Exam Two Essay Early Voting

Transcription

1 Exam Two Essay Early Voting Due date: Monday, March 20 Your Early Voting/Personal Responsibility Assignment will require you to submit a typed essay responding to some ethical questions regarding a hypothetical voting situation. This assignment will require you to apply the Eight Key Questions (8KQ) framework developed at James Madison University to complete the essay. Below is the hypothetical scenario: You were selected to serve on the Early Voting Board of your county as one of the three representatives from your political party (Democrat or Republican) to serve alongside the presiding judge and three representatives from the opposing political party. Early voting preceding the 2018 November general election transpired without incident, and Election Day has arrived. Your duties today consist of opening absentee ballots and counting the legally submitted ballots by mail. The counting and verifcation has gone without incident until a ballot grabs your attention. The information written on the absentee ballot indicates that it has been cast by Holly Martin, a woman who lives in your neighborhood and you know somewhat well. Holly lives with her sister, Margaret, both of them having moved back into their childhood home several years ago. The Martin sisters are widows in their seventies who are active members in your political party, and you see them on occasion at party events where they express nearly identical political positions and concerns, and you agree with them fully on every political issue you have ever discussed with them. You are the only one on the Early Voting Board who knows that Holly Martin suffered a massive stroke about one month ago, and she has been bedridden, motionless and unresponsive to others, including her sister, ever since. Holly s ballot, however, is dated and postmarked last week, well after her stroke occurred. The ballot next in the stack to be considered is Margaret Martin s, which is dated and postmarked on the same date as Holly s. When you look at the signature on Margaret s ballot, you are convinced that it was Margaret who signed Holly s ballot. The Early Voting Board is unlikely to notice anything out of order, as both Holly and Margaret are registered voters who have been voting by absentee ballot for several elections, and nothing on the submitted ballots would seem troublesome to someone who did not know the Martins personally.

2 Do not fabricate or assume any facts of this scenario that you do not see described above. Note: there is no such thing as power of attorney to cast a vote in a state or federal election. Overall question you will answer: Do you alert your fellow board members that Holly s ballot is likely not her own? There is outside help available for this assignment: Library staff have created a guide to assist you in this process. You can access the guide specifc to my GOVT 2305 assignments here: GOVT 2305 LibGuide If you wish to fnd guides for other courses, click here: Directory of Course LibGuides Scoring elements of Northeast Lakeview s Personal Responsibility Rubric are listed in italics before the elements that comprise them below. Your score will be determined by how well you satisfy these elements. The Personal Responsibility Rubric is attached to give you clear descriptions of what quality of submission will earn ratings of poor, fair, good and excellent. Follow the order listed below for a well-organized essay: Ethical self-awareness: Your task here is to state which of the 8KQ you fnd the most important in ethical decision making, regardless of the specifc situation under consideration. Analyze why you consider this key question to be your most important guide to ethical decision making, and examine the factors in your life that help explain why you believe this. Ethical issue recognition: Why is this particular case controversial? Describe what decisions (two, in this case) are available to you and the implications for yourself and others of making each of these choices. Application of ethical : Describe the rationale for applicability or inapplicability for each of the 8KQ. Next, analyze, at fewest, the most important three Key Questions individually on what insight they provide for this hypothetical case; to what conclusion would each lead you? Evaluation of different : Convey a weighing approach with the products of the analysis you performed above among the (at fewest three) Key Questions you found the most relevant to this case. Your ultimate decision on the case before you should be reached through a careful weighing of the your products of analysis that is intelligible, consistent and compelling. Make sure to address each question directly and specifcally, and taking them in sequential order would be an easy and intuitive way to do so. The structure and mechanics of your paper are of less importance than your ability to consider the Key Questions at play here and address them. Do not be afraid to defend a controversial position; there is no right or wrong answer, but there are well or poorly supported positions.

3 Regarding format, your work is to be typed, double-spaced in 12-point font with 1 margins, left aligned and indent the frst line of each paragraph one-half inch. Include your Banner ID number and name in the upper-left corner of the frst page, and indicate the degree (not your major) you are seeking in the upper-right (this will be AA, AS, or AAT). If you do not know what degree you are pursuing, I can look that up in ACES for you. I expect that you can complete this assignment in 3-5 pages of typed work. 8KQ Resources from James Madison University: A brief list of the 8KQ The more complete 8KQ Handbook You will be submitting a digital copy of your paper online via an assignment link in Canvas, to be checked by turnitin.com; papers with high likelihood of plagiarism may receive a grade of zero. Download an originality report when you submit to ensure your paper is unlike others work. Submit your work no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 20. Bring a paper copy to be submitted at exam time. The following two pages contain two important scoring rubrics. The frst is the NLC Personal Responsibility Rubric. This is how Northeast Lakeview College defnes the various elements of Personal Responsibility core competency, and it is applicable to assignments from any subject taught at NLC. The page following the rubric described above is a specifc guide to assembling a Personal Responsibility essay for a Government (GOVT) course. This will give you a detailed set of standards on how I will score your essay. Numerically I will assign you points (from 0 to 4) for each of the four elements to determine your essay score, where 16 is the highest total rubric points available and 100 is the maximum for the essay as a whole: Numerically I will assign you points (from 0 to 4) for each of the four elements to determine your essay score, where 16 is the highest total rubric points available and 100 is the maximum for the essay as a whole: Essay score = *Ethical Self-Awareness + 2.5*Ethical Issue Recognition + 2.5*Application of Ethical Perspectives + 2.5*Evaluation of Different Ethical Perspectives Expressed more simply: Essay score = *Total Rubric Points (0-16)

4 PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ASSESSMENT RUBRIC Personal responsibility includes the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision making. Evaluators are encouraged to assign a zero to any work sample or collection of work that does not meet poor (cell one) level performance. Ethical self-awareness Excellent 4 Analyzes in detail both core beliefs and the origins of the core beliefs and discussion has greater depth and clarity. Good 3 Analyzes in detail both core beliefs and the origins of the core beliefs. Fair 2 Student states both core beliefs and the origins of the core beliefs. Poor 1 Student states either their core beliefs or articulates the origins of the core beliefs but not both. Ethical issue recognition Recognizes ethical issues when presented in a complex context AND can recognize crossrelationships among the issues. Recognizes ethical issues when presented in a complex context OR can recognize cross- relationships among the issues. Recognizes basic and obvious ethical issues and can recognize (incompletely) the complexities or interrelationships among the issues. Recognize basic and obvious ethical issues but fails to recognize complexity or interrelationships. Application of ethical Independently applies ethical perspectives/ concepts to an ethical question, accurately, and is able to consider full implications of the application. Independently (to a new example) applies ethical perspectives/ concepts to an ethical question, accurately, but does not consider the specifc implications of the application. Apply ethical to an ethical question, independently (to a new example) and the application is inaccurate. Student can apply ethical to an ethical question with support (using examples, in a class, in a group, or a fxed-choice setting) but is unable to apply ethical perspectives/ concepts independently (to a new example). Evaluation of different ethical States a position and can state the objections to, assumptions and consequences of and can reasonably defend against the objections to, assumptions and implications of different ethical perspectives/ concepts, and the student's defense is adequate and effective. States a position and can state the objections to, assumptions and consequences of, and respond to the objections to, assumptions and implications of different ethical perspectives/ concepts, but the student's response is inadequate. Student states a position and can state the objections to, assumptions and consequences of different ethical perspectives/ concepts but does not respond to them (and ultimately objections, assumptions, and implications are compartmentalized by student and do not affect student's position.) Student states a position but cannot state the objections to and assumptions and limitations of the different perspectives/ concepts.

5 8KQ PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY SCORING GUIDE - GOVT Follow this scoring guide created by government faculty at NLC to help you assemble a quality paper. Each cell describes the score you earn for each element based on your paper s quality; a score of zero is possible. Ethical self-awareness Excellent 4 You analyze in detail both your most important key question and the origins of your beliefs and discussion has great depth and clarity. Good 3 You analyze in detail both your most important key question and the origins of why this guides you. Fair 2 You state which key question is most important to you and the origin of why it is. Poor 1 You state either which key question is most important to you or the origin of why it is but not both. Ethical issue recognition You provide clear description of decision options and context, and you treat the context with nuance, building tension with organization and word choice. You provide clear description of decision options and context. You make explicit but disorganized reference to decision options and context. You make implicit reference to your decision options and/or give little context regarding the decision options. Application of ethical of all eight key questions to the ethical situation and accomplish detailed analysis on three. You demonstrate accurate ascription and elucidate subtle distinctions using analogies or metaphors. You provide a rationale for the applicability or inapplicability of six key situation and accomplish detailed analysis on two or three. You demonstrate accurate ascription of the key clear and organized. of four key questions to the ethical situation and accomplish some analysis on two. You demonstrate basically accurate ascription of the key unclear or disorganized. of two key questions to the ethical situation and attempt analysis on one or both of them. You demonstrate incorrect ascription of the key unclear, disorganized, or inaccurate. Evaluation of different ethical approach using analysis, the results of which provide an intelligible basis for judgment, and you end with a decision where the products of your analysis are weighed to make judgment compelling. approach using analysis, the results of which provide an intelligible basis for judgment, and you end with a decision that is reached reasonably. approach using analysis, but the results do not provide an intelligible basis for judgment. You use results of the analysis and provide some weighing to make a decision, but your account is unclear, disorganized or inaccurate. Adapted from James Madison University s Ethical Reasoning Rubric