Why is voter turnout important?

[vherub]

Seriously? Why do we encourage people to vote, without encouraging them to also get educated as to what issues are up for vote and what state and local elections are in play?

If you have no clue who your state representative is, or what propositions are on the ballot or any positions held by the district congressperson, why should "you" be encouraged to vote.

Why is 55% voter turnout bad? Why would a higher or 99% voter turnout be ideal?

How many people have gone into a polling booth, and seen names they don't know for positions they are unsure about? You can either vote and pick a name at random or loosely on party, or not vote.
And it seems a lot more patriotic to not vote in those situations where you have no idea who or what you are voting for than to make a random, and uneducated choice.
There are enough Americans making poor, uneducated choices on a daily basis that they don't need encouragement to make more choices. If you need encouragement just to vote, are you an educated voter?

People need encouragement to educate themselves, especially on the state and local level, and THEN vote.

 

[dmaul1114]

In a perfect world voter turn out will be high and people will take the time to educate themselves.

It's a shame people are lazy, it took me all of 30 mins to do some searching and get informed about the local issues on the ballot that I wasn't familiar with (county amendments, board of education etc.).

It's a shame more people don't value the power we have in a democracy and become informed voters.

 

[depascal22]

You make great points, vherub. Unfortuanately, you won't get any great answers for it. I don't have a clue how to make the people actually care about elections these days.

 

[Dr Mario Kart]

The government is supposed to be everyone's government - Even the dumb slob who doesnt care.

A higher turnout better reflects the will of the people, even if that will is stupid.

 

[crystalklear64]

Need to be inspired by something to convince me that voting will make any difference.

Living in a democratic area of a state that always votes democratic of a region that always votes democratic...

If anyone here wanted to vote republican, what would be the point?

 

[JolietJake]

The voting machines here didn't even have party affiliation listed for some candidates. There weren't any issues up for vote so i just stuck to party lines, when i knew the person's party anyway.

 

[depascal22]

Maybe we shouldn't have local and state elections run at the same time as Presidential and Congressional races. All the advertising is snapped up by the big bucks guys at the federal level. There's hardly any time left for the little guys.

 

[Dr Mario Kart]

[quote name='crystalklear64']Need to be inspired by something to convince me that voting will make any difference.

Living in a democratic area of a state that always votes democratic of a region that always votes democratic...

If anyone here wanted to vote republican, what would be the point?[/quote]
The reality is that real democracy takes work. Real change takes work. Voting is a minimal effort.

There are probably many people like you that stay home, feeling alone when they are not as isolated as they think. If those people could be rallied, and put to work spreading their message and recruiting others, then things can begin to change. Maybe instead of getting beat 99% to 1%, you lose 90 to 10% one cycle. Improvement goes back into the loop, and allows you to rally for more people to work. Wars of ideas arent won by a simple vote.

 

[depascal22]

Some people get discouraged if their candidate/party loses. I know a couple people that won't vote because Bush won in 00 and 04.

 

[carpwrist]

America wants to people to vote because they want to show other countries that Democracy works. Obviously it doesn't work if most of the population doesn't vote.
If this illusion were to wear off, people would be swimming the other way on tires to Cuba and riding moose to Canada.

 

[ananag112]

It just seems to me that the people in my state are pretty much in line with the rest of their respective parties. Hell, I was watching the debate between Dick Zimmer and Frank Lautenberg and they were pretty much quoting McCain and Obama when asked on their stance on many issues.

 

[mykevermin]

[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']A higher turnout better reflects the will of the people, even if that will is stupid.[/QUOTE]

hee hee hee.

 

[Ikohn4ever]

i mean getting more people to vote is a double edged sword. Its like giving everyone in the US a gun with one bullet in it during the civil war and hoping that more are on your side.