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As part of the leadup to the 2021 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, Extemp Central will be providing daily research & development (R&D) posts for each of the tournament’s fourteen topic areas. These will include links to important articles about each. It is hoped that these will aid in extempers preparation for this year’s national tournament.
In a statement published this week by the left-leaning think tank New America, more than 100 leading scholars of government warned that election laws in some states “no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections.” https://t.co/nZmUcakyGV
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) June 5, 2021
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a vote on sweeping election-reform legislation later this month, setting up a critical showdown on the future of the legislative filibuster. Here’s how that could play out, @Zachary_Cohen reportshttps://t.co/0p9gs7eSlx pic.twitter.com/wrDvXohSee
— National Journal (@nationaljournal) June 4, 2021
Although Americans enjoy a privilege that billions of people in the world do not currently enjoy, a sizable number of them decide not to exercise it each year. This privilege is voting. Since 1828 Americans have had the opportunity to directly influence the outcome of the presidential election and popular participation in elections had been a hallmark of American history since the colonial period (although the economic, racial, and gender groups that could partake in voting has been expanded since that time). In 2012, 55% of Americans cast ballots, but this is well short of 1960s numbers where more than 60% of eligible Americans cast ballots. When it comes to midterm and off-year elections, even fewer Americans participate. For example, in 2014 only 36.4% of voters participated, which was the lowest turnout for a midterm election in seventy years. Finding a lasting solution to voter apathy, which appears to be on the rise as a Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential campaign is taking shape, will likely be easier said than done, but there are some creative ideas for fixing American attitudes about the political process.