by Rachel Gross
The United States is a representative
democracy, in which government officials are selected by the people they
represent. Elections
are the bases of democracy, and
without expressing our opinions by voting we relatively have no say in what may
happen after the election. However, voter turnout has been on the decline in
recent years. America has
one of the lowest rates of voter participation of any democracy in the world.
Even in a presidential general election, only about half the eligible voters
turn out. In the presidential primary process and in state and local elections,
the participation rate is even lower.
I believe that low voter turnout is a
problem mainly because if there aren’t enough people showing up to vote then
the results will not accurately reflect public opinion. Democracy was created to represent
the people and their beliefs, which unfortunately cannot be possible if
citizens are not voicing their opinions through voting. I think that voter
turnout will continue to decline if we don’t do something about it.
One way we can improve the participation
of Americans in elections is by adopting one single set of laws to become a
registered voter. Currently, there
are 50 different sets of laws for voting registration, each state having its
own. When registration becomes
complicated, many citizens tend to not even become registered voters simply
because the process is such a hassle. Having only one set of registration laws
for the entire nation makes things but simpler and I believe that participation
will significantly increase
I agree with your argument. That is a good way to improve voter turnout. There are so many different systems it would just be easier if we had one.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right. We have seen countless times, in states like Florida, where voting is more of a hassle than anything else; with lines that last for hours. If we establish early voting in all states as well as reconsider the Electoral College, I think voter turn out will have an upswing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points and I think the decline over the recent years in voter turnout is a problem. Participation in our political process is so essential to our democracy, and I definitely think that people who want to vote and do their civic duty should definitely be able to do this with ease. I think that making voting less of a hassle, like you pointed out as well as Sarah, would be very beneficial. Changes to the registration/voting day system could have a big impact on turnout and essentially on elections in general.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the amount of BS one needs to go through to register to vote is definitely detrimental to our voter turnout
ReplyDeleteI agree that different voting registeration laws might create difficulty organizing voters across over the nation and the registeration process has to be simplified. But with the exitence of the power struggle between the state and the federal government, I think it would be very hard to enforce a uniform voting registeration law over the nation and it might take a long time. But it's the way to go definitely.
ReplyDeleteLike the comments above, I also think that creating one set of laws for registration would largely increase voter participation. However, I don't that we should be stopping with this. Not all eligible voters choose to refrain because of the arduous process of registration. There is still the large percentage who believes their vote to be insignificant and therefore does not bother. And there is the group who is simply ignorant when it comes to politics and lacks the basic political knowledge to cast a proper vote. We need to begin targeting these groups as well and raise awareness on the importance of voting in our democracy: perhaps by targeting students in high school, we can create a new generation of eager voters who are aware of their civic duties.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the registration to be able to vote is troublesome however I still believe the majority of peoples views are being expressed in the elections.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to have one single set of rules for all 50 states. This would definitely simplify the registration process.
ReplyDelete