State and Local Politics
Introduction
The United States of America has a different level of government. And there is a need for a good relationship between the levels of government and the local people. In order to foster a strong relationship between the government and the local people, there must be the participation of local people in electing the leaders after every election period. The representation and the system of leadership have a direct effect on the citizen’s participation in an election process and the general turn out of voters during the election process.
The representation in the American system is nationalized. The electoral institutions in the United States are primarily state and local systems. There are the local elected leaders who are being elected on the democratic election by the citizens under their political parties. The second type of representation is that of the leaders who are directly appointed without going through democratic elections. The local people will always pay much attention to local politics than state politics because the local leaders are those members of the community whom they interact with locally. The nationalization of American politics will always reflect on the broad cultural transformation that the country has gone through since the midcentury. Most citizens of American have become more attached to national identities. But it is worth noting that the content of the state level of citizen’s identities is always divorced from politics and the political parties which they support.
When looking at the participation of the citizens on local politics, we find that the level and type of election which is being undertaken have an impact on electoral participation. Again we can say that participation is also greater during the candidate election than the noncandidate like the referenda. Sometimes the low level of citizen participation is associated with the level of education and the economic status. We find that people with a low level of education lack knowledge on the importance of participating in the election. The members of the society who have been enfranchised recently also tend to have little participation in government activities. Another factor that affects the level of participation in the racial differences within the community whereby the racial minorities have lower rates of participation as compared to the racial majority within the community.
The turnout of an election is affected by the fact that an election is either partisan or nonpartisan. On this factor, it is notable than the supporters of political parties are likely to turn out to vote during the voting period, then the voters who do not have a partisan identification. The voter turnout sometimes depends on the safe electrical districts and the closeness of the electoral contest between the participants. The ideological polarization of candidates and parties also affects the turnout during the election process.
Conclusion
The methods of representation by the elected leaders are likely to affect the level of participation and the turnout of voters during the process of electing leaders. The local people will always vote to send non-performing leaders away and to vote in new leaders. The citizens who are satisfied with the current government are likely not to participate in the voting process. The voters who are satisfied with the current leaders will always have a substantial reason to participate in an election, and their turnout is likely to be higher.