by Keerti Hariharan
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a
ballot in an election. Low voter turnout, which is becoming increasingly
popular in established democracies, is considered undesirable because the
nation fails to get an accurate sense of what the majority wants. Low voter
turnout in America could be due to indifference, laziness, or even ignorance.
In the 2008 presidential election, voter turnout was 63%, and political
scientists and economists are emphasizing the need to encourage more eligible
citizens to vote and therefore demonstrate an accurate picture of the majority.
One reason, I believe, that citizens do not vote is that they
feel their vote is insignificant. Eligible voters need to grasp the truth in
the cliché: every vote counts. They need to understand the meaning of one's
civic duties and understand that the privilege of citizenship comes with it a
responsibility to vote.
To improve American participation, I think we need to emphasize
the importance of voting in a democracy, which in its very definition
requires the collective vote of the nation. If we as a nation began raising
awareness to students in high school, I think we would see an improvement in
participation, for many who don’t vote are simply uninformed. Taking a
government class really helped raise my understanding of the importance of
voting as a citizen and how this decrease in voting poses a problem for the
U.S., which claims, in its democratic ways, to accurately represent the nation.
For the older generation, which wouldn't benefit from schools,
perhaps trying what a few experiments tried in their attempts to increase voter
participation. Several experiments were conducted during the primaries in
various districts and often including reminders through mail. The concept of
social pressures often arose and successfully increased voter turnout around 7
-15 % every time. One set of mail told voters that they were being studied.
Another claimed that their neighbors would know whether or not the voted. A
political scientist from Yale suggested that the mailings "might prick the
civic conscience of a voter,” which I think is exactly what we should be doing
one way or another.
Another experiment done was in Connecticut, when an
"Election Day Poll Party" was organized and offered free sandwiches,
a cotton-candy machine and a DJ. Turnout went up.
There are endless ways to improve American participation in
elections and that the U.S. should really put in some time to raising awareness
and improving voter turnout in the democratic nation.
I agree that raising awareness of the importance to voting is one of the simplest ways to effectively increase voter turn out. If high school students are informed, there is a much higher chance that they will register to vote shortly after high school graduation. I think that more emphasis on the importance to voting is the first necessary step. In addition, I believe reforming registration, in combination with emphasis on the importance of voting, would increase voter turn out. In order to increase the number of registered voters, registration needs to be made easier. This can be achieved by having one uniform set of registration laws, instead of 50 different sets. Clearly, there are many possible ways to effectively raise American voter turn out.
ReplyDeleteI agree that low voter turnout is becoming an increasing problem in the United States. There are many reasons as to why citizens do not vote; a main one is that some think that their single vote does not matter in the grand scheme of things. However, like you said, if more eligible voters are informed that “every vote counts”, then voter turnout should increase, even if by a small margin. In addition to implementing social pressures, other ways to increase voter turnout are to make registration simpler, to motivate eligible citizens to vote, and to hold national elections on weekends (this ensures that those working or attending school during the week would have more time to vote).
ReplyDeleteI think you highlight a very important point. Many Americans think that their vote doesn't count, but if a lot of people think this way, it really affects voter turnout, which is why every vote really does count. I like the ideas that you researched that increased turnout in certain areas, and it's interesting how some of them really worked. Experimentation is definitely an interesting approach, and if something really succeeds in an experiment, I hope that it can be taken to a wider scale.
ReplyDeleteI 100 percent agree that voter turnout is relatively low compared to other countries because people, especially young ones, feel their vote is insignificant. I think as people get older they realize the importance of a vote so the trend continues where older people are more likely to vote than younger.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in that schools is a great place to start. If people are educated in how important their vote is or are at least more interested in the subject, they are more likely to go out and vote. I also agree with Sarah that the issues with registration need to be fixed. I think that we could maybe use both ideas together and educate students how to register while in high school and how to get the absentee ballots if they plan to attend college. Many high school students turn 18 before they graduate and are thus already eligible to vote.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some good ways to improve voting. I especially like your idea of encouraging voting in schools. Just from what i've heard from people, schools dont really talk about voting all that much, and if we are going to change things the best people to start with is the upcoming generation, aka us. I dont think we should take the route of forcing people to vote. But, sending reminders through the mail and invoking a kind of social pressure is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we need to teach the youth of America about the importance of voting and the registration process. This however is more of a long term solution.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree we the fact that we must emphasis what we are supposed to be standing for and living under: a democracy. This is what we wanted so we should use it to it's fullest potential.
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