After All We’ve Been Through (Don’t Give Your Vote Away)
Lincoln VOX // First Edition
By LPC Guest Blogger Aaron Deese
Leasing Professional at The Park at Monterey Oaks in Austin, TX
Vox: [voks] : noun – Latin – “Voice”
Welcome to the first edition of Lincoln Vox!
Over the next year, we’ll be examining a topic that gets a lot of attention from the media, A LOT of attention from politicians, but not nearly enough attention from us – voting.
Since you were little, you’ve been told that “voting is important, every vote counts.” And some of us really believe that. But others – a lot of us, actually – don’t believe that voting makes a difference. We don’t believe that our voice matters, or in many cases, that we have one at all. We stay home on Election Day. We cite the Electoral College and gerrymandering as reasons not to visit the polls. The word “caucus” makes us think of “cactus,” or maybe some kind of exotic, poultry-based stew. Maybe we’re too busy, we haven’t been watching the news, we don’t have a strong opinion one way or another, we forgot, both parties are the same – whatever the reason may be, we are incredibly adept at finding ways to avoid the polls.
“The numbers are troubling, captain.”
51,000,000 (two commas, not a typo) eligible voters were not registered during the 2012 election – that’s roughly one in four people. A quarter of the country, not counting children and ineligible adults.
Perhaps more discouraging, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, voter turnout in the 2012 general election was about 58%. That’s down from almost 63% in the 2008 election, which was up from 60% in 2004. We could spend all day examining the political climate of the country during those times and trying to figure out why, but that’s beside the point: Almost half the country doesn’t vote.
In 2014 the Pew Research Center released a study which found that the American political sphere is the most polarized it’s been since the civil war. Put differently, there is so little ideological common ground upon which the two parties agree, that it may as well be 1879. Sound impossible?
We’ve entered a point in our history when issues like police brutality, income equality and health services are at the forefront of our attention. It is absolutely essential that we demand representation, because we have the right to be spoken for by leaders who actually represent what matters to us. We also have an obligation to keep those leaders accountable by reviewing their voting records, fact checking the statements they make, and showing up on Election Day to either keep them in office or boot them out.
And yet, almost half the country doesn’t vote.
In 1935 in the Canadian Federal Election, Gerald Mcgeer defeated Arnold Webster by six votes. In 1839 Marcus Morton won the Massachusetts gubernatorial election by only two votes. And as recent as 2008, Alaska House of Representatives incumbent Mike Kelly defeated challenger Kyle Castle by one vote. One.
We’ll dig more into the history of voting in future editions, but these cherry-picked examples of just a few votes making the difference should be a wakeup call to all of us. We can – we DO – make a difference, whether by turning out on Election Day or NOT turning out. In any one of these three examples, the votes that DIDN’T make it into the ballot box decided the election.
“He who hesitates is lost.”
The general election may be a year away, but now is one of the most critical times in the electoral process – caucuses and primaries.
While they are different in practice, caucuses and primaries both serve the purpose of selecting the candidate who will win the primary nomination. Right now is when we decide which two candidates will have a shot at the presidency. Often, this part of the election is widely ignored by the general public. You’ll hear about debates and rallies and fundraisers, but we rarely get fired up on a national level at this stage in the game. In 2014, voter turnout in states with primaries was historically low during congressional elections. Total voter turnout was 36.4%. That’s bad, but looks even worse when you realize that that’s the worst it’s been since 1939 – which happened right in the middle of World War 2. What’s our excuse?
Right now is when we have the most say, have the most options, and can make the greatest impact. The general election may be subject to the Electoral College, but primaries and caucuses are not. Your vote may weigh more now than it will at any other point during the 2016 election.
Take the time to find out what the registration deadline is in your state. Find out whether your state holds primaries or caucuses, and then find out when they are. You can accomplish this on Google in about 45 seconds, and with so much at stake, we have so few reasons not to.
“We have an obligation. Not to the government, not to ourselves, but to those who suffer when good people don’t speak up.”
Keep checking back! We’ve got a lot of great information coming your way, as well as plenty of ways that you, your community team, and even your residents can get involved. We’ll also keep you up to date on important election deadlines and dig into the history of the vote, what others have done to earn it, and how it got us to where we are today.
See you next time.
[IMPORTANT DATES]
Tuesday, December 15thth, 2015 – Next Republican Primary debate
Saturday, December 19th, 2015 – Next Democratic Primary debate
Debates are a great way to get to know the candidates and stay informed. Afterword, make sure you pay a visit to factcheck.org.
