The Right to Vote & Unequal Participation by Manza

In the introduction of this article, John Manza states that “the blunt truth is that politicians are under no compulsion to pay much heed to classes and groups of citizens that do not vote”. Manza then points out how elections are supposed to produce an approximation of what the people want, yet those who have more resources are the ones more likely to vote. These differences are drawn from two reasons; first, people are unable or simply choose not to participate, and secondly, legal barriers prevent others from voting. The result is numerous examples of rising inequality, especially between the rich and the poor. Manza points out two typical reasons behind why this inequality exists; the first being how political money shapes the interests of those at the top, and the second being a dominating business-oriented Republican party. Although these reasons have validity, Manza goes on to capture the full range of details behind this voting inequality.


The American constitution does not guarantee universal suffrage (the right of each citizen to cast one ballot for each election). Ah, here lies part of the problem. Manza goes on to give a history of voting rights in the United States, and about how many oppressed groups weren’t allowed to vote at various periods in American history. Now, “an illiterate, homeless, property-less, African American woman on government assistance, who has unpaid debts and who moved to a new state” cannot be denied the right to vote. However, there are important exceptions to “everyone” having the ability to vote; legal (and illegal) immigrants and convicted felons. Over time, millions of immigrants have become part of the voting age population, but only the “naturalized” subset has the right to vote. The rising incarceration rate that plagues the United States has lead to millions of convicted citizens unable to vote (2.75% of voting eligible population unable to vote at the 2004 election due to current or past felony convictions). This disenfranchisement leads to a skewing of the eligible electorate upward, since immigrants and felons tend to be drawn from the bottom of the social class ladder, resulting in a growing share of the poor unable to express themselves.

Not only do these groups provide a voting dilemma, but the United States also has generally low levels of turnout even for those who are able to vote. Political and institutional explanations for this turn to a set of participating constraints (ie: requiring voter to register a head of time, timing of elections, and narrow range of meaningful choices) and mobilization efforts by social movements and party organizations, all of which make it hard for those poorer individuals to vote.

With this information presented, I would like to compare what was just said to that of the 2008 election, which I am sure would surprise the author of this article with the increased amount of participation, especially among African American voters. With such a huge increase in participation, I would like to see what comparisons could be made between what happened in the 2008 election and that of which was discussed in the article; ie: did Manza point something out that was wrong with our voting system that was changed or altered in the 2008 election?