Topic 1: Informed Voting
Guiding Question: Do our systems for voting provide a fair opportunity for all? Are the ways candidates and campaigns inform us accessible and accurately portrayed?
Efficacy Level 0: Not ParticipatingAt this stage, you are just an idiot.
Voter TrendsEfficacy Level 1: Registering to VoteWhen registering to vote, it is important to know and understand who votes as much as it important to know what you are voting for. To understand who votes (and how often), you should have a good grasp of voter demographics. Understand why some groups would vote while others wouldn't - some may have greater ability, affordability, knowledge, or belief that voting matters.
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Efficacy Level 2: Voting
Advertising
Just as important is knowing what you are voting on, to do that you will need to examine a range of voter information, such as the guide your state or county publishes and a range of political advertisements, including print ads and video ads.
Access to Voting
Not all voting is created equal, however, and different states have different laws. Some states require an ID, such as a driver's license, a hunting license, or proof of address (like a bill sent to your home address) while others have limited the days or hours of early voting to cut costs and cut down on alleged voter fraud. Other states have gone in the opposite direction and made things easier for people to vote by having automatic voter registration. The biggest current issue regarding this topic would be voter ID laws. These different voting rules and regulations are this way because voting is an area left to the states to decide what is best - it is part of their reserved powers.
Still, if you've managed to figure all this out, your vote may be worth less in some ways than others. This is due to something called gerrymandering, and it can be very hard to overcome (if you think it is a problem). The green and yellow images show how gerrymandering works. Suppose the precincts did a strict popular vote; yellow would win 60% and green would win 40%. But if you take a look at how the precincts could be divided up into 5 districts, you'll see that yellow winning 60% is not always a guaranteed outcome: it can sweep all 5 districts, win in proportion to it's voters, or it can actually be gerrymandered in such a way to make it lose by a district score of 3-2. |
Topic 2: Influencing Others
Guiding Question: Are the pathways to get involved in politics open and accessible to all?
Efficacy Level 3: Influencing People You Know & Efficacy Level 4: Expressing Opinion
Political Movements
People who are at this midpoint in the efficacy scale join political movements. These movements can be for a wide range of things, such as Black Lives Matter, the Tea Party, or pro-life or pro-choice groups. By getting involved, they hope to show politicians that people are passionate and operate in large enough numbers to be a possible threat to vote out politicians who refuse to listen.
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Activism is always done by those who feel the costs or effects of legislation, policy, or law strongly. When those costs or effects are spread among a wider and more diverse group, they are felt much less strongly and will be less likely to elicit activism.
Efficacy Level 5: Donating Money
Lobbying and Money
There are multiple ways to influence the people you know, but the easiest is to join an interest group. Interest groups work with people and lawmakers in order to try to get legislation passed. They can do this by mobilizing voters, sharing information with members of Congress, or providing information to Congress for what the voters want.
Interest groups operate through an iron triangle to push for legislation and benefits for their members and constituents. But not everybody has a good opinion on lobbying. While people may view them as beneficial when they support the position they like, a number of people view lobbyists with suspicion - and for good reason: it can be very confusing.
Interest groups operate through an iron triangle to push for legislation and benefits for their members and constituents. But not everybody has a good opinion on lobbying. While people may view them as beneficial when they support the position they like, a number of people view lobbyists with suspicion - and for good reason: it can be very confusing.
Money in Politics
Ever since the Supreme Court has ruled that money = speech, the role of money in politics has grown ever larger. Donating to politicians, interest groups, and movements has only gotten easier. One of the biggest recent developments has been the development of the Super PAC (thanks, Citizens United!).
Topic 3: Effecting Change
Efficacy Level 6: Volunteering
Campaigning
Volunteering for political campaigns to get legislation passed or a candidate elected is near the top of the efficacy scale. Volunteers directly involve themselves into the process in attempting to make change happen. When you volunteer for a campaign or a cause you put your time and energy into making sure people vote for the candidate, ballot measure, or proposition that you want to pass.
Efficacy Level 7. Running for Public Office (or Proposing Laws)
Local Politics
Running for Office
Running, and winning, allows people to be directly responsible for the change that does occur. To run at the local level, you usually need to submit signatures and perhaps pay a small filing fee. This is your chance to see the most direct change in your community. Many states also have systems in place to propose potential laws, remove laws, or even remove a politician through a recall election.
To seek big change, you need to run for president, and to do that there are many steps you have to take but the final, most important step is securing 270 Electoral College votes. It can be tough, since votes are awarded by winning states, not actual votes, and there may be faithless electors in our system, but if you win you get to be President and lead with your mandate.
To seek big change, you need to run for president, and to do that there are many steps you have to take but the final, most important step is securing 270 Electoral College votes. It can be tough, since votes are awarded by winning states, not actual votes, and there may be faithless electors in our system, but if you win you get to be President and lead with your mandate.