Why don’t you?

Posted on October 21, 2009

Vote. Why don’t you? Never in the history of our Republic has voting been easier or more accessible. Recently I spent some time thinking about this topic. Every day I work to find ways to engage and educate youth to encourage them to vote. So, voting, this time of the year, is on my mind.

Last year in November 131 Million Americans voted. The highest turnout ever. However, that was a paltry 63% of the estimated 209 million voting age eligible adults. This year, when we elect our Mayors, School Board members, council members and trustees, less than one out of three eligible voters will cast a ballot.

Why? After 200 years of work do only one in three vote on election day? In the first Presidential election, only six per cent of Americans were eligible to vote. And these men didn’t elect George Washington; they voted only for delegates to the Electoral College, an institution established to further restrain the popular will.

Restrain the popular will? What? True, our founding fathers never expected or dare I say, desired, the populace to vote. That is why hundreds of thousands of died and fought to secure the right to vote, moving us from a Republic to a Democracy over the last 200 years.

White male land owners were the first voters. Most elections they voted by voice at townhall meetings. Larger elections like that for Washington was done with Ballots printed in the newspaper or distributed by politicos. Ballots then were brought to a central location, often surrounded by more politicos and the ballot openly passed to the election judge. Safe, secure, secret, not really, yet they voted. Today your ballot can be mailed to your house and submitted via the mail, safe, secure and secret. Without effort.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed following the Civil War, in the latter 1860s. They outlawed slavery and extended civil rights and suffrage (voting rights) to former slaves. These Amendments begin to move us closer to the Democracy we enjoy today. However, many obstacles still remained for those wishing to vote following the Civil War.

Women, women, who outvoted men in 2008, 70 million to 60 million fought for that right. The 19th amendment in 1920 gave American women the right to vote. Switzerland didn’t get there til the 70’s and Kuwaiti women waited until the 1990’s to vote.

The 1960’s brought us the Voting Rights act, the 24th Constitutional Amendment (ratified by the states in 1964), and really opened the way for people of color to vote without restriction. Side note, following this amendment, five states still kept a poll tax. Alabama, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Supreme Court outlawed all poll taxes in a 1966 decision Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections. 7 states still have not ratified this amendment and one, Mississippi, specifically rejected the amendment in 1962.

Yet, according to Census data, only 60% of voting eligible black Americans voted in the 2008 election. 16 million voters of the 26 million eligible. If Obama couldn’t turn out more who can?

Vietnam was the impetus for a national movement to drive down the voting age to 18 from 21. As more and more young people were drafted into military service without the right to vote the 26th Amendment moved quickly for ratification.

So, here we are, 3 years from a Presidential election and I am talking voting. Let me ask you some questions.

1) When you have a problem with your local playground who do you call?

2) When your streets aren’t plowed who do you contact?

3) There has been a rash of robberies in your neighborhood which person is best to assist you with organizing your neighbors to action?

4) School budgets have tightened and programs have been reduced and your favorite teacher was laid off, the best person to discuss this with is:

Get my point? So, after a half dozen constitutional amendments and wars fought, men and women jailed, why don’t you vote this November 3rd? Voting in your local elections, dare I say, has a greater impact in your day to day living than the big elections every 4 years. Every election matters. Every vote counts. Exercise your right.

I know what most of you will say. My councilman is unopposed. Then vote in the school board race. Vote your conscience, Blackwell’s office would say, for or against the issues. Don’t like the casinos? Want a casino here in Ohio, voice your opinion. Don’t like either of the two candidates, voice your choice by skipping that question and moving to the next one.

For more information about candidate races and issues in your community follow these links:
Montgomery County www.mcboe.org
Warren County www.co.warren.oh.us
Greene County www.co.greene.oh.us
Visit the League of Women Voters here in Dayton for more information.

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1 Comment so far

Bryan November 2, 2009 2:52 pm
Moving from a republic towards more of a pure democracy is not a good thing. Read some history on the Athenians for evidence of that. Democracy is nothing short of mob rule. A republic adds a layer of insulation from the fickleness and populist emotions of the average citizen. Our founding fathers realized that the majority of people will never be informed enough to make truly thoughtful choices when voting. Consequently, mass voting, that by its very nature tends towards uniformed or misinformed decision making, will result in a populist tidal wave of gifts to the populace in the form of government provided programs that were paid for by taking funds from the producers of society. People will usually vote what they perceive is best for them. When they don’t understand the long term consequences of their choices but rather focus on the short term gains (gifts) we end up in the situation that we have today. Consequently, unrestricted one man/ one vote has always been and still is a recipe for disaster. I in no way advocate the stripping of the ability of people to vote. However, encouraging this parade of the politically blind and uninformed to get to the polls is irresponsible. Rather than blanketed encouragement of the people to go and vote, we should be encouraging them to get informed. It is far more important and integral to safe guarding the more stable form of government, a republic. “. . . whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right.” Thomas Jefferson
Unfortunately, we are currently lacking in this important qualification for self governance and people do not know when the situation has gone so wrong as to demand their attention. As long as American Idol is on their cable and they have their Big Macs they are content. It will only be after they have allowed things to deteriorate to such a degree that they will realize there is a problem. At that point it will be too late.

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