Our
electoral system is fueled by the participation of the electorate.
Unfortunately, we still have many barriers in place that discourage
and effectively prevent many eligible voters from participating in
our electoral system. Our laws seem to be trending in the opposite
direction, with voter ID laws passed in many states that suppress the
vote rather than encourage voter participation. These voter ID laws
are based on spurious claims of voter fraud that have little or no
evidence to justify their implementation. The total turnout for the
2014 elections was only 36.6 percent of the voting age population,
according to The United States Elections Project at the University of
Florida. This number was only slightly exceeded in the 2016
presidential election, reaffirming the need for change to the system.
We need laws that
encourage electoral participation, not prevent American citizens from
exercising their electoral rights.
A good first step
in this direction would be making Election Day a National Holiday.
While state laws vary in allowing time off to vote, making Election
Day a holiday would bring some uniformity to these individual
statewide laws. This would also increase voter turnout by giving
people the time to wait in long poll lines, an all too common
occurrence these days, without fear of missing work when they step
out to vote on a lunch break. Providing a holiday would also increase
participation of lower income workers who would not need to choose
between their job and their country.
Voting is not only
a right of every citizen of the United States, it is also a
responsibility. We should not be satisfied with a democracy in which
more than 60 percent of our people don’t vote. We must do better
than that. While making election day a National Holiday wouldn’t be
a cure-all, it would indicate a national commitment to creating a
more vibrant democracy.
1 comment:
I agree with the argument made in “Our No Good, Very Bad Voter Turnout”, in regards to the mending of our voter turnout rates. Our country reflects poor statistics when comparing the eligible voting population to the number of ballots submitted (in various elections years). Given this evidence I would say We the Sheeple’s argument is logical and valid, however I’m uncertain on the statistics supporting the unnecessity of the Voter I.D. Laws.
It’s challenging to merely take word of mouth when a bold claim is made. Perhaps citing the source of information would prove to be beneficial for their credibility. If producing Voter I.D. has no effect on the intensity of Voter Fraud, an expert testimony and legitimate numerical evidence would be necessary to sway the opinion of the audience. Personally, I believe producing I.D. to prevent fraud is a logical argument, simply coming from a place of common sense (I have no evidence to back this). Instinct is not always a reasonable route however; hard facts would force readers to reconsider.
I whole heartedly agree with making Election Day a national holiday, I believe this would greatly increase voters within middle and poverty class citizens. Diminishing the stress of finances versus country by showing hard working American’s their government genuinely wants their input would have an impact exceeding Election Day.
Pretending the intended audience isn’t classmates or the professor, I would venture this article would draw the attention of the American public. After all who better to change the course of voter turnout than the voters themselves? While the help of our lawmakers would be greatly appreciated in this process, it is ultimately up to the public to be diligent and turn up on Election Day.
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