Voting Participation in the United States
In our current American society, participation in voting is significantly lower than it should be. In 2018, only about 49% of legal and eligible adults went to the ballot and voted. In 2016, only 60% of eligible adults used their right to vote. Why're people not voting? What can the government do, to get more citizens to participate in the voting process?
The electoral college is a burden to the participation of many Americans. The impact that the electoral college has on the election, causes many Americans to think that their vote does not have an impact. While this strategy did a good job for the founding fathers, It's duty doesn't seem as necessary now that our country is more educated and populated. In upcoming and future elections, the popular vote of the citizens should determine who is pronounced the president of the United States. In the 2016 election, Hillary surpassed Donald Trump with about 2.9 million votes, which made Hillary have 2.1% more of the popular vote. However, the Electoral College disagreed with the public causing Trump to win the election.
The restriction of many people voting is their commitment to their job. Currently, citizens have to work around obstacles in their day, to be able to make their way to the ballot to cast their vote. The solution to this problem is simply to make Election Day its own specific national holiday. Allowing people all day to participate in a day dedicated to voting seems to be the easiest, simplest, and most logical solution. This act of voting is just as if not more important than any other holiday we have today.
Reasons for not voting in the 2008 presidential election
In our current American society, participation in voting is significantly lower than it should be. In 2018, only about 49% of legal and eligible adults went to the ballot and voted. In 2016, only 60% of eligible adults used their right to vote. Why're people not voting? What can the government do, to get more citizens to participate in the voting process?
The electoral college is a burden to the participation of many Americans. The impact that the electoral college has on the election, causes many Americans to think that their vote does not have an impact. While this strategy did a good job for the founding fathers, It's duty doesn't seem as necessary now that our country is more educated and populated. In upcoming and future elections, the popular vote of the citizens should determine who is pronounced the president of the United States. In the 2016 election, Hillary surpassed Donald Trump with about 2.9 million votes, which made Hillary have 2.1% more of the popular vote. However, the Electoral College disagreed with the public causing Trump to win the election.
The restriction of many people voting is their commitment to their job. Currently, citizens have to work around obstacles in their day, to be able to make their way to the ballot to cast their vote. The solution to this problem is simply to make Election Day its own specific national holiday. Allowing people all day to participate in a day dedicated to voting seems to be the easiest, simplest, and most logical solution. This act of voting is just as if not more important than any other holiday we have today.
Reasons for not voting in the 2008 presidential election
As said earlier, the 2016 election with only 49% eligible voting, could have been highly impacted if more votes were cast. This would have changed our country significantly, and that is backed up by proven logistics. Maybe some voters just need a nudge to go out and let their opinion have an impact on the country they live in. Kimberly Wehle, who is a professor at the University of Baltimore, believes that a tax cut of $50 would give many citizens an economic reason to vote causing citizens to have even more of an impact to vote.
While it is very obvious many eligible citizens need to participate more, the many solutions provided would provide a hefty increase in the number of public votes. It is important that we have more people vote in the future, that way more citizens opinion is represented in our election and government. These solutions also are not terribly harming or difficult to follow through with. So lets put time and effort into this much-needed switch in our current elections.
Works Cited
Case, Steve. "Get More People to Vote." Politico, www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/participation/get-more-people-to-vote/.
"It's Official: Clinton Swamps Trump in Popular Vote." CNN, www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count/index.html.
Traister, Rebecca. "Let More People Vote, More Easily." Politico, www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/participation/let-more-people-vote-more-easily/.
Nolan, you've summarized some of the issues with voting. The electoral college issue is a fairly complex one. Is there evidence that there is more information and education in the country today to prove your claim that the populace voting today is more educated and that that reason for the establishment of the electoral college is no longer valid? Is there evidence that people don't vote because of the electoral college?
ReplyDeleteYour blog was easy to read and got to the point quickly. The only question I have is would citizens be rewarded back their $50 after they had gone out to vote? Without this information it is hard to determine if a $50 tax cut would really encourage people to vote if they weren't given back the money that had been taken from them.
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