In The County Election, this exhibition’s centerpiece, white, male, property-owning citizens over age twenty-one line up to cast their votes. Since then, amendments to the U.S. Constitution have given all citizens over age eighteen the right to vote, regardless of race, sex, or economic status. But access to the polls is just the beginning. Who participates in the American electoral process, and why do they participate? What motivates voters to become involved? To what extent do political campaigns, the news media, or the politicians themselves convince voters to pay attention to particular issues or support specific viewpoints? To what extent do these factors lead voters to abstain from participating? Which persuasive strategies work best and why?
This exhibition was designed for the students in a first-year seminar taught by Melanie Green, of Carolina’s department of Psychology. Green and her students will use these photographs and prints to consider questions and issues central to the course, such as the ones mentioned above. Wall labels in this gallery examine some of these questions in greater depth. To learn more about how Green teaches this subject, consult the materials in the exhibition notebook.
Co-curators: Melanie Green and Carolyn Allmendinger
