Any Presidential election year brings with it a great deal of controversy about voting—and the present period is for many reasons even more contentious. Charges of voting fraud and voting suppression are the polar issues while the value of voting itself and the ways in which the electoral and popular vote are related or not are the tangents. But let’s be clear about one thing—our vote is the most precious right and responsibility we possess. Ask anyone who has lived in a country where voting has no consequence or where the right to vote is denied based on race, religion or caste. It is the ultimate form of powerlessness.
To those who see only futility in our voting process I can truly understand the frustration and cynicism that arises when none of the candidates reflect the views of a significant group or when a desired change has not come about despite promises to the contrary. The triggered response is why bother? If our votes do not matter—then why the fight over voter suppression or voting fraud? Why are so many hundreds of millions of dollars spent on TV, radio, mail and online to influence the outcome? And why would foreign powers waste their efforts trying to influence the outcome? If the outcome is a foregone conclusion why bother indeed? Yet both political parties, their backers, and millions of not disinterested citizens do not believe the outcome is given—they fight tooth and claw to elect their candidate.
So, our votes matter—even if our candidates may not always represent all that we hope for. Don’t blame the candidates—we have to accept responsibility for our process as imperfect as it is or we must care enough about it to lend our energies to improving it. Voting should be an issue of equal concern to every citizen regardless of party—but depending on where someone stands on a slew of social and economic issues there is no fundamental agreement that regardless of party affiliation, we all should do everything in our power to ensure that every possible citizen votes. Regardless of outcome, there are fundamental reasons why. In 2016, slightly more than half of all citizens eligible to vote cast a ballot. That was not a phenomenon but actually a near peak compared to any prior year. That means that regardless of popular versus electoral votes or any other issue—the overwhelming majority of American’s had no say in who would lead us. In fact, voter turnout in the US ranks thirty first among the 34 countries that hold national elections. You read that correctly—almost every other country in the world outranks the US.
When I read about voter suppression, and it is a very real and despicable thing, I almost want to say that it may be of marginal impact—voters themselves are doing a pretty fair job of invalidating their precious right. It is one thing to be angered about the election of a candidate whose policies and actions are inimical to one’s interests—but if you are among the nearly 47% of Americans eligible to vote that failed to do so—did not even try, you have ceded the right to complain about the outcome. According to several bi-partisan surveys, restrictive voting laws and other voter suppression activities in all likelihood had an impact of between 2-3% in the last election, in other words, as reprehensible as these actions are—they did not fundamentally change the outcome. Every effort should be made to eliminate barriers to voting –especially those that disproportionately affect the poor and the elderly, but the greater harm, to the essence of American democracy and to the principles on which our country was founded is dismal voter engagement.
It would be pure speculation to suggest that the outcome of the last or prior elections would have been any different if 75-85% of Americans voted as is the case in seventeen European and Asian countries, or even 60% as it does in the vast majority of other countries. But whatever the outcome, we could at the least say that the country we claim to love and who some would claim is the pre-eminent world leader did not elect its leadership by default.
This begs the question why? Why do so many Americans—exempting those who are prevented from voting by state laws and other means designed expressly to disenfranchise them—so willing to forfeit any say they have in the election of officials who will have such an impact on their lives? I am no expert on this subject to be sure, but I do have some thoughts and information that can be easily verified. I’ve already addressed one group—those who feel it does not matter. They give themselves a pass—a flimsy excuse that their failing to cast a vote is a protest against what they see as an illegitimate process. They have a lot in common with those whose party or candidate was unsuccessful—either in a primary or an election. It’s akin to leaving the game because the referee didn’t call the play in your favor.
I’ll put to the side those for whom voting is inconvenient –requiring time away from work or travel. Yes, we do make it hard to vote in the US. Some have concocted a false narrative around the idea of voter fraud—not a hint of which can be substantiated, to avoid the automatic registration of our citizens—an easy enough process seeing as all but a tiny fraction of eligible citizens have a social security card and pay taxes. And we can and should allow citizens to vote by mail—especially at a time when a global pandemic threatens their health and security. These measures alone would most certainly increase voting.
So, why haven’t these measures been taken and why don’t members of both parties commit to increasing US voter engagement? Here are a few commonsense observations. Politicians in office want to stay in office—politics aside—they have little to gain by increasing voter rolls unless they believe that doing so will be to their advantage. Any assertion that politicians may make about how those who do not vote may lean is conjecture. Non-voters typically do not participate in political polls or surveys—in fact the only indication anyone might have about their voting predilections is based on demographics—in other words it is statistical conjecture—not prediction. But it is clear that incumbents have little to gain by changing the voting pool unless their district has been altered or some other change has taken place that threatens their re-election. It is for this reason that those not in office are most often clamoring for increasing the vote and those in office are looking for ways to maintain the status quo. Guess who is going to win that contest?
The only people who have the power to change this is you and me. We the voters must make a stand on voting—a stand to eliminate voter suppression laws, a stand on automatic voter registration, a stand on absentee and mail in voting for starters. We must and we should do this regardless of the outcome—because we cannot predict what it will be—but we can predict that voter apathy undermines the essence of what our country represents. Anyone claiming to love that country must agree that our political process must be fair, transparent, and open to all who are eligible to vote—but we must also go the distance and make it our highest priority to ensure that everyone who can vote—does vote. Only then can we lay claim to uphold our American principles.
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