Welcome to my first blogging experience.
While I promise to share lots of amusing (and embarrassing) anecdotes about my family in the future, today I wanted to bring up voter apathy.
While many academics and pundits ponder the reasons why people don’t vote, I’d suggest that instead we ask ourselves what will compel them to vote. What will it take to convince non-voters that they have a stake in the outcome of elections and that their votes are meaningful?
Who has more to lose than younger voters? Decisions made by elected officials affect student loan interest rates, whether our nation goes to war and dramatically impacts the economy and the availability of jobs — all issues that impact the daily lives of the young. Yet, in the last California election, only 8.2% of those 18-24 voted. That’s right. Less than 10% of those under the age of 24 who were eligible to vote, actually did so.
Those in the profession of political campaigning either confront these issues or ignore those in demographic categories who largely don’t vote — the young, Latinos, African-Americans. Unfortunately most professionals given a limited budget and a limited amount of time are forced to choose the latter option.
Check out the following article by Chuck McFadden that appeared recently in Capitol Weekly Voters: Many Can’t Be Bothered