Opinion: Why Voting Matters
Contents:
Voting is an integral part of a democracy. Democracy means “rule of the people” in Ancient Greek (δημοκρατί, dēmokratía). However, many people in our country do not vote. Indeed, only 66% of the voting population turned up for the 2020 election, one of the highest in the history of the U.S. That leaves about 34% of the population not voting. In midterm elections, it’s worse. Only 46% of the voting population turned up for the 2022 midterms. And that was one of the highest since 1970.
This article will explain why people don’t vote and why voting is so important. It will also hopefully help increase voter turnout in future elections.
One possible reason for low voter turnout is mindset. A common belief is that a voter’s vote won’t count due to either corruption or the mentality of everyone voting the other way.
Another reason is apathy. Many people simply do not want to be involved in politics. I have seen this in quite a few cases. Politics may seem too complicated to them. Additionally, crazy social media posts have been circling, making it seem like there is too much drama.
According to college professor Tommy Jenkins in his graphic novel Drawing the Vote in 2008, his class was very interested in voting. However, in 2016, his class was very disinterested in voting.
There are several things that can counter the reasons not to vote.
For the mindset argument, what that person doesn’t realize is that so many other people have that same belief, causing a large percentage of the population to not vote. This way, an elected official might not have the support of a large percentage of the population.
As for the apathy, when people think politics doesn’t concern them, it really does. What is politics? A process where officials decide on laws to implement in a country. Decisions that impact you and me.
Here’s an example. If the leader of a democratic group of squirrels decided to limit the amount of acorns each squirrel could get, that obviously impacts the population. Then, the squirrels could elect a new leader that would reverse that decision.
In conclusion, it is extremely important to vote in an election. A 46% voter turnout in any election is a very bad thing. We need to make sure the U.S. reaches a goal of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh’s whopping 80.6% voter turnout in the 2024 election! So, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (or even earlier), make sure you go vote!
Image credit: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/08/new-election-laws-2024-states/73612150007/