Mini Essay #4 The importance of the black vote

AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICS

Mini Essay #4

The Black Vote

Overview and Instructions

Voting is supreme in a representative democracy. More than wealth, voting is powerful. The power of the vote is simple. It determines public policy and who makes policy.

Understanding the power of voting, the majority has systematically and historically denied minorities and females the right to vote. Although, enfranchisement for all eligible American citizens is the law, 21st century anti-voting tactics include identification requirements and no Sunday voting. In Georgia, many eligible voters have been purged from electoral (voting) rolls because they do not have a driver’s license.

The presidential elections of 2000 and 2016, where the candidates winning the popular vote did not win the Electoral College, have engendered voter apathy. Resulting in many citizens feeling their vote does not matter.

Turnout will be the number one determinant of what candidate wins an election on November 6, 2018. Interestingly, regardless of what race/political contest in what location, turnout is paramount.

Some political observers have labeled the “black” vote as unreliable. Others have labeled it essential. After viewing and reading articles on the websites[footnoteRef:1] below, in not more than three paragraphs, respond to the following statement. Explain the potential impact of the black vote on the 2018 midterm elections. [1: If the link does not launch the website, copy and paste the link to access the video.]

Please use complete sentences and standard grammar. Your essay should be coherent (introduction, thesis sentence, defense of thesis statement and conclusion). If additional references are used, please list them on a reference page using the APA citation format guidelines.

The assignment must be submitted in a Microsoft WORD document to the D2L dropbox folder by, 8:00 p.m. on October 12, 2018.

http://umich.edu/~lawrace/votetour1.htm

https://www.essence.com/videos/why-black-people-vote-history/

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4705226/importance-black-vote

https://www.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2012/07/18/exp-point-morial-black-vote.cnn