When talking about lack of political participation, the deeper problem is a lack of representation. This is a democracy by the people, of the people, for the people but when certain demographics are not participants in the political system we lose that key claim. If certain groups are better represented in our government then we, as a country, cannot pretend that our leaders have the whole nation’s interests in mind.
This problem stems from another issue that has taken over our political system; politicians whose top priority is re-election. Politicians are very careful in who they choose to mobilize for elections and thereby who has a voice. This is not to say that incumbents are keeping people away from the polls but they are more than happy to play to the interests of one group if it will give them an electoral advantage. In a previous post I wrote about how politicians overlook moderates in favor of extremists, and it is easy to see why; the extremists are the ones that get them elected. Our elected officials cater to a certain group in the understanding that that group will get out on election day and keep them in office, and if that means only helping rich white males then so be it.
Politicians don’t just campaign for one group they also rig political districts so that they can keep to one demographic. Redistricting is has become an accepted practice in today’s political process that is only spoken of in whisper. It is easy to understand why the parties try to keep this practice quiet, they are both essentially cheating the system by setting up districts where they will never lose. If Americans continue to overlook this and other practices like it, we undermine the validity of our democracy. It takes away the essential choice that we must have when going out to vote, this common practice of only having one candidate on a ballot makes the ballot and our vote meaningless.
While it is easy to point the finger firmly at corrupt officials, I feel that anyone who laments their lack of voice has a clear option: go vote. Yes, there are ways that officials endeavor to keep minority groups away from the polls (i.e. voter ID laws) there are no explicit laws that can prevent you from voting- if you have not been to jail. Although it is nice to hope for the party to mobilize all citizens, at some point mobilizing yourself has to come into play. Many people in the minority, from youths, to Latin Americans, feel their vote doesn't matter but the choice to vote is no-ones but our own.
Many politicians do understand that low voter turnout is a crisis in our political system and we must acknowledge that measures have been tried; Federal Election Campaign Act, Motor Voter, Help America Vote Act. These new laws have helped, voter registration jumped from 74.7% in 2002 to 78.7 in 2010. Though, even with this high registration voter turnout was at 37.8% (Wayne). The question then is not whether Americans can vote but whither Americans want to vote.
The job of making Americans want to vote falls on two shoulders. It is first the responsibility of both parties to mobilize all citizens. Not just through campaigning, this also means having diverse districts with multiple candidates. The other group who must step up is the American people and I will say again; the only one stopping us from voting is ourselves. Certainly problems at the polls like long lines and confusing ballots are not the voters fault but if we do not show up on election day we forgo our right to complain about who was elected. Lack of Political Participation and the lack of representation that it creates is a fundamental issue in our democracy but I am not willing to say that it is an incurable one. If we the people and those who we have entrusted to govern take on this problem, there is no reason that voter turnout could not be fixed.
Wayne, Stephen J. Is This Any Way to Run a Democratic Election? Fifth ed. Washington DC: CQ Press, 2014.
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