Published: November 2, 2012
Elections are at the very foundation of our democracy, but voter turnout in the last presidential election was only about 57 percent. It’s easy to be nostalgic for the Gilded Age era of 80 percent voter turnout… until you consider all the people who weren’t eligible to vote back then. Then again, for more than a century, one class of people who don’t vote today were allowed to vote: non-US citizens.
On this special Election Day episode of BackStory, the History Guys put current voting trends in historical perspective. They also consider the changing mechanisms of voting, and look at the how for much of American history, the electoral college system maintained racial hierarchies in the South. And, as always, they field calls from listeners interested in exploring the history of voting in America.
Melissa Bessey
This was a fascinating show which shed some light on why we still have the Electoral College and certain groups of people being so interested in having voter ID laws to stop voter fraud which doesn’t exsist.
Anja
This program was really entriguing and really I had waited a long time to hear such a detailed, entertaining (and disturbing) review of the evelotion of voting and the electoral college in our country. Loved the segment and am looking forward to now reading some more books about it.
Anja
This program was really intriguing and really I had waited a long time to hear such a detailed, entertaining (and disturbing) review of the evolution of voting and the electoral college in our country. Loved the segment and am looking forward to now reading some more books about it.