Voter Apathy During Elections

Does anyone think that the election process, especially when a presidential race is at stake, takes too long? As an example, we have had presidential primaries running since December of 2007, with the Democratic presidential nominee determined only a few months ago, as of the first week in August of 2008. And then there are the primaries in the month of August for the House of Representatives and the Senate at the national levels, coupled with various local issues on the ballot, leading up to the elections in November. Is it any wonder that voter apathy sets in?

To cite an extreme example, one county in Kansas reported that only 19% of its registered voters turned out for the primaries. Now, while that's only one county and perhaps an isolated case, it's likely that if we concentrated on races across the country where the voter registration is either heavily Republican or Democrat and the perception among voters is that the race is not all that hotly contested with an incumbent seeking re-election, that a high percentage of voters stayed home in those districts. It was reported by observers of the presidential election in 1992 that when Bill Clinton ran against George H. W. Bush, that even when close to 60% of registered voters cast their ballots, a presidential candidate couldn't collect 50% of the popular vote that year. Imagine what might have happened if even half of the remaining 40% that stayed home had participated! The percentages of the nationwide vote for the candidates, including Ross Perot, ran as follows: Bill Clinton, 43% of the popular vote; George H. W. Bush, 38%, and Ross Perot, 19%. With about 60% of registered voters participating that year, Bill Clinton's 43% looks more like 26% of all registered voters, when you factor in the number of disenchanted voters who probably preferred to watch a football or basketball game somewhere rather than vote. Certainly, Al Gore could have been elected in 2000 over George W. Bush, with the margin being so slim that the Supreme Court had to decide the outcome of the Florida vote, in order to determine the winner.

An interesting lesson to take from the 2000 presidential election, in which the number of registered voters participating totaled closer to 50% in that race, is that a lot of pundits seem to think that a lower voter turnout favors Democrats and a higher voter turnout favors Republicans. That statistic is said to be changing with the rapid influx of Hispanic voters, said to be the great undecided in the coming presidential election. So much so, that both Republican candidate, John McCain, and Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, are spending time in Mexico, attempting to show some solidarity with our neighbors to the south, and hoping registered Hispanics within our borders take notice. Still, a higher voter turnout, especially in 2004, was said to have carried George W. Bush to a second term, particularly in Ohio, where billionaire George Soros tried to buy the state for his candidate, John Kerry.

What are some of the reasons for voter apathy? A long campaign season. The Clintons, both Bill and Hillary, seem to have invented the concept of nonstop campaign mode, even during the "offseason" for politics. A good example of this, is the fact that Hillary had established a presidential campaign fund clear back in the year 2000. While our public officials never tire of raising money for their campaign war chests, it does seem like, as voters, we only get the beautiful, three-colored brochures claiming they are listening to their constituents close to a primary or fall election, depending on how close a campaign their rival is running. It's also disturbing to see that the political process is monopolized by the Republican or Democratic Party. In 1992, when Ross Perot's Reform Party garnered 19% of the presidential vote, thus qualifying for federal matching funds, many of us may have forgotten the other lone "success" story of the Reform Party. How many of us remember Jesse Ventura, Reform Party candidate for governor of Minnesota? When queried about his success in defeating both his Republican and Democratic rivals, Ventura rather boldly informed the media interviewing him, that "he got no help from the Reform Party; what he accomplished, he did on his own."

Two possible cures that would make the political process more interesting, would be to create a viable third party through either grass roots activism, or checking off $1 of even $3 on your federal tax form to finance it (how many of you make that donation?), or to offer a "None of the Above" option on the ballot. This was, the Republican or Democratic Party can't force a candidate on us that we don't want, simply because they don't have an opponent, or because an opponent can't afford to participate in the process.