Who are the non-voters?

[OnionPatch]

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I must have missed it if it was.

It amazed me that voter turnout was really only around, was it 50% or something? That is SO pathetic!!!!!

My question is: Has anyone done any surveys, polls, studies, etc. to figure out who these people are and why they don't vote?

I know my goofy nephew screwed around until it was too late to register but 50% of the people can't all be screw-ups, can they? Are they really just people who are fed-up? Just clueless? What is it?

I think we have to define who these people are and work from there.

[latteromden]

1. I think a lot of them

...feel like their vote doesn't count, and therefore just don't see the point in going to vote, or possibly that politics "doesn't affect" them. Those are the two I hear most often among nonvoters.

[peacebird]

2. my former best friend of 23 years

she actually registered to vote for the first time in her adult life this year, because her son is 20 and her daughter 22. She was worried about the draft.
why didn't she vote? i'll never know - i called her on election day, after the polls closed and she said "Don't you start in on me too"

i said - "you didn't VOTE?!?" and was too disgusted to ask what could have been more important.

i slammed the phone down and we haven't spoken since.

[intheflow]

3. Years of disenfranchisement through

lack of education about democracy, so that there are cultural disconnects between understanding how government affects citizens as individuals and collectively, or how their imput is important and relevant;

supressed voting in minority and low income areas, leading to a general gut feeling that everything politcal is corrupt, so what's the use in voting;

economic barriers whereby people are trying so hard to just survive that they haven't the time or energy to understand the issues and vote;

a system based on the rule of law that distances voters from issues that affect them through the use of deceptive or complex language;

and even

the electoral college, where Republicans in Democratic states (or vice versa) think their vote won't count, or where people do not vote because their state has so few electoral votes it doesn't matter which way the state goes.

That's how I understand it.

[HFishbine]

16. I'd say that about covers it

Everyone I know who didn't vote can be described one way or another by one of the above.

[Tippy]

27. I registered a man who had just turned 75

He had never registered to vote...his wife had been after him for years to vote...when I asked him why...he said my vote would not make a difference...Another was in her sixties...same reason... I really believe most don't vote because they are just to lazy...

[Dora]

4. My brother

He won't register to vote, doesn't want to get called to jury duty. He's lucky he's 2000 miles away from me. We haven't talked much since he confessed he's not registered.

Of course, that we're talking at all is a minor miracle since he went on a seven-year meth binge and has only in the last three years reconnected with the family. Things being as they are, I know his opinions are in the right place, even if sometimes the tinfoil seems to be a little tight on his head.

[noamnety]

9. jury duty is a good point

I remember when I found out they were related years ago, and I regretted registering to vote at the time. This election would have overcome that, but yeah, I'm dreading the day I get called just for the sheer inconvenience, that one oddball chance they will lock you away in a hotel for weeks or months, or the hours and commute that could put you in a position where you can't handle getting your child to and from day care. (I was a single mom at the time when I was wishing I hadn't registered).

[RayOfHope]

26. In my state

jury duty is tied to drivers licenses, not being registered to vote.

[noamnety]

5. the disenfranchised

Felons, current prisoners who can't vote

People whose registration forms were tossed aside

The homeless who feel they can't register

People in nursing homes/long term care or otherwise isolated seniors that need someone to get them registered and get them an absentee ballot or it just won't happen

People that are too busy getting high with their friends to remember to vote

People that are sure their vote won't be counted anyway, so why bother (or that one vote won't make a difference)

Shallow materialistic people who care more about watching The Simple Life and getting their nails done than what's happening to their neighbors or to Iraq.

People long work hours that don't meet the criteria for absentee ballots (out of the county) but don't have a practical way of getting enough time off from work during voting hours, or can't swing the time after work because they have to pick up kids from day care

People who are screw ups and can't be bothered to get themselves registered on time

Republicans that hate Bush but can't bring themselves to vote for a democrat

Independents who feel both candidates are too mainstream (I personally feel Kerry wasn't, but the media certainly didn't present it that way)

[OnionPatch]

11. Wow, I just realized

that not everyone can just get absentee ballots. Here in CA you don't need a reason, you just ask for one. I'm on permanent absentee ballot (I live in Riverside county! Infamous for shady goings-on.)
BTW, I was thinking that the answer to voting intimidation would be to get everyone absentee ballots, but I guess that won't work in lots of places. Argh!!! We need election overhaul!!!!

[anakie]

6. I was watching the election broadcast on BBC

when they went into a bowling alley in one of the large Ohio cities; I forget which one. And of the 10 or so people they interviewed at least 4 or 5 of those said they didnt vote and have never voted and are not interested. They looked exactly as you would expect; white, blue collar workers. Those very people who Bush through his economic policies are screwing. I just couldnt believe it. And this the most important election in decades. Ostriches.

In the same walk through they asked a couple of women who they voted for and they said Bush. When asked why they said because their husbands did.

When up to 40% of eligibly aged people dont vote is a worry. By implication these people must be happy with Bush and his policies. And for this overseas observer it looks like 70% of Americans are happy with Bush and his cronies.

We have compulsory voting in Australia. While there are pros and cons everyone every 3 years votes so a true representation of the will of the people happens. Unfortunately for us they re elected Howard. At least all the votes where counted.


ps Onion Patch - hows about an update on your move to Oz.?

[OnionPatch]

10. Well, my hubby had a change of heart

and decided to stay. We both decided that we'd at least give it a few more years and see what happens. In the meantime, we're going to do everything we can to change things here.

The other problem is that our families are here so it would be hard to live so far away. :-(

[Princess Turandot]

17. You can't really make the correlation that the non-voters are happy ..

with Bush if for no other reason that you could make the same statement about every presidential victor in the last 40 years or so,
since a substantial margin of people do not vote in each presidential election.

What happens if you don't vote in Australia? Are you fined?

[anakie]

28. there is a nominal fine for not voting

about $20 I think. If you can offer a decent excuse ie interstate, overseas, caring for relation etc you do get off it.

We have our elections on a Saturday and most people dont seem to mind every three years to go and vote. It is one of those things. An election is on - you vote.

[unpossibles]

7. I hear excuses

from "both are rich white men; why should I?" to "what difference does it make?", etc.

I try to explain that not only is it a right that many have literally died to receive, but that it does have an effect on them, and that the two candidates are not necessarily equal.

As a matter of fact, when someone just plain refuses to vote (and thinks this is a political statement), I try to get them to at least vote third party if they are going to "throw their vote away anyway."

It sends a more concrete statement than not voting, plus if a third party better represents them, then that is their right. I also try to explain that the current administration would probably rather not have them vote.

if it helps, turnout this year was relatively huge - like 60% or more I think. Just from the lines at the polling stations, I expected closer to 75% as did many of the volunteers. hmm....

[Leilani]

8. A lot of non-voters are angry at the system

& they will not vote for the "lesser of 2 evils."

I think every election ballot should have "none of the above."

[DistressedAmerican]

12. I'm with you...

I think a none of the above is a great idea. I didn't vote for Clinton the second time around. I felt he had lied about gays in the military with that silly Don't Ask Don't Closetfest he stuck us with and for other reasons. Point being, I was well educated about the issues, had a principled stand that I couldn't support either tweedle dee or tweedle dum with a clean conscience. I declared myself a conscientious objector.

"A None Of The Above" option would be great. I would have gone out to cast that. Might I suggest further ineligibility for public office for any candidate on a ballot that looses to none of the above (or any candidate that looses to a dead guy). If both do, a run off must be held featuring brand new nominees.

Maybe some sort of compulsory apology to the nation for being unelectable embarrassments to the country.

[PlanetBev]

13. My hairdresser, who is 65

told me that he doesn't vote because he is just not interested in politics. I can't relate to that, but apparently there are a lot of people like him.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I knew a very well-informed retired law professor who hadn't voted in year

because as a result of working as a consultant to politicians for most of his life, he believed that almost all of them were corrupt.

Most non-voters, however, are simply uninformed.

It especially bothers me that people will turn out for the presidential election who will not turn out for the local elections that have much more of a direct impact on their lives.

[dazeconf]

31. I didn't vote in 2002

because none of the races that I cared about were anywhere near close. Of course, it was still the wrong thing to do, but it is possible that many of the non-voters only care about the presidential election and live in solid blue or red states. Knowing beforehand that your state's votes will go to a particular candidate isn't exactly a motivating factor. That said, having not voted in 2002 I have no right to complain about any public officials in my state who were elected back then. I realized my stupidity and made sure to vote this time around.

[babydollhead]

15. spent an excruciatinly long weekend in south carolina,

with my husbands brother and his wife. This was back in August, and the response to all things political was apathetic and lazy. After a few conversations turned into anything concerning the future or our kids, the election and getting Bush out of office, wound it's way from the forefront of our consciousness and down our tounges...finally the wife said, "Politics are the same thing to me as born-agains shoving jesus down my throat.Now drop it." The other woman in our company that weekend was a real-estate sales lady who supported deforestation and called us tree huggers and bragged about all of these politicians that her company was wooing. From there we continued south to Georgia, to my Baptist in-laws... who just last week came to Pennsylvania to gloat over bush's "win"

[intheflow]

18. babydollhead,

I am so sorry to hear about your relatives. I also have some freaky freepers in my genepool.

But welcome to DU. :hi:
Consider us your new dysfunctional family--we don't always agree or play nicely with each other, but at least we're all Left. :)

[newyawker99]

19. Hi babydollhead!!

Welcome to DU!! :hi:

[Yupster]

20. Only 4 % of voters

didn't graduate high school.

I have to think the dropout rate is much higher than that so I'd say one big group of non-voters is high school dropouts.

I saw a bumper sicker once.

"I never vote
It just encourages them"

[RafterMan]

32. I think the HS dropout rate is 10-12%

So that covers up to 8 points of the 40 that didn't vote.

[proudbluestater]

21. In 2000 20 MILLION single women did not vote

How does that sound for a margin of victory if they had all showed up this time?

They are unmarried women or all ages, walks of life, races. Many say nobody really seems to want their vote enough to ask for it by offering any programs that would be beneficial to them.

Candidates work hard for the male vote, less hard for the female vote.

Had John Kerry mentioned even ONCE that our reproductive rights were on the line in this election, if might have helped his cause. Had he proposed a higher minimum wage before the last month, that would have helped. Many things could have been done if an effort had been made.

[PATRICK]

22. Beating up on the non-voter

is something the suppressive media has engaged in to cover their own complicitous behind. Also add in the lowering of the voting age(Vietnam
reform) to an age demographic that typically wanders away from social engagement(by and large, I don't mean to castigate anyone).

Add also that the "sacred responsibility" is not taught very seriously anymore than the required American History(Civics) high school course are engaging and thoughtful. NOT to vote is to cast a vote either AGAINST democracy and its privileges OR a tacit acceptance of things as they are. In that case the God Emperor does have a mandate, typically an anti-democratic, anti-American one. Not voting also detracts from the power and privilege of your fellow citizen who does.

This is all before getting to how ones casts a ballot responsibly and with proper information and civic values. Before one gets a picture of one's fellow citizens and how they come to decide and vote.

But the actual person committing the evils is a thief anyway. To start blaming the 20,000,000 who didn't rise up and jam the polling places to kick the jerk out is to miss the responsibility of the crooks and the duped voters and the media and the campaigns. The reason more people don't vote also can as well be laid at the feet of those miserably active entities in order of repugnance.

[DeminGa]

23. There have been...

many great points made here. Basically anything I would say has already been said

I would like to emphasize the inconvenience of voting and its effect on turn out though

When one has to wait HOURS in line to vote, it is an automatic turn off! There is NO excuse for this other than that it must be a grand plan to suppress voters

Advanced voting is a step in the right direction I believe. We had it here in GA, though it was touchscreen, which brings a whole different set of concerns etc.

Someone questioned the correlation between the long waits and the turn out results of election day. I agree. Even with 4 hour wait times during a week of advanced voting in GA and hour long waits on election day itself, there wasnt a significant change in turnout. How is that?

Also, registering for jury duty and registering to vote should be separate if they are not already. A good case could be made as to why. Though no one likes the idea of jury duty, it should go hand in hand with an address change or obtaining your driver license, as to not discourage voters

[cmf]

24. I met one

We were picking up some food election night and the young woman working the counter asked who was winning. We gave her the update and she just shrugged and said something like, "Well, it doesn't even matter to me anyway, it's not going to effect my life." I can guarantee that she didn't vote.

[RayOfHope]

25. I post with a woman

well, used to post at another site with a woman whose husband was back door drafted to Iraq last summer. She just 'never got around to registering to vote'. In fact, she has never been registerd to vote.

This blew my mind. Her husband is in Iraq, having an extremely difficult time emotionally, she is a wreck, and now basically a poor single mom to 3 kids, but she couldn't be bothered to vote.

I think it's entirely possible 50% of the people are screw ups (unfortunately)

[The Flaming Red Head]

29. At this point the smart ones.

[DemGirl7]

30. I know one...

my older brother, he never even registered, but he is the family screw up...so what is one to really do??

[AirAmFan]

33. They're the people the DLC and their CORPORATE JOHNS fear the most

They're former Democrats and former union members who were sold out by the DLC and other corporate Democratic bagmen long ago. They're bright young people who laugh at the right-wing pap spewed by Fox News but don't hear Democrats taking strong stands against far-right foolishness.

They're people who well might be coaxed to the polls for the first time, or for the first time in many years, by appeals to "class warfare issues": job security, unfair trade, declining public education, inadequate career training, rampant white-collar felonies, unchecked corporate pollution, and shifting of the heaviest tax burden from the very rich to the middle class and poor whose biggest tax is FICA.

They're people who, if approached properly, would join the hundreds of thousands from whom John Kerry raised $71 million in individual contributions of $200 or less. In other words, they are corporate lobbyists and do-nothing Democratic incumbents' worst nightmare, THE PEOPLE!

If they were coaxed to the polls, cowardly hundered-down Dem pols who RUN from the real issues, including vote suppression that erects structural barriers to their own re-election, would have to go get real jobs. They wouldn't make it through primary elections that suddenly would become widespread for the first time since the Seventies.