Blog 8, reply to Voter Apathy

This is a reply to Peter’s blog seven on the subject of “Voter Apathy.” Peter makes good points on voter turnout, and voters IQ. I agree with him on both points. However, I disagree with him regarding his reasoning over the IQ part.

Peter believes that uninformed voters lack basic knowledge of political issues, and this leads to low voter turnout. I don’t agree with Peter putting all the blames on the voters’ shoulder. There are many reasons that account for low voter turnout. First of all, it is obvious that there is a decline in public interest for elections. Most American citizens feel that their vote does not matter, and seeing as they lead very busy lives they are not inclined to make time to vote when they feel as if their vote does not count. American citizens have no motivation to vote as they once did. They are not made to feel that their vote matters. Some people argue that lower voter turnout is not necessarily bad. It could mean the people are satisfied with the present state of the government. It may also be better because the number of educated votes being cast is higher due to the fact that highly educated people tend to vote more frequently.

To augment Peter’s point on the voter apathy, Texas has had one of the lowest voter turnouts in the union for years. Border communities and poor minority communities have been historically less likely to vote with extremely low turnout rates. For example, six of the seven precincts in Presidio County – one of the poorest counties in the nation – had fewer than half of the registered voters come to the polls in 2008. One barely topped 23 percent. Voters with better socioeconomic conditions were much more likely to vote than the impoverished.

What should we do so that voters will care enough to think about the choice and make a decision? I like the suggestion to try reducing the number of offices we vote on. There are too many for a reasonably busy person to keep track of now. Elect a governor and have him appoint the lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and so on. If you don’t like the job the state government is doing, vote out the governor and get a whole new slate of officers. Now we don’t know who to blame — the governor, the secretary of education or whomever. Give folks a chance to vote against someone and they will do it.