Expanding access to the vote: An analysis of voter registration reform in the United States, 1970--1993.
Item
-
Title
-
Expanding access to the vote: An analysis of voter registration reform in the United States, 1970--1993.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9969691
-
identifier
-
9969691
-
Creator
-
Groarke, Margaret M.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Robert Alford
-
Date
-
2000
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Political Science, General | History, United States
-
Abstract
-
The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which dramatically simplified the process by which Americans register to vote, is significant because of the long and unresolved debate, among both academics and policy practitioners, about why voter participation is so low in the United States. It was also significant because it reversed the steps taken at the turn of the century to require personal registration, a uniquely American phenomenon that bears some of the blame for our low voter turnout. We cannot separate institutions and laws, from the political process that created them, and just as there were political motivations for instituting registration, there were political interests at work in the debate over easing those requirements. It is commonly believed that Democrats will support registration reform legislation, but this dissertation demonstrates that Democratic support was tempered by their reluctance to change the rules of the game under which they were elected. Two related factors appear to have played significant roles in overcoming the reluctance of legislators: the persistent lobbying of a coalition of public interest groups, and the state-level reform of voter registration laws (often at the insistence of the public interest groups).
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
