Voter Participation

Your group will create a wiki (an online method to create, post and share information) in which you identify and describe an election of some type and how it factored in American and/or Arizonan policy.  Your group will choose one major election, whether for a person or a policy, identify the opposing sides and its participants (voters, media, parties, etc.), the results of the election, and what it means for who it impacts.

Often times, events are born of elections which ask (i.e., insist on) our electorate to act.  For example, the Pentagon's recent overturning of the ban on homosexual and transgender Americans in the military is a direct result of the Supreme Court's ban on discrimination against same sex marriage.  But before that, elections placed the President, Senators and Representatives in positions to place pressure upon the Department of Defense, on the world, and, most importantly, as a result of will of constituencies who vote for change in the status quo (by placing people in offices to carry out their intent).

In other cases, elections are results of, and result in, personal and impactful decisions, and have far-reaching future ramifications.  Tucson and Pima County have repeatedly and recently voted down bond measures (i.e., tax increases) to fund things which benefit the quality of life for its local population, including improvements to schools, roads and public services.  Proposition 123 barely passed with a 50.9% majority in Arizona; Pima County actually voted 'no' at 54%.