2008 Woodie Awards
A national holiday could save democracy
By: Chad Puterbaugh
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Forum
The 2004 election was novel for me in a number of ways. It was the first time I was able to vote, the first time I began to understand the difference between the Republican and Democratic parties, and also the first time I'd heard real encouragement for people to go out and vote.
I remember distinctly flipping through the channels and hearing commercials on MTV for "Rock the Vote." I kind of thought that the concept was a little silly, but I never really put much thought into it. It turns out, many are not only encouraging the youth of America to vote, but are petitioning to decrease the voting age. And why?
The justification I've read is along the lines of: We can charge 16-year-olds for adult crimes, so why shouldn't we say that they have the presence of mind to be good voters also?
This may be good reasoning in the idealistic world, but let's be pragmatic for a while. The truth is that we afford the right to vote to a good percentage of our citizenry, yet the citizenry returns the favor by regularly not showing up for general elections.
A bit of research suggests that the number of eligible Americans who vote in any given election is somewhere between 45 percent (International IDEA) and 60 percent (United States Voting Project).
How are we to explain the actions of so-called conscious voters? In that we are assuming they have the presence of mind to be good voters, are we therefore saying that such a high number simply choose not to participate?
The quandary is only further compounded when you consider that the United States' voter turnout isn't even among the top 50 in the world. Sadly, according to some estimates, our voter turnout is less than that of Russia.
But before we hastily point the finger of irresponsibility at voters, let us also look at the way we have elections structured. In addition to the American voter's low confidence in our ability to count votes, Americans also have to put up with a somewhat counter-intuitive voting date.
I remember distinctly flipping through the channels and hearing commercials on MTV for "Rock the Vote." I kind of thought that the concept was a little silly, but I never really put much thought into it. It turns out, many are not only encouraging the youth of America to vote, but are petitioning to decrease the voting age. And why?
The justification I've read is along the lines of: We can charge 16-year-olds for adult crimes, so why shouldn't we say that they have the presence of mind to be good voters also?
This may be good reasoning in the idealistic world, but let's be pragmatic for a while. The truth is that we afford the right to vote to a good percentage of our citizenry, yet the citizenry returns the favor by regularly not showing up for general elections.
A bit of research suggests that the number of eligible Americans who vote in any given election is somewhere between 45 percent (International IDEA) and 60 percent (United States Voting Project).
How are we to explain the actions of so-called conscious voters? In that we are assuming they have the presence of mind to be good voters, are we therefore saying that such a high number simply choose not to participate?
The quandary is only further compounded when you consider that the United States' voter turnout isn't even among the top 50 in the world. Sadly, according to some estimates, our voter turnout is less than that of Russia.
But before we hastily point the finger of irresponsibility at voters, let us also look at the way we have elections structured. In addition to the American voter's low confidence in our ability to count votes, Americans also have to put up with a somewhat counter-intuitive voting date.
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