Causes of low voter turnout often overlooked
Apathy is just one spoke in the non-voting wheel
About 12 years ago, the Chicago Board of Elections assembled focus groups to attempt to learn why more folks in the city weren’t voting and what would rectify that. The panelists provided a litany of reasons, and to its credit, the board enacted most of them, which included:
Early voting
Same day registration/voting
Additional poling sites
Saturday voting
Voting by mail
Despite implementing these changes, voting in Chicago has declined rather than increased. Dismal is the only way to describe the totals in a number of Black wards-particularly on the West Side
Many North Side wards traditionally hit the mid to high 40s in the percentage of residents who vote, while some West Side wards struggle reach half that percent. Overall, however, turnout has dwindled citywide.
Exactly 298,951 votes were cast from the 1.5 million registered voters this week. That compares to 554,421 votes in the March 2020 primary. There were 24,000 more people registered then. More than 780,800 votes came in in 2016-voter registration reached about the same as the previous presidential year. In that same period, American uses of the Internet grew from 82 per cent to 97 percent of US households online.
Social media is one of the culprits
What the focus group panelists couldn’t predict or address back in 2012 was the arrival, proliferation, and influence of social media in politics. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter changed the game-possibly forever. A look at Facebook numbers reveals this is the ninth consecutive year the number of users grew.
These outlets gave candidates - incumbents and challengers- a new and novel way to reach voters. They flocked to the sites because it gave them a way of skirting the costs of traditional television, radio and newspaper advertising. Social media also gave them more control, particularly the timing and length, of their messaging.
The downside became that countless pols traded the online presence for retail politics. It meant so many voters no longer got to participate in small, homey events with the candidates, quiz them one-on-one and look into their eyes to gauge the veracity of those answers. Although they had been decried, suddenly voters wanted stump speeches, rather than be separated by a screen.
Messaging via social media has become long sound bites, and in many instances cryptic. Candidates on all sides are opting to lambast opponents instead of explaining what they themselves stand for and will do if elected, that often leaves a bitter taste and turns off voters.
Education also is missing
Today’s political campaigns are replete with office-seekers and officer-holders pitching voters on what to vote for with absolutely no reason, save party affiliation periodically. At best that approach creates confusion, at worst complete disinterest resulting in non-voting.
It is nothing new, but the average voter has familiarized themselves with the nuanced language of politics or government, and that is not lost on the pols who often deliberately blur their messages to voters- one of the key reasons voters choose a candidate on something other than what that candidate committed to doing,
Obtaining a better understanding of budgetary terms, legislative language and limits of key offices creates a better-informed
voter bloc, which in turn should yield more responsive candidates.