# 40% of eligible Americans still don't vote. How can we get them to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921 "2005-02-02T02:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/21 "2005-02-02T13:48:49Z")
I’ve tried to talk non-voters into voting, But when I found the extent of their political knowledge, I realized it’s better they don’t vote. My ex-GF didn’t vote till 1996 when she was 37, for Clinton to get his second term. Monicagate deterred her from ever voting again. Whew! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/22 "2005-02-02T14:01:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You want me to vote, get better candidates. Very good point (and one acknowledged by Jim Hightower in his book called _If the Gods Had Wanted Us To Vote, They’d Have Given Us Candidates_). Not since I’ve been eligible to vote has there been a presidential candidate whom I would have really felt good about voting for. (I’ve still voted, but only thinking “Well, he might turn out to be okay” or picking the lesser of two evils.) Unless maybe you count the primaries; but I’ve never voted in primaries because I don’t want to declare allegience to either political party—which is probably a reason why more people don’t vote in the primaries. Then there’s “Will it really make a difference whether I vote?” If a candidate wins by more than one vote, he would have won anyway without my contribution. If a candidate does win by only one vote, you can bet there will be all sorts of investigations and recounts and maybe a new election. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/23 "2005-02-02T14:11:22Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > There is no question that a census of voters will include many, many people who simply follow the party line (whether it is the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, or the last beer bash). It would be nice, in an ideal world, to be able to flush out those who have not actually attempted to understand the issues on which they are following the instructions of their local ward leader, preacher, or radio talking head. Unfortunately, any attempt to identify “informed” citizens vs “sheep” will fail, as it requires fallible humans to evaluate the knowledge and intentions of other fallible humans. Thus, anyone who has taken enough initiative to present themselves at the polls is, (providing there is no other legal barrier), permitted to vote. However, regardless how many uneducated followers may choose to vote, they have at least taken sufficient interest to actually listen to whatever leader they stumbled into following. Those who do not choose to vote have not even paid that insufficient bit of attention to realize that certain candidates or issues are important. > > I do not suggest that we attempt to weed out the “incompetent” voters; I merely suggest that it is not in the best interests of the nation to increase the numbner of them who actually cast ballots. There are no serious impediments to voting, today. Attempting to coerce or cajole people who really do not care into voting is simply counterproductive to the concept of an informed citizenry deciding their own future. But most people who don’t vote aren’t uninformed or stupid. The way the system is structured, you vote is meaning less in a number of circumstances. If you are in an area dominated by one party, your vote for the other party means nothing. If you suport a third party, your vote is usually meaningless. Sure you can vote just to say you voted, or to help your party reach some goal for funding purposes, but it is typically a fruitless act. My larger point was that I don’t see many people who truly understand issues. Most are so complex that there are people who spend years trying to become experts on things like the environment, soc. sec., etc. A basic understanding of these things doesn’t impress me. Especially when two people can look at the same information and come to wildly different conclusions based on the biases and baggage they bring to the table. Just take at most of the political GD threads. It boils down to people on both sides saying what don’t you idiots get about “X”. One person’s opinion is no better than the next when both are tinged by bias and ignorance of the facts. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/24 "2005-02-02T14:23:30Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > But most people who don’t vote aren’t uninformed or stupid. The way the system is structured, you vote is meaning less in a number of circumstances. If you are in an area dominated by one party, your vote for the other party means nothing. I don’t buy that argument. While it may be true for presidential elections in some states, those very same states have other issues on the ballot that cut across political boundaries. You’ll also find that in very Democrat CA, we have a Republican governor, for example. > [@](#): > > If you suport a third party, your vote is usually meaningless. Sure you can vote just to say you voted, or to help your party reach some goal for funding purposes, but it is typically a fruitless act. This is a better argument, but still represents a small minority. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/25 "2005-02-02T14:30:15Z")
60% is still a pretty [poor](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dem_pre_ele_tur&int=-1) turnout for an industrialised democracy (although it’s certainly better than the _woeful_ 49% of 2000). What can the US _learn_ from the countries above it in the list? ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/26 "2005-02-02T15:19:35Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > 60% is still a pretty [poor](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dem_pre_ele_tur&int=-1) turnout for an industrialised democracy (although it’s certainly better than the _woeful_ 49% of 2000). What can the US _learn_ from the countries above it in the list? That the citizens of Guinea-Bissau are twice as enthusiastic as we are. I mean, 116%? Damn. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/27 "2005-02-02T15:21:32Z")
I’ve thought a really savvy leader might be able to get pockets of people to vote. Groups of people can simply use the relatively low voter turnout to their advantage. If you’re a group with a relatively small “voice” in political affairs, your voice can get a lot louder, faster, if you up your turnout while the majority stays home. If blacks, for example, voted up in the 80% range you bet they’d be a political force to reckon with, and I’m sure they’d get lot more attention from candidates. Not that all people in a group will necessary agree on issues or vote alike, but they are often lumped together politically and they could use that to their advantage. The Iraqi election could have served as a great example–it might, still. Didn’t Kurds turn out in record numbers? ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/28 "2005-02-02T15:22:15Z")
> [@](#): > > That the citizens of Guinea-Bissau are twice as enthusiastic as we are. I mean, 116%? Damn. That’s what I _call_ “voting irregularities”! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/29 "2005-02-02T15:35:04Z")
A certain level of intelligence and effort is required to understand the issues of the day. If anyone is incapable or unwilling to fulfill that requirement, I don’t want them in the voting booth. Let them stay home and chant “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” along with their peers in the studio audience. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/30 "2005-02-02T16:21:31Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > Voting Day: Weekend and/or national holiday. > > Voting Day: 24 hours continuous. Polls open at 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday, close at 8 a.m. local time Wednesday, for example. Reasonable – the main problem with the weekend is that it inevitably conflicts with one of the religions with a signficiant following. This problem can be solved by spreading the election over the entire weekend, though that has obvious logistical problems. > [@](#): > > Non-partisan voting guide (based on public statements and voting records) mailed to every household and available for free in post offices and libraries. > > Non-partisan public issues survey of candidates. Results could be incorporated into the aforementioned guide or released separately. Refusal to participate by candidates would be noted in the results. I don’t see any way to avoid the possibility (or actuality) of these “non-partisan” sources being slanted by selection and omission. I think we just have to leave people to sort things out from the existing plethora of sources (slanted to various degrees in various directions). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/31 "2005-02-02T16:38:59Z")
Nobody in this thread has yet addressed the following crucial points: 1. Why is voter turnout less in the U.S. than in other democracies? 2. Who are these nonvoting Americans? Are they disproportionately poor or working-poor? Or do they come in equal proportion from every social class and educational level? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/32 "2005-02-02T17:04:55Z")
I know someone who is wealthy, highly-educated, and successful. He didn’t vote because he doesn’t want to be drafted. (He figures voters will be the first to go). Also, he doesn’t think his vote matters. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/33 "2005-02-02T17:11:03Z")
> [@The Controvert](#): > > He didn’t vote because he doesn’t want to be drafted. (He figures voters will be the first to go). 😕 Where did he get **that** idea? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/34 "2005-02-06T17:46:53Z")
Maybe it is tinfoil-hattery, but he thinks if we did need to start a draft and registration with Selective Services has gone into neglect, the govt would just look at voter rolls. Is this an outlandish notion or something? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/35 "2005-02-06T18:11:37Z")
I’d prefer that people be more informed, or simply not vote for stupid reasons, then have more people vote in general. And no, I’m not equating people voting stupidly with people not voting for the candidate I like. Anybody who votes on simple name recognition, for example, I think is a stupid voter. Even if they happen to vote for the candidate I prefer. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/36 "2005-02-06T19:05:46Z")
> [@Evil One](#): > > A certain level of intelligence and effort is required to understand the issues of the day. If anyone is incapable or unwilling to fulfill that requirement, I don’t want them in the voting booth. Let them stay home and chant “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry” along with their peers in the studio audience. Doubtful. One can have intelligence on the day to day issues and choose not to vote, for very valid reasons. How can you equate these people with The Jerry Springer show? And you have evidence that the people in the studio audience aren’t voting? _although I’m pretty sure their turnout was high_😉 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/37 "2005-02-06T19:07:20Z")
As has been said already, why should you vote if you think both the candidates are disasters? Do you really want the US to follow the example of Australia, where, or so I believe, voting is compulsory? It’s the inalienable right of every citizen to say, “A plague on both your houses!”, and stay at home. Anyway, voting only encourages them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/38 "2005-02-07T01:54:04Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Anybody who votes on simple name recognition, for example, I think is a stupid voter. Perhaps, but anybody who votes on **party** name recognition is a **smart** voter – or would be, if party labels really meant something in this country. As it stands, there’s little effective party discipline and the Republican in a given race can easily be more liberal than the Democrat. But perhaps that belongs in a different thread. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/39 "2005-02-07T16:42:28Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Anyone who is not sufficiently interested to vote is unlikely to be sufficiently interested to actually understand the issues. I would not put deliberate obstructions in their way, but I see no reason to make it so easy that we increase the number of demagogue-inspired voters by any hefty percentage. It really is a shame that so few citizens choose to participate in their own government at the minimal level, but I really do not want to see the uninformed or uneducated padding the vote counts of whoever has the best propaganda machine. ## It is this attitude that makes me believe that increasing the number of people who actually cast ballots **is** in the best interest of the nation. Not because I believe mandatory voting would solve the problem of an uniformed and nonparticipating citizenry directly but because it would bring the problem to the forefront. As things stand now it is easy to sit back and bemoan the lack of sophistication in the American public because it doesn’t immeadiately threaten the status quo. Adding millions of new voters into the mix changes the equation. Hopefully the increased danger of demagoguery would lead America to shore up its failing educational system and better regulate its unscrupulous electoral practices. In the long term the lack of participation is dangerous, of course. Continuing to ignore this festering wound on American politics is foolhardy. When masses of people are uncommitted to the current regime and unschooled in the alternatives nasty things can happen. See the French Revolution. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Nobody in this thread has yet addressed the following crucial points: > > 1. Why is voter turnout less in the U.S. than in other democracies? > > 2. Who are these nonvoting Americans? Are they disproportionately poor or working-poor? Or do they come in equal proportion from every social class and educational level? I expect you are already aware of the answer to #2 and suspect you are just putting it out there for debate. It’s no secret that economic participation and electoral participation go hand in hand. We would expect those who enjoy more of the fruits of the system to be more interested in maintaining it and studies don’t contradict this. Wealthy people do tend to vote more than the poor. Well educated people tend to acquire more wealth than the uneducated so it stands to reason that they would vote more often. I would imagine a college educated person to be more connected to the system and thus more likely to vote even if their economic situation didn’t turn out so well but haven’t seen any evidence this is so. So I suspect education is a seperate factor but don’t know that for a fact. As for number one, there are structural and cultural reasons for our low voter turnout. American culture contains a strong dose of distrust of government. This is often attributed by historians to the general lack of feudalism that would necessitate a unifying mass movement to have the state overturn such an inequitable system. For white Americans, at least. Blacks did need state intervention to escape serfdom and, in general, tend to be less distrustful of the possibilities of government even if more discouraged by present realities. This distrust exists alongside a seemingly contradictory belief that the American constitution creates a government of the highest order. Politicians and individual public bodies may be unworthy of trust but the cunning system of government handed down to us contains “checks and balances” which force the various selfish interests to work together to get anything accomplished. Thus ( Gödel be damned! ) the system is a selfcontained whole and the virtuous citizen can wash her hands of the dirty business of politics without consequences worse than the usual corruption, which can’t be eliminated in any case. The structural reasons begin with our embarassing electoral system that often seems to be designed to discourage voting rather than the opposite. The inconvenient timing for holding elections has already been addressed. Our household is politically motivated yet I missed the 2002 election because of an out of town business opportunity that arose after the deadline for nonemergency absentee ballots had passed. Mrs 2sense missed the 2000 election because staffing shortages at the hospital required her to work a shift that covered the entire time the polls were open. Other barriers to participation include the mindnumbingly long elections ( campaigning now begins over a year before Election Day requiring a greater investment of attention ) and the “Electoral College” ( “my vote doesn’t count!” ). The most significant barrier seems to be the registration requirement. Those states that don’t require preregistration have significantly higher turnout ( 15 points higher in 2000 ). ## Then there is the discouraging structure of our government itself. “Checks and balances” may or may not have promoted positive political outcomes as their adherents claim but there is no doubt that they reduce the influence of the common person. Citizens see the initiatives that energized them enough to elect representatives voted down somewhere in the labyrinth of Congress or, worse, passed with much fanfare only to be quietly scuttled by the executive or judicial branches on behalf of special interests. Is it any wonder so many people have the sense that politics are futile? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921/40 "2005-02-07T18:20:04Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > 60% is still a pretty [poor](http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/dem_pre_ele_tur&int=-1) turnout for an industrialised democracy (although it’s certainly better than the _woeful_ 49% of 2000). What can the US _learn_ from the countries above it in the list? Well, in the last elections, Spain had a turnout of about 80%, considerably higher than the 60% of the ones before last. But since the trigger for that was the death of 173 people (the Madrid bombs) I don’t recommend it. Enough with the black humor, now for a more serious answer: the non-voters I know, in quite a few countries, are either 1. people who just don’t care, or 2. people who think their candidate will win without them needing to bother, or 3. people who think their candidate won’t win in any case. The last one was particularly poignant in one EU election where a minority party was 40 votes away from getting 3 seats in the EU Parliament: I personally know _more than 50 people_ who didn’t vote for reason #3 and later felt like banging their heads against the wall. A concrete wall, preferably. The first one seems to be the most common case among the US nonvoters with whom I’ve talked about this, but admittedly it’s kind of a biased sample. Some of them didn’t know that you can vote on “some” issues (for example you can vote for your local judge if you have a strong opinion there, without having to cast a vote for mayor if you don’t really care). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-of-eligible-americans-still-dont-vote-how-can-we-get-them-to/287921.md?page=3)