In RCL I, one of the first big ideas that we discussed was civic engagement. As the focus of Unit 1, civic engagement has been a theme that has constantly evolved throughout the course, taking its rightful place of importance in nearly everything that we have discussed – especially this blog.
Thus, in deciding on a civic issue to discuss with you all, I landed on voting. Voting is something not only important in our roles as citizens, but it is something directly that we can take a part in. Unlike a discussion on the education system or gay marriage, we as young adults are directly at the center and a part of voting. With that being said, I hope to spark some passionate and even divisive conversation on voting. Each post will bring up a new issue or idea about voting, and as a class, we can come to understand the significant role that voting plays in our civic engagement.
Let us begin with a discussion on voter turnout. In high school, I had the same history teacher, Mr. Mezler, for three years. He always emphasized the importance of voting and said this to his students: “At the end of your four years here, I don’t care if you don’t remember anything about the French Revolution or the League of Nations. If you come back to visit me after you graduate and say ‘Mr. Mezler, I don’t remember a damn thing you taught me, but I go out and vote every chance that I can,’ then I will be proud of you.”
I can never remember Mr. Mezler getting angry besides when talking about voter turnout. More than simply “having a voice,” going to vote is imperative. Regina Lawrence, the Director of Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, states that “Politics and all other forms of engagement are really about trying to make your community, your state, and your nation a better place to live.” Well, what about when people don’t vote? Is our society suffering from a lack of engagement? Is there a connection between the lack of voting and an overall lack of engagement in society?
According to Thomas Patterson in The Vanishing Voter, non-voters have been gradually replacing voters since 1960, with the decline in participation primarily concentrated among low-income Americans. As such, in 2010, Texas became the state with the lowest voter turnout at a meager 36.40%, and as such, Texas has been consistently ranked one of the states with the lowest civic involvement.
According to the infographic, Texas finishes nearly dead last in every aspect of political involvement. While political involvement may not be the end-all-be-all of civic engagement, the same poll ranks Texas 42nd in volunteering and below the national average in group participation. Regina Lawrence states that “Most people’s definition of a well-functioning, healthy democracy is not one in which two-thirds of eligible citizens are sitting on the sidelines.”
Is Lawrence correct? How exactly does voting gauge our civic engagement?
Turning to the Texas Tribune, Regina Lawrence speaks again, saying that Americans lead busy lives and feel too uninformed to vote. In the 2010 Census survey, when asked why they didn’t vote, 29.5% of Texas nonvoters said they were too busy. Another 14.5% said they forgot to vote or to send in their ballot, while 16.3% said they were not interested or their vote wouldn’t make a difference.
While Texas turnouts are higher for presidential elections, is voting in other elections still as important?
Voting is perhaps the first step of civic engagement. It not only gauges our nation’s political interest, but from there allows a nation’s citizens to do what I am doing here – discuss different civic issues. Beyond that, we can work to bring individuals into office who can focus on the issues that our society deems important. If we dismiss the importance of voting – the foundation – what exactly can we build upon?
There are several reasons why voter turnout in Texas has been lackluster. Not just in Texas, but across America as a whole, many find themselves victims of the high information threshold required by our voting system. We as Americans are expected to hit the poll quite often, and with a higher frequency of days summoned to the polls, many Americans diminish the importance casting their votes at each possible outing.
As Americans, it is also impossible to ignore that, with many different candidates, parties, and issues that require our attention, we find ourselves overwhelmed and uninformed about the candidates and issues at hand. In Texas, for example, 32 percent of Texans cited the above as a reason for not voting. With that being the case, is it possible that local and state governments may have a role to play?
Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune offers insight into last year’s turnout, which was even lower than that in 2010. While the continued decline of voter turnout is a national trend, Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic party, suggests that the voter ID law, while intended to prevent fraud, may be stagnating voter turnouts. In this case, an important idea is proposed: what if government laws and regulations are discouraging or preventing people from coming to the ballots? Not only that, but from a local and state level, if the masses aren’t educated, engaged, or involved in societal issues, both the government and the populace as a whole are at risk of stagnating civic engagement. I fear that if laws and systems in place tend to discourage rather than encourage voter turnout, the trend that Thomas Patterson warned of shows no signs of turning around.
There are many ways to continue the discussion on voting and civic engagement. I raise many questions, yet answer few, because I want to know how you believe we should continue the conversation. Should I continue discussing the connection between voter turnout and a wider civic engagement in our communities? Should I look into current laws and policies and see how they both encourage and discourage voter turnout? How about voting and engagement among different age groups? I could also take this in a different direction – should I explore societal views on voting, and whether people view it as a right or a privilege, and how that influences them to vote? This isn’t just my civic issues blog – I want it to be a conversation that we all influence, and I will be relying on your responses to determine which direction I take this.
Until next time, here’s some food for thought: In my hometown, there was a 31.2% voter turnout in November 2013. Doug Smith, the Erie County clerk of elections, said that a turnout of 30 percent would be “respectable.” If thirty percent of our community is engaged, is that really so respectable?
I love that you want to spark more civic engagement, and involvement in our communities, and I respect that very much. However, as the individual I am, I firmly believe I am very involved with my community but I am on the side of not voting in the presidential elections. I don’t vote for either of the two venomous parties as they’ve been the ones that have suppressed the views of other parties by having a stranglehold in the American Political system today. Media plays a role in highly emphasizing our two party system. Big business continually funds both parties with billions of campaign dollars, leading to big business’s interests always being on both parties minds (and essentially always winning). Banks also fund both parties equally. If we step back and look at this system, the super elite class will always strive to get their views on both sides of the ballot. As for myself, I don’t believe in the principles of either party, so I just refuse to vote. Sure you can say, the more you vote, the more the numbers rise for your party and the more likely they may win. However, I don’t respect that people are too ignorant to even know that there is a world outside of Democrats+ Republicans. Other parties aren’t even allowed to be on the ballot in some states (democracy? or hypocrisy). I guess you can say the Dems and Reps have done a great job at suppressing these other parties, and continue to destroy our Constitution, and our country, granting the super elite carte blanche to do what they want with our country and continue to enslave the non-elite. I know that post was incredibly pessimistic, yet this is how I truly feel about the American system, and if anyone can convince me otherwise- please do. Yet otherwise, I will retain this view point until convinced another way. I do enjoy the very informative graphic in the post of Texan engagement yet I feel as though people don’t like to vote in Texas primarily because they also know that the Republicans will always win that state, so people go, what the heck, no real reason to vote if we know the winners already.
I think this post was very well written and very well thought-out. I agree with your statement that voter turn out is a growing problem, and has been for some time now. In fact (I’m slightly embarrassed to admit), I still remember asking my mother before the last presidential election whether she was going to vote. First of all, I believe the question itself is a concern, due to the fact that I was asking whether she was going vote at all, not who she was voting for. More troubling, however, is the fact that she responded to my question with ,”Probably not, I don’t even remember what party I’m registered as.” For me, that was deeply troubling, and so the fact that I have seen this in my home definitely reiterates the point you are trying to make. Overall, I thought this was a post that offered valuable insight into the world of voting, without being too (for lack of a better word) boring.
I would love if you expanded on all three of those ideas on voter turnout, yet discussing the connection between voter turnout and a wider civic engagement in our communities I believe would be the most intriguing. We can all read up on why people vote or don’t vote and what laws are in place to keep people, but I want to know your views on how voting translates to civic engagement. I myself at the prime age of 18 am not a registered voter, mainly because I do not have the time to get into the gritty details of politics and I do not believe in just voting for “your” party. I also am one of those people who believe my one vote are not going to change the results (awful, I know). Convince me I should and take part of the easiest form of civic engagement in this great country!