trust, and promised legal assistance to any Trump elector who switched his or her vote. &nbsp;Rather than opposing the whole concept of the College, Lessig insists that the founders intended the electors to perform just such a function—to vote their conscience to prevent an unfit, but popular, person from becoming president. Change.org collected over 4 million names on a petition asking members of the Electoral College to change their vote from Trump to Clinton. Another organization, called the Hamilton Electors, asked Trump and Clinton electors to support a Republican other than Trump for the presidency. &nbsp;(Only a half dozen electors ultimately opted to change their votes on December 19.)&nbsp;</p> <p>Democratic electors from Florida and Colorado filed suit to invalidate state rules which force them to vote for the candidate who won their states. They hoped to make it easier for Republican electors to switch votes. Both efforts failed in court.</p> <p>Other challenges to the Electoral College are long-term, and opposition to it is longstanding. In its December 19, 2016, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/time-to-end-the-electoral-college.html?_r=0">editorial</a> for abolishing the Electoral College, the New York Times editorial &nbsp;board noted that the paper had been opposed to the current system for eight decades. A great majority of Americans also oppose it. On November 15, 2016, Sen. Barbara Boxer (Dem., CA) introduced a bill to amend the Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College.&nbsp;</p> <p>But the Electoral College is enshrined in the Constitution and amending the Constitution is extremely difficult: It requires a two-thirds majority&nbsp;vote&nbsp;in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a&nbsp;convention of states called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. Then, to become part of the Constitution, an amendment must be ratified by either the legislatures of three-quarters of the&nbsp;states&nbsp;or by state ratifying conventions&nbsp;in three-quarters of the states.</p> <p>An organization called National Popular Vote has devised a plan that would retain the Electoral College but institute majority rule. Under this plan, states would voluntarily change their own rules for selecting electors by requiring them to vote for the candidate who has won the popular vote nationwide. If states selecting a simple majority of the electors agreed to the plan, then the candidate with the most votes would also win the Electoral College vote. By 2016, ten states (and the District of Columbia) had agreed to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The tally of those states' electoral votes is 163, of the minimum, 270, that is needed for the idea to succeed.</p> <p>Efforts to amend the Constitution or make any changes at all in the electoral system will face opposition from the states and from the political party (the Republicans) that has benefited from the unequal weighting of votes.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Discussion</h4> <ol> <li>The Senate, like the Electoral College, gives disproportionate power to the less-populated states (because each state gets two senators regardless of population). Is this unfair to the citizens of highly-populated states?&nbsp; What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system - keeping in mind that unlike the Senate, the House’s representatives are proportionate to the population?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>One argument against the Electoral College posits that voters in the predictable states (where one candidate has much higher odds of winning) are discouraged from voting because they believe their vote will not count. Do you buy this argument?&nbsp; Why or why not?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>One argument for the Electoral College is that presidential campaigns would largely ignore the rural states, because their time and money would be better spent in metropolitan areas, if only the popular vote mattered. Do you think campaigns and presidents would be more likely to ignore the concerns of rural voters if we elected presidents by popular vote?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Do you think the U.S. should eliminate the Electoral College and elect presidents based on the national popular vote instead?&nbsp; Why or why not? Provide your arguments.</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Homework<strong> </strong></h4> <p>Ask students to write a brief essay in which they answer Question #4, providing at least three arguments to support their case.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Sources</h4> <p><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/electoral-college-fight-matters-though-trump-will-still-win.html">http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/electoral-college-fight-matters-though-trump-will-still-win.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.snopes.com/harvard-professor-wants-electoral-college-to-reject-trump/">http://www.snopes.com/harvard-professor-wants-electoral-college-to-reject-trump/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/behind-states-push-reform-electoral-college-system-520316?utm_source=internal&amp;utm_campaign=belowcontent&amp;utm_medium=related3">http://www.newsweek.com/behind-states-push-reform-electoral-college-system-520316?utm_source=internal&amp;utm_campaign=belowcontent&amp;utm_medium=related3</a></p> <p><a href="http://constitutionus.com/">http://constitutionus.com/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/12/14/electoral-college-revolt-growing-powerful-show-force">http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/12/14/electoral-college-revolt-growing-powerful-show-force</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/should-us-junk-its-electoral-system">http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/should-us-junk-its-electoral-system</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/presidents-winning-without-popular-vote/">http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/presidents-winning-without-popular-vote/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/electoral-college-slavery-constitution/">http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/electoral-college-slavery-constitution/</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-electoral-college/2012/11/02/2d45c526-1f85-11e2-afca-58c2f5789c5d_story.html?utm_term=.8d35ff38f134">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-electoral-college/2012/11/02/2d45c526-1f85-11e2-afca-58c2f5789c5d_story.html?utm_term=.8d35ff38f134</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.fairvote.org/population_vs_electoral_votes">http://www.fairvote.org/population_vs_electoral_votes</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/time-to-end-the-electoral-college.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/time-to-end-the-electoral-college.html?_r=0</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-12-20T05:20:30-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - 05:20">December 20, 2016</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Tue, 20 Dec 2016 10:20:30 +0000 fionta 360 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Voter Suppression & the 2016 Primaries https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/voter-suppression-2016-primaries <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Voter Suppression &amp; the 2016 Primaries</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Introduction<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p><strong>1. &nbsp;Give students a quick quiz.</strong></p> <p>The definition of voter suppression is:<br> &nbsp;<br> a)&nbsp; The practice of squeezing voters into uncomfortably small voting booths.<br> b)&nbsp; Instances when those exercising their right to vote are abused or mistreated.<br> c)&nbsp; A strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising the right to vote.<br> d)&nbsp; Feelings of severe despondency and dejection after voting.<br> &nbsp;<br> <em>Answer: </em>c)<br> &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>2. &nbsp;Read students the following quote:</strong></p> <p class="rteindent1">"We turned out to so many first time voters, particularly the young, and when their voting experience is one of turmoil, hardship and long waiting times, that has an impact on whether they will want to vote in the future."<br> —&nbsp;Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)</p> <p>Ask: &nbsp;What is the representative talking about? &nbsp;What have you heard about this problem?&nbsp;</p> <p>Elicit or explain that some voters have had a hard time voting in the 2016 primaries, and this has touched off a debate over "voter suppression." &nbsp;Give students the reading below, or share the content with them before discussing.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> <br> Student Reading: &nbsp;<br> What’s happening at the polls?<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>While the U.S. Constitution forbids interfering with citizens' right to vote, the rules for voting have historically been left to the states. How people vote, where, and when limits who may participate in elections. Consider the variables:</p> <ul> <li>minimum age to vote</li> <li>whether previously incarcerated people have the right to vote</li> <li>whether election day is a holiday or not</li> <li>the hours for voting</li> <li>identification needed for voting</li> <li>whether you can register to vote and actually vote on the same day</li> <li>the method of voting (eg, machines, paper ballots...)</li> <li>number and location of polls</li> <li>quality of the machines</li> <li>number of machines</li> <li>the boundaries of voting districts</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Social scientists, pollsters, and data crunchers have increasingly been able to identify what groups of people tend to vote in a predictable way. African-Americans, for example, tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. If you are a Republican election official or state legislator and are willing to bend or break the law to help your party win an election, you might consider changing the rules to limit voting in such a way as to disproportionately affect African-Americans.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Many states with Republican legislatures have enacted restrictions that tend to impact Democratic constituencies more severely—the old, poor, transient, young and people of color.&nbsp; This includes laws to require voters to present an ID before they can vote.&nbsp;Those who support stricter voter ID laws argue that it prevents voter fraud. They argue that without IDs, people can easily register under the names of deceased citizens, double register, or even vote without citizenship.</p> <p>Democrats and <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/there-almost-no-voter-fraud-america">civil liberties defenders</a> have challenged these restrictions, pointing to evidence that there has been virtually no voter fraud.&nbsp;(For more on this, see our earlier <a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/2012-election-controversy-voter-suppression">TeachableMoment lesson</a>.)<br> &nbsp;<br> In the current primaries, voters have encountered a range of obstacles:<br> &nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>In Maricopa County, Arizona (which includes Phoenix), thousands of people had to stand in the sun for five hours or more to vote. The number of polling stations had been reduced from 200 in 2012 to 60 in 2016. Counties in Arizona average one polling location per 2,500 voters. In Maricopa County,&nbsp; 21,000 people shared one polling location. A Supreme Court ruling in 2013 struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act that would have made decisions to reduce polling places in ways that have a racial impact subject to federal approval. Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, a Republican, initially defended the closing of polling stations. She told Fox News that voters could have avoided the lines if they had voted earlier (with ballots obtained and completed in advance of primary day).<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Thousands more throughout Arizona were incorrectly identified as Independents even though they had switched their registration to Democratic in order to vote in the Democratic primary. The "provisional " ballots they were given will not be counted if they are listed as Independents. In voting so far and in polls, Independent voters have strongly supported Bernie Sanders.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Six counties in Illinois ran out of ballots, leaving thousands of voters unable to vote.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Several hundred students from Wheaton College were not allowed to register on the day of Illinois' primary, despite a law allowing it.<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Wisconsin's new strict voter ID law will go into effect for the April 5 primary. While the law requires a public education program to inform voters about the new rules, money for the campaign has still not been allocated.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;<br> Most of the complaints about voter suppression have come from Democrats, and from supporters of Bernie Sanders in particular. Sanders does better when there is a high turnout of independent voters and when there is a high turnout in general.<br> &nbsp;<br> The actual effect of the uncounted votes will not be known for certain. But no matter which candidate gained or lost votes, citizens were denied their right to participate in the process that determines who governs our country.&nbsp;<br> <br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> &nbsp;&nbsp;<br> For Discussion</h4> <p>&nbsp;<br> 1. Should voting rules be the same for everyone, or remain in the hands of individual states and localities?<br> &nbsp;<br> 2. Why would strict voter ID requirements disproportionately affect people of color? Young people? Older people?&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> 3. On March 17, 2016, a circuit court judge in Illinois issued an injunction granting those who were denied a ballot the right to vote late. An appeals court reversed the order. Should those who are denied a ballot be able to vote later?<br> &nbsp;<br> 4. "Suppression" implies intent. Is it possible that the long lines and insufficient ballots were innocent mistakes? &nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> 5. Have you heard of any other ways that voters have been prevented or discouraged from voting?&nbsp; What methods were used? What effect do you think it had?<br> &nbsp;<br> 6. Imagine yourself in line to vote behind 300 or more others. How long do you think you’d be willing to wait to cast your vote?<br> <br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> <br> Sources</h4> <p>&nbsp;<br> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/23/1505343/-Myths-About-Election-Irregularities-and-Suppression-in-Arizona">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/23/1505343/-Myths-About-Election-Irregularities-and-Suppression-in-Arizona</a><br> <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/there-were-five-hour-lines-to-vote-in-arizona-because-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act/">http://www.thenation.com/article/there-were-five-hour-lines-to-vote-in-arizona-because-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act/</a><br> <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/25/3763198/arizona-voting-debacle/">http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/03/25/3763198/arizona-voting-debacle/</a><br> <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a43311/war-on-voting/">http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a43311/war-on-voting/</a><br> <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/03/23/ducey-rips-long-voter-lines-calls-them-unacceptable/82160766/">http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/03/23/ducey-rips-long-voter-lines-calls-them-unacceptable/82160766/</a><br> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/arizona-voting-suppression/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/arizona-voting-suppression/index.html</a><br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-03-27T10:09:50-04:00" title="Sunday, March 27, 2016 - 10:09">March 27, 2016</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 27 Mar 2016 14:09:50 +0000 fionta 404 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org Teachable Instant: Automatic Voter Registration https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/teachable-instant-automatic-voter-registration <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>Teachable Instant: Automatic Voter Registration</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>Tell students that on June 4, 2015, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered a major speech advocating the expansion of voter access. Among other policy changes, Clinton called for automatic voter registration at age 18. (See <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?326400-1/hillary-clinton-remarks-voting-rights">C-Span video</a> of Clinton's full talk at Texas Southern University; her remarks on voting rights begin at about 26 minutes.) &nbsp;</p> <p>Currently, it is up to each individual to take the active step of registering. Only the state of Oregon registers voters automatically, when they get a drivers' license. Though there are constitutional provisions about who is eligible to vote, it is up to the states to decide most of the rules and procedures about voting.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> Quiz: Voting facts<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Have your students take this quiz on voting facts:</p> <p><br> <strong>True or False?</strong></p> <p>1) The minimum age for voting in the United States is 18 years.</p> <p>2) In Montana, voting in state elections is mandatory.</p> <p>3) The states with the highest African-American and Hispanic populations have all enacted voter restrictions since 2008.</p> <p>4) People in prison are prohibited from voting in the U.S.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Answers:</strong></p> <p><br> 1) False:&nbsp; It is up to the individual states. 19 states allow 17-year-olds to vote in party primaries if they will turn 18 before the general election. And Tacoma Park, Maryland, allows 16-year-olds to vote in local elections.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>2) False: Not only do no states require voting, there are no states that even require people to register to vote.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>3) Not quite true (but close):&nbsp; According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, 7 of the 11 states with the most African-Americans have new voting restrictions and 9 of the 12 states with the highest Hispanic populations have new restrictions.</p> <p>4) False: Two states (Maine and Vermont) allow prisoners to vote.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Background<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p>Share with students some of all of the information below.</p> <p>On March 23, 1971, 18-year-olds were granted the right to vote in the United States. That right was granted by the 26th amendment to the Constitution (ratified in only three months, a record short time). Until then, the voting age had been 21.&nbsp; There was strong pressure to lower the voting age because so many young people were being asked (or forced) to go to war in Vietnam,&nbsp; yet did not have the right to vote.</p> <p>Though Americans can begin voting at 18, mostly they don't. People in the 18-24 age bracket are the least likely to vote of all age categories. Young people are consistently about 30 percent less likely to vote than their grandparents. Even in the 2008 election, in which Barack Obama's campaign generated an unusual level of excitement in young people, only 44 percent of young people voted.</p> <p><br> <strong>Current context</strong></p> <p>The debate over access to voting has become a partisan issue, with the Democratic Party advocating looser rules for voting and the Republican Party successfully advocating tighter restrictions.</p> <p>In the last five years, 22 states (almost all with Republican majority legislatures) have passed laws restricting access to voting. These restrictions include shortening the time allowed for early voting, stricter rules for voter registration drives, eliminating election day registration,&nbsp; and requiring specific kinds of identification for voting. Democrats charge that the restrictions disproportionately affect people of color and young people, groups that tend to vote Democratic. Republicans insist that the tighter rules for voting are necessary to prevent voter fraud, though such fraud is extremely rare.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> For discussion<br> &nbsp;</h4> <ul> <li>Is greater participation in elections necessarily a good thing? Should the United States (or individual states) take steps to increase participation?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Should legislation on voting rights and access be left&nbsp; to each state or should the rules be national?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>At what age should people be allowed to vote in elections?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>In the countries with the highest rate of voter participation, voting is compulsory. Some <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/22-countries-voting-mandatory/">22 countries</a> require citizens to vote, including Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, and Belgium.&nbsp; Should the United States make voting mandatory?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>What are the pros and cons of automatically registering people to vote when they reach the age of 18?<br> &nbsp;</li> <li>Do you plan to vote once you reach voting age? Why or why not?<br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Sources<br> &nbsp;</h4> <p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-calls-for-sweeping-expansion-of-voter-registration/2015/06/04/691f210c-0adb-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-calls-for-sweeping-expansion-of-voter-registration/2015/06/04/691f210c-0adb-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/30/a-different-look-at-generations-and-partisanship/">http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/30/a-different-look-at-generations-and-partisanship/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/25/the-gops-millennial-problem-runs-deep/">http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/25/the-gops-millennial-problem-runs-deep/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/state-voting-2014">https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-573.pdf</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/state-voting-2014">http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/state-voting-2014</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/22-countries-voting-mandatory/">www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/22-countries-voting-mandatory/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?326400-1/hillary-clinton-remarks-voting-rights">http://www.c-span.org/video/?326400-1/hillary-clinton-remarks-voting-rights</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2015-06-07T08:02:22-04:00" title="Sunday, June 7, 2015 - 08:02">June 7, 2015</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Sun, 07 Jun 2015 12:02:22 +0000 fionta 455 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org 2012 Election Issues: Democracy & the Citizens United Case https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/2012-election-issues-democracy-citizens-united-case <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>2012 Election Issues: Democracy &amp; the Citizens United Case</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>By Marieke van Woerkom</strong></p> <h4><br> Objectives&nbsp;</h4> <p><strong>Students will:</strong></p> <ul> <li>share their associations with the term "democracy"</li> <li>come up with a working definition for democracy</li> <li>consider other forms of government besides democracy by discussing a Winston Churchill quote</li> <li>watch and discuss in small groups an animated short on the history of the Supreme Court case of Citizens United versus FEC</li> <li>for homework, research the liberal and conservative perspectives on Citizens United versus FEC</li> <li>for the next lesson, participate in a dialogue with one half of students presenting the liberal perspective and the other half presenting the conservative perspective</li> </ul> <p><strong>Social &amp; Emotional Skills:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Exploring the idea of democracy</li> <li>Small group work&nbsp;</li> <li>Negotiation/dialogue, including the communication skills of active listening and assertiveness (next lesson)</li> </ul> <h4>Materials needed:</h4> <ul> <li>Today's agenda on chart paper or on the board</li> <li>Student access to the following website:<a href="http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/">http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/</a><br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <h4>For homework:&nbsp;</h4> <p><strong>All students:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all%20">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>Students researching the liberal perspective:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html%20">http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76828.html%20">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76828.html&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Citizens-United-good-for-wealthy-not-for-3057333.php%20">http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Citizens-United-good-for-wealthy-not-for-3057333.php&nbsp;</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>Students researching the conservative perspective:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="http://donklephant.com/2012/03/19/defending-the-defensible-citizens-united-two-years-and-one-election-later/%20">http://donklephant.com/2012/03/19/defending-the-defensible-citizens-united-two-years-and-one-election-later/&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2012/newsflash-citizens-united-h">http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2012/newsflash-citizens-united-h</a></li> <li><a href="http://rnla.org/blogs/blogs/public/archive/2012/01/25/former-fec-chairman-demystifies-citizens-united.aspx">http://rnla.org/blogs/blogs/public/archive/2012/01/25/former-fec-chairman-demystifies-citizens-united.aspx</a><br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Gathering:&nbsp;</h4> <h3>Democracy Web&nbsp;</h3> <p><em>(13 minutes)</em></p> <p>Write the word "democracy" at the center of the board or a piece of chart paper and circle it. Ask students to volunteer their free associations with the word. Chart their free associations around the circled word. Draw lines from the circled word to the charted associations, forming a web. If some associations are obviously linked, connect them with lines. Take responses for several minutes and/or while attention remains high.</p> <p>Next, ask students to share any observations they have about the web. Ask if anyone can come up with a definition for "democracy." Consider using the Merriam-Webster.com definition below to compare to the definition your students come up with. Discuss.</p> <p><strong>Definition of DEMOCRACY (from Merriam-Webster.com)</strong></p> <p><strong>1 a :&nbsp;</strong>government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections&nbsp;<br> <strong>2 :&nbsp;</strong>a political unit that has a democratic government&nbsp;<br> <strong>3&nbsp;capitalized : </strong>the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States <from c. deal democracy emancipation m. new republicanism roberts to>&nbsp;<br> <strong>4 :&nbsp;</strong>the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority&nbsp;<br> <strong>5 :</strong>&nbsp;the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges&nbsp;</from></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Pair Share&nbsp;</h3> <p><em>(12 minutes)</em></p> <p>Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister in the mid 20th century, once said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried."</p> <p>Ask students to discuss this quote in pairs, by considering the following questions:</p> <ul> <li>What are their thoughts about this quote?</li> <li>What other forms of government may Winston Churchill have been thinking of?</li> <li>Why do you think Winston Churchill is as ambivalent about democracy as this quote seems to indicate?</li> <li>What are your thoughts about the state of democracy in the U.S., considering what you know about the current presidential election and other recent elections?</li> </ul> <p>Back in the large group, ask students to share some of the things discussed in their pairs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h2>The Story of Citizens United&nbsp;</h2> <p><em>(23 minutes)</em></p> <p>Introduce the next part of your lesson by saying something about the U.S. Constitution:</p> <p>Adopted in 1787, the American Constitution, is often viewed as the world's first formal blueprint for a modern democracy. Although the Constitution did not yet extend voting rights to the majority of Americans, it nevertheless pointed the way towards a fully democratic future.</p> <p>From the very beginning, some people argued that the American Constitution did not provide enough safeguards for the rights of the individual. In response, the inaugural congress invited James Madison to draft a series of amendments, ten of which were adopted. These first ten amendments came to be known collectively as the Bill of Rights. The Bill was ratified in 1791. The prevailing theme was the protection of the individual against oppressive authority.</p> <p>This theme has continued to resonate in American politics ever since and is being raised again as an important issue in this year's presidential election.</p> <p>Ask students to watch Annie Leonard's Clip "The Story of Citizen's United v. FEC" at:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/">http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-citizens-united-v-fec/</a></p> <p>If time allows, have your students watch the clip once all the way through, then watch it again a second time* to take notes before having a small group or full classroom discussion using some or all of these questions:</p> <ul> <li>What are their thoughts about the clip?</li> <li>What does Annie Leonard say about the crisis of democracy we are currently in?</li> <li>What does Leonard say about the history (and current role) of corporations?</li> <li>According to Leonard , how do people and corporations differ? How do their motivations differ?</li> <li>Leonard notes that corporations are run by people. Why then do corporations operate so differently from people?&nbsp;</li> <li>What role does the government have to play in this?</li> <li>Who does Leonard say is supposed to write the laws in a democracy?&nbsp;</li> <li>What has been the corporations' key strategy for sneaking into our democracy according to Leonard ?&nbsp;</li> <li>How does this relate to the Supreme Court case of Citizens United versus FEC? What was the Supreme Court ruling in this case? What was their rationale? What have been the effects?</li> <li>Do you think corporations should be treated the same as people? Why/why not? What does Leonard say has been the consequence of treating corporations as people?</li> <li>Our democracy is in trouble. But according to Leonard we can save it. What does she suggest we do? What are your thoughts about this?</li> </ul> <p>* if time is short, ask students to watch the clip once only<br> &nbsp;</p> <h4>Closing</h4> <p><em>(2 minutes)</em></p> <p>Ask some volunteers to share one thing they learned today.<br> &nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Homework</h4> <p>In the video students just watched, Annie Leonard makes the argument that the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United is gutting our democracy. In response she says that "It's easy to get angry, but it's time we got smart and realized that the heart of our problem is not that we have bad lawmakers, we have a democracy in crisis."</p> <p>Getting smart is about gaining a better understanding and awareness of the issues so that we know how to better respond and take action. For homework, students will be asked to research some of the arguments Leonard makes from both the liberal perspective (which Leonard shares) and from a more conservative perspective.</p> <p>Adam Liptak's January 21, 2010, <em>New York Times</em> article&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all">"Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit"</a>&nbsp;provides arguments from both the more liberal and conservative wings of the Supreme court, citing the different justices making their arguments both for and against Citizens United.</p> <p>Ask all students to read Liptak's article for homework.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Next, assign half of your students to further research the liberal perspective on how Citizens United has affected democracy in the U.S. The other half of students will research the conservative perspective. Explain that students are researching these perspectives so that they can participate in a role play. In the role play, they'll be asked to argue for or against the idea that our democracy is in crisis as a result of the Citizens United ruling.</p> <p>When you reconvene in class next time, set up a fish bowl with an inner circle of 10 chairs and an outer circle of the remaining chairs set up around the inner 10 chairs. Invite 5 students who researched the liberal perspective and 5 students who researched the conservative perspective to seat themselves in the inner circle. The rest of students will start by listening and observing(from the outside circle) the dialogue of those in the inner circle.</p> <p>If time allows, you can start out by having the two groups (liberal and conservative) come together to prepare their opening statement as a group. If there is no time, proceed to the next step.</p> <p>Invite two students from opposing perspectives to make an opening argument as to why our democracy is in crisis, or not, as a result of Citizens United. Next open up the dialogue to all 10 students. Instruct those "on the outside" to listen only. If they have something to contribute, they can tap one of the students in the inner circle on the shoulder to exchange seats quietly. That is, the student in the outer circle moves to the inner circle to engage in the dialogue. This way all students are engaged and all have an opportunity to share their perspective, despite the fact that only 10 students are part of the dialogue at a given time.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>Homework Readings for "Liberal" Group:</h4> <p>Ask students who will be researching the more liberal perspective to read the excerpts below:</p> <p><strong>Excerpt One:</strong></p> <p>The Supreme Court thought non-candidate spending would be "independent" and therefore non-corrupting. This proposition not only beggars belief, it led to the rise of SuperPACs, which are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts because they don't contribute directly to candidates and are purportedly independent. These Super PACs, more than 250 of which registered between their creation in 2010 and the end of 2011, have super-charged the influence of the biggest corporations and wealthiest individuals. The Supreme Court still recognizes that contributions to candidates can be corrupting, which is why direct contributions can be limited; if outside groups coordinate spending with a candidate it is treated like a direct contribution and can also be limited. Rules exist to prevent coordination between candidates and outside groups. But these rules have been reduced to such swiss cheese that they barely maintain the pretense of independence. That is how we've ended up with candidate SuperPACs - founded by former campaign associates, funded by family and friends, explicitly supporting one candidate, who is allowed to fundraise for these groups himself. These candidate SuperPACs are making a mockery of contribution limits by running figure eights around and through the coordination rules; the idea that they are independent in any real sense is absurd. ...</p> <p><strong>Excerpt Two:</strong></p> <p>The Court turned its back on the reality recognized by political actors for a century: concentrated wealth has a distorting effect on democracy, therefore, winners in the economic marketplace should not be allowed to dominate the political marketplace. Before Citizens United, the Supreme Court recognized in Austin v Michigan Chamber of Commerce that the government had a compelling interest in protecting our democracy from "the corrosive and distorting effects of immense aggregations of wealth that are accumulated with the help of the corporate form and that have little or no correlation to the public's support for the corporation's political ideas." The Court that decided Austin was rightly worried that corporate wealth can dominate the political process and "unfairly influence elections." Citizens United disavowed this understanding. The public supports the prior consensus of the Court. Shortly after the Citizens United decision, 78% of poll respondents agreed that the amount that corporations are allowed to spend in order to influence campaigns should be limited, and 70% believed that corporations have too much control over elections already. It's hard to escape the conclusion that Government of and by big money supporters can only be for big money supporters."</p> <p>- Both excerpts are from&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.demos.org/publication/10-ways-citizens-united-endangers-democracy">"10 Ways Citizens United Endangers Democracy</a>"</em>&nbsp;by Liz Kennedy</p> <p>Other resources for this group of students to use are:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html">http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76828.html">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76828.html</a>&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</li> </ul> <h4><br> Homework Readings for "Conservative" Group:</h4> <p>Ask students who will be researching the more conservative perspective to read the excerpts below:</p> <p><strong>Excerpt One:</strong></p> <p>Distorted political ads sponsored by nondescript groups obviously existed before Citizens United. Did the average American ever know that the true source of the infamous and morally depraved Willie Horton ad that helped torpedo Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign was sponsored by a PAC, Americans for Bush? Did that group ever receive appropriate scrutiny at the time? Beyond that, did typical voters really care all that much? ...</p> <p>During the 2000 election, the billionaire Wyly brothers' mysterious 527 group, "Republicans for Clean Air," ran millions of dollars in ads in key primary states touting then candidate George W. Bush's claimed exemplary environmental record. These questionable ads were cited by some as instrumental in helping Bush defeat his main primary challenger, John McCain. Do you remember the Wyly brothers' 527 group? Me neither. 527 groups were in most significant ways left wholly unregulated and, with the exception of the Swift Boaters in 2004, received relatively sparse media coverage.</p> <p>It seems dishonest to therefore hold Citizens United as the sole harbinger for the monied takeover of political campaign spending-especially since even before the decision came down about half of the states did not have such restrictions on corporate spending in place. What It has certainly done is to energize the debate over money and politics. In this regard it has done the voting public a service, leaving them better educated about the finance process and more critical of political advertising.</p> <p>Of equal importance, it has also exposed the critical need for much greater transparency in the campaign finance process and greater walls of separation between candidates and independent backers.</p> <p>- from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2012/newsflash-citizens-united-h%20">Newsflash! Citizens United has been good for campaign finance transparency</a><br> by Mark Caramanic, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press</p> <p><strong>Excerpt Two:</strong></p> <p>The very idea that political speech in an open democracy can be "corrupting" rests on fundamentally illiberal assumptions about individuals' capacity for reasoned deliberation and self-government. The First Amendment was designed to allow all speakers to put their messages out into the public debate, be they rich or poor, vicious or virtuous. The underlying principle is that over the long run, a society of free individuals is best equipped to evaluate the merits of political arguments for themselves, and that a distrustful government cannot ban speech out of the worry that its citizens will be unduly swayed by it. Rich individuals and talented polemicists have always been permitted to put out quantities and qualities of speech that may exert a disproportionate influence on society, but political opponents and voters have always been trusted to evaluate these speakers' arguments for themselves, respond with counter-arguments, and ultimately make up their own minds about the truth of any matter of controversy. Especially with the explosion of diverse viewpoints and avenues of expression that have come from the Internet media revolution, it simply defies common sense to think that any corporation or union could ever hope to so overwhelm the political debate as to prevent dissenting voices from being heard and reasonably contemplated by the electorate. Of course, this freewheeling political dialogue may be messy, imperfect, and prone to abuses, but the First Amendment makes it constitutionally preferable to censorship targeted at disfavored groups"</p> <p>- From&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/49322/defending-i-citizens-united-i/anthony-dick">Defending Citizens United</a>&nbsp;by Anthony Dick in the&nbsp;<em>National Review.</em></p> <p>Other resources for this group of students to use are:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://donklephant.com/2012/03/19/defending-the-defensible-citizens-united-two-years-and-one-election-later/%20">http://donklephant.com/2012/03/19/defending-the-defensible-citizens-united-two-years-and-one-election-later/&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="http://rnla.org/blogs/blogs/public/archive/2012/01/25/former-fec-chairman-demystifies-citizens-united.aspx%20">http://rnla.org/blogs/blogs/public/archive/2012/01/25/former-fec-chairman-demystifies-citizens-united.aspx</a></li> </ul> <p><em>This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.org by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.morningsidecenter.org/marieke-van-woerkom">Marieke van Woerkom</a>. We welcome your comments. Please email them to:<a href="mailto:lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org">lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org</a>.</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2012-07-12T00:00:00-04:00" title="Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 00:00">July 12, 2012</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000 fionta 624 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org The Senate Filibuster & Democracy https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/senate-filibuster-democracy <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>The Senate Filibuster &amp; Democracy</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p class="rteleft"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>To the Teacher:</b></font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Many Americans have become aware that "the world's greatest deliberative body," the U.S. Senate, has gradually been slowed to a crawl and, at times, to a complete halt. The Senate is frequently unable to pass legislation or approve appointments because of the filibuster: Passing virtually anything controversial—for instance, the recent health insurance bill—often takes 60 votes.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">The introductory exercise below simulates a Senate filibuster to help students get a feel for this legislative-delaying device. The first student reading that follows discusses several ways in which the majority does not rule in the American system of government and examines the role of the filibuster in the Senate's recent lengthy stalemate over health insurance reform. The second reading considers the origins and development of the Senate filibuster and possible methods for reforming it. Discussion questions, writing and citizenship activities, and a reexamination of the outcome of the introductory simulation follow. </font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Introductory exercise:</h3> <h2>A simulated Senate filibuster<br> &nbsp;</h2> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In this exercise, the class will simulate the US Senate, debating an issue (a "bill") and voting on it (or, in this case, <i>not</i> voting on it). You might consider one of two issues to debate: 1) have the class consider changing one of the class rules or creating a new one, or 2) have the class consider one law they would want to pass if they were in the US Senate.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Unbeknownst to a majority of the students, you will instruct a cloture-proof minority of students (exactly two-fifths of the class plus one), to oppose closing debate on the issue. As a result, the measure will never come to a vote. You might either have a whispered caucus with these students before the debate begins, or give them written instructions that they are not to share with their classmates. Tell them that their instructions are to be kept a secret from the other students.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In your verbal or written message to the "filibustering" students, explain that in the class discussion, they must either remain silent about, or state their opposition to whatever rule change or new law the class is debating. Explain that at a certain point, you will call for a cloture vote (a vote to end debate) - and these students must vote against cloture and against ending the debate—thus killing the proposal.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Begin the discussion with the full class by having them decide on what class rule — or piece of national legislation — they agree is most important to pass. Facilitate the debate, and at a certain point, announce that you are going to call to end the debate and to vote on the issue. Explain that under Senate rules, there must be a three-fifths vote to end debate. This is called a "cloture" vote. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Your minority will (presumably) prevent the measure from ever coming to a vote. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">After the class exercise is completed, tell students about the minority caucus. Explain that this is very similar to what happens in the Senate, when a minority of senators, usually from a particular party, agree in advance to prevent a bill from passing. Then ask students to assess their experience.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">a. How worthwhile was the class discussion for you?<br> b. Were you satisfied with the class vote? Why or why not?<br> c. Do you think that the three-fifths requirement for cloture is fair? Why or why not?</font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Student Reading 1:</h3> <h2>The majority rules?</h2> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In a democracy the majority rules, Americans agree. But in reality, it isn't necessarily so.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In four previous presidential elections—most recently in the 2000—the winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral vote and with it the presidency. In 2000, George W. Bush lost to Al Gore by more than a half million popular votes but won by five electoral votes and became president.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">One hundred senators are in the US Senate—two from each of the fifty states. But consider these population figures from the last census in 2000:</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Montana...........902,195<br> Nebraska.......1,711,263<br> Texas..........20,851,820<br> California.......33,871,648</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Montana's population is less than 5% that of Texas. Nebraska's is less than .5% of California's, but these four states all have the same number of senators. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">However, in the House of Representatives, the number of a state's lawmakers is determined by the size of its population—that is, the majority rules. Montana has 1 representative, Nebraska 3, Texas 32, and California 53. </font><br> &nbsp;</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Senate's 60-vote rule</font></b></font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">For months Congress has debated the very important issue of health insurance reform. The House of Representatives passed a bill. But in what has often been called the "world's greatest deliberative body," the Senate, the deliberation was turtle-like. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Unlike the House, the Senate operates under a self-imposed rule of cloture, or a vote to end debate, that requires 60 votes. Traditionally, those who have wanted to block a bill would engage in a "filibuster"—nonstop floor speeches demonstrating that the "debate" continued. Today, Senate rules don't require a filibuster unless the Senate Majority Leader insists on one. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In the case of health insurance reform, the Senate's 40 Republicans were united, not only in opposition to the bill, but also even to a vote on it. It was crunch time, and the Democrats needed the votes of all 58 of their senators, as well as those of two Independents. With all 60 votes, the Democrats could get cloture and pass the legislation.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">But the 60-vote rule made it possible for two Democratic senators, Max Baucus of Montana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, to hold out for and get changes in the bill before they would agree to support it. For his vote, Senator Baucus demanded the elimination of a health insurance "public option." (This measure, strongly supported by many Democrats, would have allowed some people receiving government subsidies to buy health insurance to choose a government plan instead of only private plans.) For his part, Senator Nelson insisted that Medicaid expansion costs not be covered by taxpayers from his state of Nebraska. He also insisted that the bill to make it very difficult for low-income women to get insurance that would cover abortion. Several other Democrats and one Independent from small population states held out for smaller concessions. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Senator Baucus is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He has received more contributions from the health insurance industry,than any other member of the Senate (<a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org">www.consumerwatchdog.org</a>). Insurance companies opposed the public option because it would cost them customers and money. Senator Nelson's win means that Americans in every state but Nebraska will pay the Medicaid bill for their own states as well as for Nebraska—an extra $45 million during the next decade (<a href="http://www.politico.com">www.politico.com</a>). </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">If any one senator had held out for special concessions that the Democratic leadership and majority could not stomach, then the Republican filibuster in the Senate would have prevented passage of a health insurance reform bill. The majority would <i>not </i>have ruled, for a minority of just 40 Republican senators plus one Democrat or Independent could have blocked even a vote on a bill favored by an 18-vote majority. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><i>The Nation </i>magazine editorialized before the Senate vote: "This is not what democracy looks like...Yet this is where America, a nation often inclined to tell other nations how to practice democracy, finds itself as the debate about healthcare reform reaches its critical stage...We have a Senate in which a majority is ready to vote for what could be even better reform. Unfortunately, that majority is sidelined as a few wavering senators game the system." (12/14/09)</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In a recent PBS interview, President Obama said that frequent filibusters like the one on healthcare results in "an inability to deal with big problems." "I'm frustrated," he said. </font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For discussion</font></b></font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>1.</b> What questions do students have about the reading? How might they be answered?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>2.</b> In what ways does the majority not rule in the US? Do you know of any other ways than those mentioned in the reading?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>3. </b>Why are the representation rules for the Senate and the House different? If you don't know, how might you find out?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>4. </b>Were health insurance contributions to Senator Baucus responsible for the stand he took? How can you be sure? How would you explain Senator Nelson's motivation? If, in either case, you need more information, where would you look for it?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>5. </b>What is your reaction to <i>The Nation </i>editorial? To the president's reaction to filibusters? </font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Student Reading 2:</h3> <h2>The rise of the 'filibustero'</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">The Oxford English Dictionary states that "filibuster" has Dutch, Spanish and French origins and derives from the Spanish word filibustero, literally freebooter. Freebooters were also called buccaneers, pirates or even obstructionists. "Filibuster" came into the English language in 1591, but its meaning was extended in 1890 to describe the tactic of talking as long as possible to obstruct Senate business. Filibustering senators were like pirates who obstructed public business. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">In the entire 19th century, there were fewer than two dozen filibusters in the Senate. During the first eight years of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration (1933-1941), there were two filibusters—both of them led by white Southerners who succeeded in blocking anti-lynching legislation. White southerners continued this pattern of filibustering legislation aimed at ending segregation and discrimination until the 1960s, during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Even so, it wasn't until 2005 that the Senate voted to apologize for its treatment of African-Americans.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Under the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, filibusters came to be seen as useful weapons on other issues, and they increased. "Filibusters are a necessary evil," argued Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a Democrat, in 1988. "They must be tolerated lest the Senate lose its special strength and become a mere appendage to the House of Representatives."</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"It was during the Clinton years that the dam broke," biographer Jean Edward Smith wrote in the <i>New York Times</i>. "In the 103rd Congress (1993-1994), 32 filibusters were employed to kill a variety of presidential initiatives ranging from campaign finance reform to grazing fees on federal land. Between 1999 and 2007, the number of Senate filibusters varied between 20 and 37 per session, a bipartisan effort...</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"The routine use of the filibuster as a matter of everyday politics has transformed the Senate's legislative process from majority rule into minority tyranny," charges Smith. "Leaving party affiliation aside, it is now possible for the senators representing the 34 million people who live in the 21 least populous states—a little more than 11 percent of the nation's population - to nullify the wishes of the representatives of the remaining 88 percent of Americans...</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"In the most recent Congress, 112 filibusters were mounted, and 51 were successful."<br> ("Filibusters: The Senate's Self-Inflicted Wound," <a href="http://www.100days.blogs.nytimes.com/">www.100days.blogs.nytimes.com</a>, 3/1/09)</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"Some people will say that it has always been this way,"<i> New York Times</i> columnist Paul Krugman wrote, "and that we've managed so far. But it wasn't always like this. Yes, there were filibusters in the past—most notably by segregationists trying to block civil rights legislation. But the modern system in which the minority party uses the threat of a filibuster to block every bill it doesn't like is a recent creation." ("A Dangerous Dysfunction," <i>New York Times</i>, 12/21/09)</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">The first successful effort to weaken filibuster power came in 1917 when the Senate agreed to cloture (the closing off of debate) if two-thirds of the senators agreed. In 1975, following years of difficulties with cloture, the Senate amended this rule to allow three fifths of that body to impose cloture, the regulation in force today. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Krugman wrote that a political scientist, Barbara Sinclair, found that in the 1960s, threatened or actual filibusters affected 8 percent of the most important legislation. That figure rose to 27 percent in the 1980s and to 70 percent by 2006. Krugman warned that "the Senate—and, therefore, the US government as a whole—has become ominously dysfunctional."</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, is one lawmaker who was fed up years ago with endless debate by a minority who prevent Senate action. In 1995, as a freshman senator, he introduced legislation that would have ended filibusters. But the Senate voted it down 76-19.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">More recently, commenting on the protracted healthcare debate, Harkin said, "I think there's a reason for slowing things down ... and getting the public aware of what's happening and maybe even to change public sentiment, but not to just absolutely stop something...</font></p> <p>"I did a lot of research on this back in the '90s, and it turned out the filibuster is just a Senate rule, not the Constitution or anything like that," Harkin said. "The reason, as best as I can ascertain it from historians that I talked to, Senate historians, was that it came into being when the Senate ... would meet and they would pass a bill before other senators could get there." The rule allowed lawmakers to hold up the bill until more senators were there to vote on it or until the public became more aware of the proposed legislation.</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"Today, in the age of instant news and internet and rapid travel — you can get from anywhere to here within a day or a few hours — the initial reasons for the filibuster kind of fall by the wayside, and now it's got into an abusive situation," Harkin said.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Harkin's proposal 15 years ago would have kept the three-fifths, or 60-vote, rule for the first vote but reduce the number of votes required after that. After a week or so of a filibuster, cloture would require three votes fewer. If that failed, the number of votes required would continue to be reduced until it reached a simple majority of 51.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">"You could hold something up for maybe a month, but then, finally you'd come down to 51 votes and a majority would be able to pass," Harkin said. "I may revive that." (Christina Crippes, "Harkin Considers Raising Bill to End Filibuster," (<a href="http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/harkin-filibuster-121209">www.thehawkeye.com/story/harkin-filibuster-121209</a>, 12/12/09) </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">If the senator does reintroduce that filibuster-busting legislation, it will almost certainly be filibustered. But a 2005 Congressional Service report suggested several ways to abolish the filibuster, in addition to the process Harkin proposed. For instance, senators could act on the Senate rule that authorizes rule changes on the first day of a new session by a majority vote of 51.</font><br> &nbsp;</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For discussion</font></b></font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>1.</b> What questions do students have about the reading? How might they be answered?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>2. </b>What is a filibuster? Cloture? What makes both possible in the Senate but not the House?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>3. </b>How did white Southern senators use the filibuster? With how much success? </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>4. </b>Why does Senator Byrd support filibusters?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>5. </b>What is Paul Krugman's view of the upsurge of filibusters? Why does he think they are used differently today than in the past?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>6. </b>Why is it so difficult to curb filibusters? How does Senator Harkin think it might be accomplished? What other approach is possible? </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>7.</b> Why do you think the Senate opposed the Harkin proposal and has never supported a rules change on the first day of a new session? If you don't know, how might you find out?</font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4>For writing and citizenship</h4> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>1. </b>Assignment: Ask each student to write an email to his or her two senators about the class study of filibusters. What conclusions has the student reached about them? Why? What is each senator's view of the effect of filibusters on Senate's work? What, if anything do the senators think needs to be done?</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>2.</b> Divide the class into groups of three or four students. Ask each student to read their letter to the others in the group. Then have each group decide on which letter is best.</font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>3.</b> Reconvene the full class, and ask each group to read the letter it has selected, and send those to the senators. </font></p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><b>4.</b> Alternatives: You might have all students send their letters. Or you might ask the class to reach a consensus on one letter they want to send, which would then be signed by everyone.</font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><br> <font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3">On the class rule</font></font></h4> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Consider returning to the introductory exercise. Might it be worth a second discussion and a democratic decision on changing a class rule, or supporting a certain piece of national legislation?</font></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2"><i>This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.Org, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. We</i></font> <i><font color="#000000" face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">welcome your comments. </font><font face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif" size="2">Please email them to: <a href="mailto:lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org">lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org</a></font></i></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2010-01-06T13:39:12-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - 13:39">January 6, 2010</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:39:12 +0000 fionta 866 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, THEN & NOW https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/voting-rights-act-1965-then-now <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span>VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965, THEN &amp; NOW</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field--item"><p><strong>To the Teacher:</strong></p> <p>The Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law during a civil rights movement that pressed for African American rights long denied and an end to whites' repressive, brutal behavior—both official and unofficial. The first student reading below provides a reminder of this history. The second discusses a recent Supreme Court decision on a section of the Voting Rights Act, the drawing of voter district lines, that continues to affect the political participation of African Americans and the election of representatives of their choice.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Student Reading 1:</h3> <h2>Voting Rights Act of 1965</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The words of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution (adopted on March 30, 1870) could not be clearer:</p> <p>"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."</p> <p>But by the late 1800s, 10 white Southern state legislatures were approving constitutional changes that required votes to take literacy tests and pay poll taxes. Both of these official rules were designed to prevent African Americans from voting. The poll tax required black voters to make a payment most could not afford. Using the literacy test, officials could easily bar prospective African American voters from the polls by claiming that their interpretation of a passage in the state constitution was incorrect. White voters who were deemed illiterate were allowed to vote if their grandfathers had voted. But allegedly illiterate African American voters could not claim their grandfathers had voted; most had been slaves.</p> <p>There were also unofficial barriers erected to keep blacks from voting—like intimidation. In August 1964, a group of African Americans in Tallahatchie, Mississippi, accompanied by civil rights workers and Justice Department representatives, came to the courthouse to register. They found 25 or 30 white spectators standing outside with several county law officers.Each applicant was photographed as he approached the registrar's office. After each group took a test, they were told to wait outside in the yard.</p> <p>In their book<em> The Negro In 20th Century America</em>, John Hope Franklin and Isidore Starr quote a black witness to the scene, Jesse Brewer: "When we got back out there, there were about 65 gathered around there. A lot more white people drove up there in pickup trucks with gun racks in them...One ranch wagon comes with three white men with guns and they told us, "you niggers get away from the courthouse. You don't have any business up here."'</p> <p>When Jesse Brewer got home, two pickup trucks drove up. "After they passed the house, they stopped, parked, got out and turned around and came back and drove around slow, and between that time and night I reckon seven, eight cars came in, pickups, and all of them had these same gun racks in the back of them...All night after twelve o'clock they would come in. Sometime they would have the lights off, so when they got up near the house they would flash the lights on, go on by and cut them back off. That went on regularly for three weeks, I know."</p> <p>Other African Americans learned of Jesse Brewer's experience and decided not to try to register. Brewer said, "They got scared and in fact they didn't go into the fields for about the next week. They stayed hid in the woods, everybody."</p> <p>As a result of such barriers, in the early 1960s only 6.7 percent of African Americans were registered to vote in Mississippi. In Alabama the figure was 19.3 percent, compared with 69.2 percent of whites.</p> <p>But by then the civil rights movement was underway. One of its key moments came on March 7, 1965, when 600 people protested barriers to African American voter registration and the killing of a civil rights worker by marching on the statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama.</p> <p>"'It was so orderly, we were so peaceful, we were so quiet walking 600 strong,'" said Rep. John Lewis, then a young civil rights activist, today a Georgia congressman. "When the marchers reached the highest point on the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River, they faced 'a sea of blue,'" said Lewis.</p> <p>Alabama police and state troopers, some on horseback and brandishing billy clubs, tear gas and whips, ordered the marchers back. Instead, the marchers, people of all races, knelt in prayer. Then the police advanced. "They were beating us with nightsticks, trampling us with horses, releasing the tear gas," Lewis told MSNBC in an interview. "I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick. I thought I was going to die. I was going in and out of consciousness, and I could hear people hollering and crying, the horses' hooves on the pavement."</p> <p>This march and two more Selma-to-Montgomery marches finally outraged and galvanized the country. Five months later, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 1 of the Act states its main purpose: to prevent states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure—to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."</p> <p>The effects were dramatic and immediate. The number of voting-age African Americans registered to vote in Mississippi jumped from 6.7 percent to 66.5 percent in four years. Nationally African American registration levels climbed from an estimated 23 percent before the Act to 61 percent by 1969. This led to the election of African Americans in local, state, and national offices.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>For discussion</strong></p> <p><strong>1. </strong>What questions do students have about the reading? How might they be answered?</p> <p><strong>2.</strong> Why was the 15th amendment to the Constitution necessary?</p> <p><strong>3.</strong> What methods did 10 Southern state lawmakers use to subvert the intent of the 15th amendment? With what results?</p> <p><strong>4.</strong> Why did people organize civil rights marches in Alabama in 1965? How did the police and state troopers respond to them? Why?</p> <p><strong>5. </strong>What was the purpose of the Voting Rights Act of 1965? What were its results?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h3>Student Reading 2:</h3> <h2>The importance of voter district lines</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Lawmakers in every state have the authority to map voter district lines and to redraw them. Lines may be redrawn to reflect changes in population growth; to ensure as much fairness to all voters as possible; to improve the lawmakers' own chances of winning elections; or to limit the possibility that minority candidates will be elected to office. But Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits any voting practice or procedure that has a discriminatory result. Specifically, it prevents officials from drawing district lines in a way that dilutes the strength of the minority vote.</p> <p>But does the Voting Rights Act require a state government to divide a county into two districts to maintain the power of minority voters even if they represent less than half of all voters? This question was argued recently before the Supreme Court in Bartlett v. Strickland.</p> <p>North Carolina lawmakers maintained that the answer should be yes. They argued that the VRA required them to create a voter district that included about 39 percent of the African American voting-age population. "The theory was that the law protected black voters who joined with white 'crossover voters' to elect a candidate of the black voters' choice," reported the New York Times. "The district was the consequence of an effort to preserve minority voting powers..." by dividing a county into two districts.</p> <p>The North Carolina county sued. It argued that "the Voting Rights Act did not require the creation of districts in which minorities are less than 50 percent of the voting-age population."</p> <p>The Voting Rights Act does not state what percentage of potential minority voters is required. Courts are supposed to decide on "the totality of circumstances" and whether some groups "have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice."</p> <p>On March 9, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the county. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "Racial discrimination and racially polarized voting are not ancient history." But the goal of the Voting Rights Act is "to hasten the waning of racism in American politics" rather than to "entrench racial differences." The justice said that a state legislature may still create a district that has less than 50% of a minority group, but the VRA does not require one. The Supreme Court, he wrote, has made "an objective, numerical test" that "draws clean lines for courts and legislators alike." (<em>New York Times</em>, 3/10/09)</p> <p>In a dissent to the majority decision, Justice David Souter wrote that the result of it will be to increase racial polarization because it will require states "to pack black voters" into districts in which they are the majority." This, he said, will result in "contracting the number of districts where racial minorities are having success in transcending racial divisions."</p> <p><strong>For discussion</strong></p> <p><strong>1.</strong> What questions do students have about the reading? How might they be answered?</p> <p><strong>2. </strong>What are voter districts? Who determines them? How? For what purpose? How may they result in discriminatory results against minorities?</p> <p><strong>3.</strong> What was the voter district issue argued before the Supreme Court?</p> <p><strong>4.</strong> How did the Court decide? Why? How does it affect African Americans?</p> <p><strong>5.</strong> What were the arguments pro and con over this decision?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <hr> <h4><strong>For writing</strong></h4> <p>Imagine that you are a Supreme Court justice and must vote on Bartlett v. Strickland. In a well-developed paper, explain the reasons for your vote.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.Org, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. We welcome your comments. Please email them to: <a href="mailto:lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org">lmcclure@morningsidecenter.org</a></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> <span>fionta</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/user/templates/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--teachable-moment-lesson.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2009-04-01T14:39:12-04:00" title="Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - 14:39">April 1, 2009</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/system/templates/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/modules/node/templates/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap/templates/system/links.html.twig' --> Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:39:12 +0000 fionta 903 at https://www.morningsidecenter.org