Focuses on the issue of redistricting in the United States with the release of the 2000 census. Discusses the redistricting principles that states must follow: (1) population equality specifically for the congressional and legislative districts; (2) the Voting Rights Act with a focus on Sections 5 and 2; and (3) racial gerrymandering. (CMK)

In educational settings, it is becoming common for members of groups to be forced to choose among more than two candidates, programs, or objectives. When no majority favors any one of three or more alternative choices, there are several rational, although arbitrary, ways to proceed. The first attempt at making the choice ought to adopt the…

This resource booklet contains activities for elementary teachers who want to teach their students about voting and the election process. Part I consists of suggestions for conducting an election at different grade levels. All of the elections involve real choices that affect the student (e.g. choice of ice cream flavor or other treat for a class…

Reviews the history of these two papers and discusses the lives of their editors. (KS)

Examination of Election Acts to determine how disabled electors are accommodated during federal, provincial, and municipal elections in Canada revealed that, beyond identifying procedures for accommodating electors with certain disabilities, in more jurisdictions both severely retarded and mentally ill persons are denied the right to vote.…

Discussed are why the United States has just about the lowest percentage of voter turnout among the democracies of the world and what can be done to reverse that trend. (RM)

Examines turnout of registered voters in a special vote-by-mail U.S. Senate election in which the Democratic candidate (Ron Wyden) pledged to stop using attack ads, and the Republican candidate (Gordon Smith) did not. Finds that only Republicans' participation fell, while Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who felt Wyden had lived up to his…

Historically any U.S. voting technology is burdened from its very inception with the expectation of technologically ensuring voting integrity. Voting is an officially sanctioned social activity/ritual in a technologically-focused nation, so U.S. voters arrive at the polls expecting that voting technology will ensure that their vote "counts. But no…

If one wanted to win a library election in 2006, what would have been the mythical perfect referenda? For building referenda, the sweet spot was hit with measures over $10 million, on a ballot sometime between September and December, with no other items on the ballot, in a general election, for a library serving a population under 100,000. For the…

Free elections are one of the fundamental principles of any parliamentary democracy. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Basic Law, stipulates in its article 20(2) that "all state authority emanates from the people" who exercise that authority "by means of elections and referendums and through special…

THIS INTERIM REPORT PRESENTS THE FINDINGS OF A STUDY OF NEGRO VOTING AND NEGRO ATTITUDES TOWARD SCHOOL DESEGREGATION. DATA WERE OBTAINED IN INTERVIEWS WITH 282 MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, NEGRO RESPONDENTS. WITHIN THE SAMPLE, 228 WERE REGISTERED VOTERS, OF WHOM 24 PERCENT REGISTERED AFTER THE DATE OF THE LOCAL ENFORCEMENT OF THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS BILL.…

This teacher's guide accompanies a video which focuses on Ohio's government system. The 30-minute stand alone video offers a teaching opportunity for exposing high school students to the responsibilities of participating in elections. The video covers the division of powers among federal, state, and local governments; distinguishes between elected…

The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct research, develop strategies, create materials and evaluate the potential of marketing and communications programs to sustain and increase funding for U.S. public libraries. The quantitative study targeted two audiences: residents in…

In this article, Michele Moses and Lauren Saenz explore a growing trend in education policymaking--the ballot initiative. Specifically, the authors question whether information presented to voters is sufficiently substantive to permit educated decisionmaking about influential policies. Their study, a content analysis of print news media related to…