Voter Turnout in the 2008 Presidential Election

Introduction

The national election of 2008 continued the culture wars as Democratic candidate Barack Obama made history in becoming the first African American to be elected president of the United States. The election increased the Democrats' majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This contest was the latest battle in the culture wars between Republicans and Democrats that had begun in the 1960s and had been further inflamed by widespread disapproval of President George W. Bush's Republican administration. This paper will highlight the increased voter turnout and mobilization that affected the 2008 Presidential Elections.

Discussion

The crucial issue is regarding the participation that how the turnout affected by the election system? A preliminary goal of the electoral system is to make the participation easy for every eligible person who is willing to vote. The researchers have specifically targeted two different issues regarding turnout in U.S. The first issue addresses the question about the administrative hurdles to voting. Secondly, is there any differential affect by administrative measures on the participation of groups, particularly racial minorities? The diminishing rate of voter participation in the elections is a puzzle for the political scientists. All of them seem to be of the same opinion that the declining turnout is the consequence of the demographic factors. Although, the public has become more educated and financially stable, both these signs are the predictors of high rate of turnout, but, unfortunately, the participation rates have not observed an upward trend in United States (Michael, 67).

The main discrepancy following the elections of 2008 was the difference in the total number of voters and the number of casted votes. This is probably just one reason of missing votes, but there might be some other reasons, as well. For instance, troubles in the registration procedure, convenience of polling place, puzzlement in use of tools, and alike. Apart from the lost of votes, incorrectness can happen if a candidate voted mistakenly or in case of fraudulent vote cast. These deviations attempted to be corrected through the laws and procedures as per election laws. Substantial improvement in this area is evident after the controversy of 2008 elections. However, numerous, critical questions are still unanswered. Few of them are:

Is the administration system biased?

Is there any improvement in the voting method performance due to uniform laws countrywide?

Are the administrative procedures affecting the demographic clusters differently?

U.S. presidential election of 2008

The U.S. presidential election of 2008 took place on Tuesday 4 November 2008, which was the 56th U.S. presidential election and determines the President and Vice President of the United States. The official results of the elections were announced by the Congress provide 365 electoral votes to Barack Obama against John McCain at 173 (www.census.gov).

The Republican Party has invested John McCain, Senator of Arizona, as a candidate, the Democratic Party has chosen Barack Obama, senator of Illinois. The Libertarian Party has appointed former Representative Bob Barr, the Constitutionalist party Pastor Chuck Baldwin and the Green Party's former representative Cynthia McKinney, Ralph ...