Voting systems and participation in democratic processes

Voting

According to recent statistics, America has among the lowest voter turnout of any democracy in the world based on participation in presidential and mid-term elections (Anderson, 2000). According to the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate (CSAE) over the last three decades, voter turnout has declined dramatically resulting in a series of historic lows. One of the main reasons for this sad decline in voter turnout is the apparent lack of interest from America's students in politics.

Fewer and fewer college age students are taking the initiative to register to vote. According to a recent magazine article (Berg, 2003), America's youth today fails to realize or care about the importance of their vote. "People who are not registered to vote cannot vote. If they cannot vote, then they will not get changes made," said Sara Kaminski, President of College Democrats. It is apparent that college age students must get more involved in their government and take a greater interest in who is running our country and the issues that are affecting people their age. The interests of youth will never be heard if they do not take the initiative to go out and learn who is running for president or of issues that are affecting students if they do not go out and vote.

Voting and cultural data for the past three decades demonstrate how the 18-to-24-year-old demographic group has dramatically changed the polity through its inaction and disengagement (Quinnell, 2004). This results in disempowerment, although these young people are often ignorant of their own self-interest. The United States has undergone a "huge shift away from values and towards materialism, away from ethics and toward expediency, away from meaning and toward the symbols of status, and away from knowledge and toward a posture of being too cool to care. This failure of youth for over 30 years to embrace idealism and inject their passion into progressive politics has allowed the ascendancy of the intolerance and retrograde ideologies and policies of the right."

Voting statistics from YouthVote.org reveal that the percentage of the young aged 18-24 voting in presidential elections has dropped from the low 50% range to the high 30% range from 1972 to the present (Quinnell, 2004). As a share of the overall voting population, 18-24-year-olds have fallen to single digits. As a result, this demographic group has become virtually irrelevant to politics.

This is very disheartening, as America's youth has historically been an important part of the political process. In the past, motivated and educated college students have been a strong force for political change (Quinnell, 2004). However, today, power resides with the older voters, whose self-interest is served. For example, in the late 1970s, the Proposition 13 vote worked in favor of older voters who turned out in huge numbers, passing the first piece of legislation in the so-called "tax revolt." Older voters of the 1970's resented young people, viewing them as hippies and counterculture types not reflecting their values. This caused California's school system to fall from first to worst over the past 25 years. Who suffered? America's youth.

In the early 1990's, during congressional hearings on the solvency of the Social Security fund, a handful of young political groups appeared to testify and one senator berated them for being so lacking in number (Quinnell, 2004). "Where are your people?" he demanded, stating that there would be no money for them if they failed to turn out their generation in greater number to advocate for their share.

America's youth should vote for many different reasons. The concept of the public voice is basic to democracy (Berg, 2003). If young people do not raise their voices, others will. The others are likely to have the same views, lifestyles or concerns as those attending college and preparing for the workforce. Voting is one of the best ways of showing a commitment to individual beliefs and values, because voting can impact society.