As many of you (or maybe not… we’ll see) probably know, this past Tuesday was the 2014 Midterm Election Day. On this day, people across the country pick their senators, representatives in Congress and governors. They also vote on state ballot initiatives.
I don’t know if you can tell based on the topics I choose for my RCL blog posts, but I’m certainly no political junkie. How did I know it was Election Day on Tuesday? My high school brother told me he had off from school. That, and the Google banner keyed me in.
In the spirit of Election Day, my friend (who takes even less interest in politics than I do) and I got into a debate that left me thinking for quite some time.
Knowing that we are on the same page politically, he originally had asked me if I plan on ever voting other than for the presidential election. I explained to him the internal conflict I’ve been having about voting since before I even turned 18 (maybe it started during my participation in Kids Voting USA back in 2008).
Anyway, what I’m struggling with is that I’m torn between carrying out my “civic duty” by voting and myself being politically uniformed, and thus making a vote for an undeserving candidate.
My friend said that he doesn’t think he will vote in the future because he doesn’t anticipate that he’ll be able to make an informed decision. He used his dad as an example: he was confident in his vote for George W. Bush in 2000, then regretted his choice later on during Bush’s two terms. Even when he was sure he knew who he wanted as President, he was wrong.
I told my friend that it seems like the only solution is to be well informed. Easier said than done.
Not everyone who votes can be 100% informed; that’s just impossible. In fact, I’d be willing to be most people who vote don’t meet the standards for well-informed citizens.
To start, I searched for what percent of the national population votes in any election throughout the year. FairVote.org gave the following stats:
The results seem pretty stable across time. As I would expect, less people vote during midterm years than during years with presidential elections.
But I also wondered why about half the population doesn’t vote. For instance, why did 41% of people not vote in 2012? Did they have the same reservations that I do, or are they just negligent of their duty?
According to a survey conducted by The California Voter Foundation (CVF), 28 percent of infrequent voters and 23 percent of those unregistered said they do not vote or do not register to vote because they are too busy. Others reported that voting takes too long.
Interestingly, 93 percent of infrequent voters and 81 percent of nonvoters agreed that voting is an important part of being a good citizen. Yet they still choose not to…
I’d love to hear some other opinions on this topic. As an adult, I don’t want to neglect my civic duties, but I don’t want to make ill-advised decisions for our nation. Many political activists plead that “ignorant people” stay away from the polls. But is a vote really representative of our country as a whole without about half the people’s votes?
Hopefully, I can find a personal solution in time for the 2016 elections.