1.2A Wider Franchise And Debates Over Suffrage

Question 1

What is franchise/suffrage

Answer 1

The ability or right to vote in public elections

Question 2

What people are ineligible to vote

Answer 2

• People under 18
• EU citizens (apart from Irish republic) although they can vote in local elections
• House of Lords
• those convicted of electoral fraud are barred for 5 years
• those detained in a psychiatric hospital

Question 3

What was the great reform act of 1832

Answer 3

• abolished the separate representation of the most underpopulated ‘rotten boroughs’ and creating seats for urban areas, such as Manchester
• granting the vote to some new categories of people in the counties, including tennant farmers and smaller property holders
• creating a standard qualification for the franchise in the boroughs, so it now applied to all boroughs, so it now applied to all male householders living in properties worth 10 quid per annum

Question 4

Some key dates for voting rights

Answer 4

1867 - borough householders, electorate rises from 2 million - 13% of population
1884 - rural householders, rises to 25% of adult population
1918 - all men over 21 and women over 30, 75% of adult population
1928 - terms for men and women equalised, full adult suffrage
1948 - end of plural voting ( more then a vote for each person)
1969 - voting age reduced to 18

Question 5

Who were the suffragists

Answer 5

• leaded by millicent Fawcett in 1897 (Nuwss)
• were mainly middle - class women who believed in non - violent methods of pursuasion

Question 6

Who were the suffragettes

Answer 6

• Led by emmeline Pankhurst, a former suffragist who were supported by her daughter christabel formed the WSPU
• used more militant tactics, eg: Emily Davison threw herself under a kings horse at the Epsom derby

Question 7

What was the 1918 representation of the people act

Answer 7

Female enfranchisement, women over age of 30 who were householders or wives of householders

Question 8

Can there be Votes for people 16+

Answer 8

16,17 years olds were allowed to vote in Scottish independence referendum in 2014, and a year later allowed it to be permanent
Electoral reform society supports votes at 16

Question 9

what people are eligible to vote

Answer 9

• over 18’s
• people apart of the common wealth
• people who are registered in the UK

Question 10

Who were the chartists?

Answer 10

• a movement which grew out of the failure of the 1832 Great reform act to extend vote to those who didn’t own property, mass movement driven by working classes continuing for 2 decades
• campaigned for franchise to be extended to all men over 21, a secret ballot, payment of MPs and annual parliamentary elections

Question 11

What are digital/e-democracy and what do they achieve

Answer 11

• they relate to the way social media and the internet have impacted the way in which democracy operates and the use of social media by groups that seek to spread influence
• they allow people to become more politically aware, and so encourages more participation
  EG: use of TikTok by groups such as labour, conservatives, Reform UK
  EG: In 2011, a petition calling for release of documents relating to hillsborough disaster in 89’ led to a debate in parliament, the release of papers and launching of a new inquest

Question 12

What arguments say e-democracy/digital democracy enhance democracy

Answer 12

• increase political participation, making a better informed electorate
• communicate directly between government and governed
• enhance pluralism, by preventing powerful elitism groups having exclusive access to gov

Question 13

What arguments say e-democracy hinders democracy

Answer 13

• greater access to extremist groups
• disinformation is a huge problem
• gov could be influenced by short term ‘populist campaigns’