I forgot to vote in the election earlier this month. That’s never happened before. That’s not to say I have a perfect voting record. I don’t. Always before it was more of a conscious decision to not vote. Or if not a decision, then a definite acknowledgement that I was skipping the process. I’m not proud of those decisions. If there is one activity that I do think is required of a citizen is that of voting. I know I am lucky to be a U.S. citizen and there are very few things that having that citizenship asks of an individual. Taxes, jury duty, obeying the laws and voting. It’s one of the quintessential ideals that separates the United States from other countries around the world. We have the luxury of being able to vote without worrying about reprisals or roadblocks. Arguments can be made about voter ID laws being roadblocks, but for the most part voting is a relatively simple process.
So how is it that I forgot to vote? It was easier than it should have been. With no major name or race on the ballot, there was very little news coverage. I didn’t live in an area where a school bond was being decided which means any targeted campaigning skipped my house. The only items on my particular ballot were changes to the state constitution and programs/initiatives. ONLY. Sad but true comment. Lack of media coverage definitely played a role. Life played another role. Personal and work issues managed to consume my thoughts and short of a foghorn blowing right into my ear, it was unlikely that I was going to remember anything outside of my immediate bubble. By the time I remembered that it was Election Day, I couldn’t squeeze enough time from my day to get back to my polling place. I didn’t make it back to the area until well after the polls had closed.
The United States is consistent on its lack of voter participation. There’s a big spike during presidential election years, a small spike during mid-term elections and a giant black hole for all other elections. Unless it is a contentious local or state issue, voter turnout is staggering nonexistent. It’s shameful for a country so proud of its voting rights and election process to not even rank in the top 20 of developed countries on voter turnout rates. Belgium ranks highest on the list at 87.2% voter turnout followed by Sweden (82.6%), South Korea (77.9%), Denmark and Australia rounding out the top 5. Greece comes in at 62.1% to end the top 20. The full chart can be seen at www.worldatlas.com. Doing an internet search on the internet shows a consensus that the average voter turnout rate in the United States is approximately 55%. Presidential election years average about 60% with midterms showing an average of 40% turnout. And yet democracy is predicated on voting or at least it is supposed to be.
Rather than look at the research studies, I thought about my own reasons for not voting. And I came to the conclusion is that it is primarily laziness. That laziness is helped along by several factors. Every state has different rules when it comes to voting, so I’m only going to speak to the rules that I have to adhere to. First, early voting seems to be random. I never know if I’m going to have 1 or 2 weeks to find a mobile voting location. And there’s a search involved when it comes to finding the early voting stations. They move around and I’ve always had to hunt one down on the internet before going to vote. And as for election day, it’s complicated by the fact that I can only vote in one location. And that one location happens to be the closest to my home which is not always convenient. If traffic is good, I work at least 20 minutes away from my polling location. One would think that a 12-hour window for the location to be open would be plenty of time. But this time it wasn’t. I was out of my house before 7am and the opening of the polls. Between regular traffic, road construction and an accident tying up traffic, there was no way that I was going to be able to make the round trip from my office in a standard lunch hour which I would have been lucky to get that day. Personal issues kept me from going straight after work and tied me up until well past the 7pm closing time for the polls. Had I even remembered; I would have been hard pressed to get there. As it was, I didn’t remember until almost 5pm that it was Election Day and that was only because I overheard customers talking about the referendum on an income tax ban.
And I was just having a bad day/week/month. As I was considering my own laziness, I thought about other people’s reasons for not voting. And I’m referring to people that have already registered to vote. But if I struggled to get to the polls, then what about those people who do shift work? Or are the primary caregiver of young children or an elderly parent? What about those how work multiple jobs to make ends meet? There are plenty of legitimate reasons for being able to exercise your right to vote. It’s just not as simple as showing up. Sometimes the act of getting there is the most difficult part of the process.
Voting should not be difficult. If I can do early voting at one of a variety of polling locations, then why can’t I do that on Election Day? And I used to scoff at making Election Day a federal holiday, but I’m starting to understand the argument. Not that I necessarily think a holiday will guarantee more people will vote, but it definitely removes any potential excuses. We could trade with another holiday. I like Martin Luther King Jr. and agree he should be honored, but I think we could make this a non-mandated holiday and give it to Election Day instead. I would think that MLK would support opening up the voting access by giving everyone a day off from work. And we shouldn’t be tied to a specific location in order to cast our vote. Open up all of the voting locations so that it’s similar to the early voting process.
Voting should be easy. I don’t think the technology is ready for safe and secure voting yet, but we can make the manual process a little bit easier and accessible. And if that doesn’t work, maybe we should mimic Belgium. Belgium makes voting compulsory by a law that requires all eligible voters to vote. To fail to do so can result in fines, loss of voting rights and even affect employment. Not that I believe we should have to go to such extremes, but if that’s what it takes then it is something to consider.
Voting should be a habit that we all develop and stop taking for granted. I’ve already put a calendar notation to make the 1st Tuesday in November a regular annual appointment. Laziness is fine in some areas, but not when it comes to voting. I caught a break this time. The referendums I wanted to pass did, but that doesn’t excuse my lack of participation. I fell into the pit of voter apathy because I deemed life too complicated. Shame on me. And now that I’m aware of my apathy? Easy. I plan to vote. And I will vote in every election, large or small, until they make me stop.
Flat-Earthers are at it again.
I know I need to let this go, but this is a major red flag for me. This week Dallas, Texas was hosting the 3rd Annual Flat Earth International Conference. Only 600 people were attending but that isn’t the story. A recent poll by YouGov showed that one in six Americans are not entirely sure the Earth is round. It’s part of a growing trend to deny science. And that’s what I have issue with. You can read the CNN article that set me off again and decide for yourself. But somehow this has become the #1 conspiracy theory which I find both abhorrent and scary. Let’s go back to questioning alien autopsies and government sponsored mind control. You know, the good ol’ days.
