Why don’t more young people vote?

[rwsaunders]

Here’s part of the problem...for example, here’s my home state of Pennsylvania’s archaic system of mailing in a ballot.

[thollandpe]

Personally, I don't know many younger people who didn't or don't vote. Plenty of them are disillusioned and/or fed up with politics (as are many across the entire age spectrum I interact with) but a lot of them seem active and involved.

Here's a chart that shows that the younger part of the US electorate has actually become more involved over the past two decades, even if the latest numbers are down from 2008:

https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*g...Ilt9Wel6Kw.png

Source: Age and voter turnout - Charles Franklin - Medium

So maybe the bit about young people not voting, because they're a bunch of spoiled brats who take their balls and bats and go home if they're not winning, is another trope (that's French for canard) that's pushed to further divide us in this age of division?

[JJohnson]

If young people do not wish to vote, that is a totally valid choice that they are permitted to make.
We all live in free countries. People are allowed to make choices that they prefer for their lifestyle.

There is a concerted effort in this country to make it seem like our votes don't count and create any barrier possible so that young people don't vote. My generation has the information at their fingertips that shows us the cruelty in the world and what the US has done to bring much of that itself. We're constantly bombarded everywhere we look by negative political ads, hate our families because they just watch Fox News all day, and are subject to internet trolls. It's not difficult to feel disenfranchised. I've felt like stepping back from politics a lot lately, just because it's so exhausting and I have a personal life to worry about.

I'm 32. I think 2012 was the only year I personally didn't vote since 2006 when I was first able to vote, and that's because I was working two jobs and going to school. I couldn't get to my polling station and did not know about Illinois's early voting at the time. I've voted in every primary and general since then.

[Blue Jays]

"...I've voted in every primary and general since then..."

Good for you and the excellent lifetime track record.

[j44ke]

...

Here’s part of the problem...for example, here’s my home state of Pennsylvania’s archaic system of mailing in a ballot.

Okay, wtf is "post office" in the address line(s)?

[Scott G.]

It's like some incongruous mix of engagement and disillusionment. The question, though - is this a generational thing, or a cohort thing?

Sounds like the post WWI generation.
But according to greatX4 grandad the USA has been going to hell since 1845.

[holliscx]

There's nothing wrong with not voting if you don't have anything to vote for: the best candidates are never on the ballot and too often people vote against the other candidate more than they vote for their own guy or gal which is a big problem and I presume a turnoff to nonvoters.

[deano]

Voting also isn't the only political action. I can't comment on my peers' other efforts but there are a lot of other things you can do. I have called Congresspersons, governors, put an issues oriented sign. In my yard, I have signed a lot of petitions and ballot initiative drives, and I have tried to be a good neighbor, friend, parent, etc. The rest of politics being shite don't mean people ain't doing shite. Also, even The Economist, among otherestablishment publications have proven again and again your vote doesn't matter.

[holliscx]

I would argue it sends a clearer message to not vote versus voting for someone you don't really believe in. Give young people a revolutionary vote for change but voting just because only confirms support for the status quo.

[j44ke]

Those arguments for not voting as a political statement would make sense if there was a way to say out-loud publicly that you aren't voting for this and that very particular and important reason and have that register as the explicit statement of protest over a deficiency in the menu of political candidates or political platforms.

Instead, not-voting protest votes just get dumped into an invisible heap of general electoral laziness, most of which then wafts off into the ether.

In other words, you and others like you may choose not to vote as a statement, but there are still enough voters who DO vote to elect someone. And that someone is less and less likely to represent your issues as they figure out how to get elected with fewer and fewer people. And that's nonpartisan. Democrats and Republicans are all working on figuring out how to get elected with the fewest votes possible. Thus the popularity of the Electoral College.

I do believe a lot of people (perhaps especially young voters) think voting is about finding the candidate who represents the issues you think are the most important. No candidate is ever going to represent your ideas exactly, because no candidate is ever going to get elected by a constituency of one. You have to find someone within the same region as you. The same hemisphere. The same planet. Orbiting the same sun.

If you persist (vote early and often) things will inevitably start to move. And if they don't, you demand compensation for your vote - you go out into the street and protest. Write letters. Go to community meetings. Support getting the essential issues into the courts. Try and try again. Numbers, not absences, make the most difference in representative government.

And the fewer people who vote, the more influence money has in elections, because winning elections with fewer and fewer people takes more and more money.

[thollandpe]

Instead, not-voting protest votes just get dumped into an invisible heap of general electoral laziness, most of which then wafts off into the ether.

So much to agree with in that post, Jorn. But I'll repeat (+1) that part.

Voting is not like selecting your entree at a reception. You don't lose if your candidate doesn't win. This is how you make your voice heard, and this is what separates our imperfect little 244-year-old experiment from other forms of government.

Teddy's father didn't storm the beaches at Normandy so we can sit on our hands if we don't like the chicken football or the beef slab. It's our civic duty, like serving on a jury, vaccinating your kids, not driving like a complete dick, or not killing a bison and leaving its body to rot on the prairie. Zip up your America suit and just fucking do it.

[Octave]

Those arguments for not voting as a political statement would make sense if there was a way to say out-loud publicly that you aren't voting for this and that very particular and important reason and have that register as the explicit statement of protest over a deficiency in the menu of political candidates or political platforms.

Instead, not-voting protest votes just get dumped into an invisible heap of general electoral laziness, most of which then wafts off into the ether.

This is the point of a "vote blanc." It says that you're willing to go to the polls, but you're not willing to make a forced choice between two turds.

Mongolia, Switzerland, France, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Tunisia, and Mauritania all have some form of this. I'm sure I'm missing a few countries in there.

[sk_tle]

This is the point of a "vote blanc." It says that you're willing to go to the polls, but you're not willing to make a forced choice between two turds.

Mongolia, Switzerland, France, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Tunisia, and Mauritania all have some form of this. I'm sure I'm missing a few countries in there.

They have but it is counted the same as badly formed votes and do not have any power other than statistics.

[rwsaunders]

This is a very well organized study and presentation on the subject matter of why people don’t vote and the impact that their actions have on election results.

The 1 Million

[JJohnson]

Those arguments for not voting as a political statement would make sense if there was a way to say out-loud publicly that you aren't voting for this and that very particular and important reason and have that register as the explicit statement of protest over a deficiency in the menu of political candidates or political platforms.

Make voting compulsory with an option to mark "None of the Above" as a sort of protest vote as is done in many countries.

[j44ke]

I like the idea of a "vote blanc". I don't think compulsory voting is necessarily a good idea, particularly if you want young American people to vote. There is a cultural aspect of orneriness in this country that needs to be accommodated/admitted.

But maybe if elections would only be validated if XX% of the total population participated. Put the onus on the candidates to get out the vote. Right now, most of them are trying to suppress - or at least, win without majority inclusiveness - groups of people to advance relatively exclusive agendas that may do little to help the wider public in this country.

If a vote blanc worked against reaching this benchmark XX% for validation of the election, then it would be much more powerful than just not voting.

Essentially a vote of no-confidence. No one is winner. Back to the polls.

But perhaps that's too parliamentary. We like our elections at high noon with one guy left standing.

[davids]

Dear guys:

Haven't had time to scope the article yet but look at the candidates.

Perhaps they feel that if they choose not to decide, they still have made a choice.

Maybe because young people (and I fall into the category of under-39s discussed in that article) are a bit disillusioned by stuff like this?

There's nothing new about this phenomenon and, to the extent that youth voting has trended downwards it mirrors overall downward trends:

yootvotes.jpg

So the question is broader, and the answers complex and depressing.

[j44ke]

One of the essay topics I'd throw out to students periodically was "What would happen if 100% of the people in (insert town/city/country name here) voted?" They'd have to do some demographic research, some interviews of their neighbors, etc. Took a lot of students out of their comfort zones, which meant some essays were pretty horrible. But quite a few were interesting.

[JJohnson]

Essentially a vote of no-confidence. No one is winner. Back to the polls.

I'd be willing to bet that this is the best way to get decreased turnout after every no confidence vote...

[thollandpe]

There's nothing new about this phenomenon and, to the extent that youth voting has trended downwards it mirrors overall downward trends:

yootvotes.jpg

So the question is broader, and the answers complex and depressing.

Davidses, that attachment won't load for me, but is what you're saying in direct contradiction to my post above?

Because this shows that the "youth" vote followed the overall vote trend which steadily increased from 1996 to 2000, again in 2004, to a high in 2008 (thanks, Obama). Dropped off a little in 2012 and 2016, but the youthiest vote looks stronger in 2016 than 2012. Too many gray lines on this chart, but I didn't make it.

https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*g...Ilt9Wel6Kw.png