Increasing Voter Turnout
Low voter turnout is a problem in modern day America. Everyone has heard on the news or some other source at some point that voter turnout rates are low. Whenever I heard this from the news or my teachers in grade school, I wasn't sure what to think. I was uninformed about the problems this caused, exactly how low voter turnout is, and what anyone could do to sway apathetic voters to feel like they make a difference or to get involved in politics. Yet, voter turnout is low, low voter turnout causes misrepresentation, and voter turnout can decide elections and can be increased.
Low voter turnout causes public officials only to be held accountable to their voters, and not to whom they represent. Public officials who make bad or unpopular policy decisions may continue to hold office when those who dislike their policy do not make their way to the polls. According to the Pew Research Center, only 63.6% of eligible voters participated in the 2008 federal elections and only 49.9% of Hispanic eligible voters participated. Along with 47% of Asian Americans, these minority groups are being under-represented in federal elections compared to Caucasians, whom have a low, but comparatively high turnout rate of 66.1%. Youth voter turnout is even worse, According to civicyouth.org, in the 2008 presidential elections only 48.5% of eligible voters aged 18-24 voted. According to the Pew Research Center, voters aged 18-29 only accounted for 18% of the total voters. this means voters aged 30+ accounted for 82% of the vote. What does all this mean together? Well it is likely that one or more of the aforementioned groups are being grossly misrepresented by current representatives. Issues that are important to young voters are probably different and or opposite those of older voters. Important issues for minority groups may be different and opposite of Caucasians. Low voter turnout among certain groups causes under-representation of those groups and issues important to them.
According to a case study in the Journal of Elections, parties that represent the working class would most benefit from high or full voter turnout. Inversely this would mean that low voter turnout experienced in the US would cripple parties for the working class. In the case study cited, they observed and Irish election because Ireland has a low voter turnout rate of ~70%. In Europe 70% is a low voter turnout rate, compared to America's ~61%. With America's even lower turnout rate than Ireland, we could also expect the influence of parties popular among the common people or working class to benefit even more with a +39% turnout rate. Although the study results showed with a simulated full voter turnout that the biggest change was a loss of 2% of the total vote by a major party, that is not to say increasing voter turnout wouldn't make a difference. According to the Federal Election Committee's website, Al Gore lost the decisive state Florida to George Bush in the year 2,000 by a mere 537 votes. According to Florida's Division of Election's website , only 70% of eligible voters turned out for the general election that year. Would Gore have won if voter turnout was higher? Maybe, arguably, but what is no longer arguable is that low voter turnout rates do not matter, they could definitely changed the course of history by electing a different president, or electing different presidents or lower level representatives throughout the course of history. Therefore, low voter turnout rates do affect policymakers and their subsequent policies. Had a full turnout rate in but one of the lower turnout categories occurred in a close election, that groups interests would most likely be more represented had their desired representative won the election. Therefore low voter turnout rate also causes under-representation for groups with lower turnout rates.
What can be done about low voter turnout? Some solutions are simple, some are more complex. According to a study by Stanford Social Psychologist Christopher Bryan At Stanford University showed that just by framing people as a voter, rather than a vote, would possibly increase turnout rates. He gave out two surveys each to a randomly selected set of people. The first asked if it were important to vote, while the second survey asked whether it was important to be a voter. 87.5% of responded yes to the second survey whilst only 55.6% did so to the first survey. Prior to the 2008 election, Bryan's team sent survey's to 133 registered voters in California. After the election, using voting records, Bryan concluded 96% of those who received the "voter" survey actually voted, whereas only 82% of those who received the "vote" survey voted. Another study by The American Political Science Review Journal showed that peer pressure can increase voter turnout. Techniques used in this study were sending letters to potential voters with messages telling voters to do their civic duty or that they are being used in a study and whether or not they voted would become a statistic. The study also showed increases in voter turnout per household when participants were showed their neighbors and their own voting records. Although I don't see telling people that they will be used as statistics or showing people others voting records as long term solutions, making people aware of their poor voting habits and framing voting in a positive light such as a civic duty could increase voter turnout.
As you can see, low voter turnout rates are a problem, but a problem that is not unchangeable. Apathetic voters or those who do not care about politics can be swayed. Studies show that there are methods to increase voter turnout, and many organizations are happy to take volunteers to help increase voter turnout. Many of these organizations use similar proven methods derived from studies to increase voter turnout, such as the non-profit vote organization. Low voter turnout causes under representation among certain groups, and policies that may not be desired by the majority of those represented, rather just those of the electorate. I encourage you to vote, and encourage those you know to vote too.
Works Cited
Bernhagen, Patrick, and Michael Marsh. "Missing Voters, Missing Data: Using Multiple Imputation to Estimate the Effects of Low Turnout." Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 20.4 (2010): 447-72. Print.
Bryan, Christopher, Gregory M. Walton, Todd Rogers, and Carol S. Dweck. "Motivating Voter Turnout by Invoking the Self by Christopher Bryan | Papers by Christopher." Motivating Voter Turnout by Invoking the Self (Christopher Bryan). 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. <http://stanford.academia.edu/ChristopherBryan/Papers/997611/Motivating_voter_turnout_by_invoking_the_self>.
Federal Election Commission. "2000 Presidential General Election Results." Federal Election Commission Home Page. Federal Election Commission. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. <http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm>.
Florida Division Of Elections. "Division of Elections." Voter Turnout Statistics. Florida Department of State. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. <http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voting/voter-turnout.shtml>.
Gerber, Alan S., Donald P. Green, and Christopher W. Larimer. "Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment." American Political Science Review 102.01 (2008). Print.
Keeter, Scott, Juliana Horowitz, and Alec Tyson. "Young Voters in the 2008 Election." PewResearch. Pew Research Center, 12 Nov. 2008. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election>.
Lopez, Mark H., and Paul Taylor. "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History." PewResearch. Pew Research Center, 30 Apr. 2009. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. <http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election>.
