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Why Don't We Vote?
Posted 6-7-1999
A few weeks ago the 1999 Primary election was conducted in Westmoreland County and I must
say the voter turnout was quite disappointing.
The turnout was somewhere around 28% or 29%
depending on the final tally from our Election Bureau. This month I would like to use this
forum to ask you why people aren’t getting out to vote.
Voting is one of the most fundamental
rights we enjoy he our democracy, and frankly without the electorate’s participation,
our democracy won’t function properly. What has been taking place, not just here, but
nationally, is a smaller group of voters are determining who will govern. If this pattern
of voter turnout continues, what does that say about our democracy and us as citizens?
I certainly understand that Pennsylvania is
not the most “user-friendly” state when it comes to voting. Members of political
parties outside of the two main parties do not get to vote the primaries, and registration
must take place thirty days prior to an election.
But Motor Voter legislation has made
registering to vote easier. People can now register when getting a driver’s license.
So it is easier to be eligible to vote, but the percentage of people voting seems to be
going down. Does that mean we are registering people who don’t really want to vote?
Maybe making the system easier to be a qualified voter isn t the real issue.
Some states allow people to vote for any
candidate in a primary election, regardless of political party. Others are implementing
same-day registration that permits people to show up at a polling place, provide valid
identification and then vote. I believe a few states even are conducting elections over a
period of time allowing voters to vote any time over a week or two window. These
innovative approaches may be exam heed in our Commonwealth but I don’t have data to
show it is significantly increasing turnout anywhere.
What do you think? As an elected official I
am curious as to what motivates people to get out and vote and what causes others to stay
home.
I’ve been voting regularly since I
turned eighteen so every election is important enough for me to get out. But is it that
some people don’t think the offices on the ballot are important enough? Is it that
the process is too difficult?
With 306 precincts, I don’t think
anyone has to travel too far to vote. I don’t believe the wait to cast a vote is too
long. Since larger polling places have multiple voting machines. So what is it?
It couldn’t have been negative
campaigning because these municipal elections contained little negative advertising. I
know the signs became an eyesore but that is a weak excuse to not vote.
There were not offices with the profile of
president, governor, or senator, still county officials, school directors, and municipal
officials touch people’s lives too.
I would really welcome hearing from people
about this issue. For those of you who didn’t vote, I’m curious as to why.
For those of you who did vote, please let
me know what you think also. The issue is much larger than just Westmoreland County. But
perhaps there are ideas we can pass along to Harrisburg to encourage the Legislature to
improve the process.
I can be reached via e-mail at
tombals@wpa.net. You can write to me at 2 North Main Street 101 Courthouse Square
Greensburg, PA. 15601, or call me at 830-3100.
The election process is something that I
study seriously and the implications of the electorate not fully participating are quite
disconcerting.
We are heading down a path that is not
healthy for our democracy and it is time to start examining what can be done to improve
voter participation. |
